A Bud N One Leaf

What is Pu Erh:

Pu Erh:Loose and Tea Cake

*tea fermentation is in fact oxidation where oxygen plays an active part.

Pu Erh is a post-fermentation* tea originated from Yunan Province. There are two types of Pu Erh, raw and tamed, result from natural and accelerated post-fermentation* respectively.

[Official Definition by Bureau of Standard Measurement of Yunnan Province (English translation): Pu Erh is a speciality tea made from a large leaf tea shrub called Camellia Sinisis Assamica, that grow in certain parts of Yunnan Province, it's a post-fermentation tea developed from local Yunnan sun-dried green tea. It is either in loose or compressed form.]

Just as the saying goes: a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, Pu Erh tea existed long before it was so called, with a history of over 1700 years. The name Pu Erh tea came into being only in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Pu Erh was in fact the name of a district in sourthern Yunnan at Ming Dynasty, the place was famous for the production and trade of this speciality tea, it played a significant role for traders at the time that they named the commodity after the place.

How it is processed:

Pu Erh tea can be found in either loose leaf tea or compressed forms (usually round cakes of various diameters), compressed Pu Er are more common for easier storage and handling. The tea has a unique character that is not shared with any other type of tea: it improves with age. Pu Erh production contains some long guarded secrets. From what are available to publics, the basic process of making is as following:

• 1. Heating - deactivate enzymes in fresh leaves to reduce oxidation in next step.

• 2. Rolling - shape the tea, bruise cells to allow mixing of ingredients and chemical reactions thereafter.

• 3. Drying - normally are sun-dried to obtain a unique feature and facilitate post-fermentation. After this step, the tea is called Yunnan Sun Dried Green Tea, which is the raw material for Pu Er.

• 4. Post Fermentation - there are two ways, one is traditional, which let nature plays its course; the other was introduced into mass production in 1973, the technique was called "pile", in this process teas are piled up in huge quantities, controlled under proper moisture and temperature for weeks or months, to induce microbe accelerated fermentation/oxidation.

Differed by post-fermentation* methods, Pu Erh are classified into two categories: Raw (green) and Tamed:

Raw tea is Yunnan sun dried green teas, it can be either loose or compressed into desired shapes. The taste of raw tea is harsh; hence it needs to be stored for natural fermentation/oxidation to refine the taste. Usually raw tea takes at least 6-8 years to become matured (that is become well balanced and form the unique Pu Er taste). In order to enjoy the tea without lengthy waiting; accelerated fermentation was invented to produce tamed tea. Tamed tea undergoes "piled" process, and tastes smooth and mild. Still, tamed tea requires 3-5 years to be matured to present full characters of Pu Er.

Differed by plucking seasons, there are spring, summer and autumn tea, and spring Pu Er has the best quality of a whole year.

Aging and Storage:

Like wine, Pu Er enhances and refines with age. Many factors such as origin of estate, process skills and even sun shines jointly play their parts in forming the taste of the final products. Matured Pu Er has a liquor color like red wine, tastes very smooth with a characteristic earthy flavor, and has a lovely sweet aftertaste. It has very low caffeine contents as a result of intense reaction during long storage .

Proper storage is important to increase the value and taste. Pu Er should be kept in a clean, dry and well ventilated place without foreign smells, and avoid direct sunlight and raindrops. Air is vital for the natural post-fermentation* process that uplifts the quality, storage container shouldn't be air tight, and therefore earthenware is ideal.

Normally, aging plays bigger miracle in raw tea, raw tea becomes highly enjoyable after 10 years good keeping, 20~30 years could make a good quality raw cake a vintage Pu Er. Due to accelerated fermentation, tamed tea doesn't develop so significantly as raw ones, normally tamed tea reaches its peak around 8 years and would not develop further. Affected by year of production, blends of raw materials and other processing factors, aging of Pu Er doesn't have a unanimous standard, and needs experienced tasters to make judgments. In fact as time passes by, requests on the environment of storage becomes more stringent and difficult to achieve, any trivial negligence could result in spoil of the long stored tea.

Preparation:

China YiXing Purple Terra Cotta pot is highly recommended. Ceramic and porcelain tea-ware is also a good choice.

Perhaps the most difficult term to describe is "Specialty Tea" itself. The following definition however, should be considered.

SPECIALTY TEA - At risk of being overly simplistic, specialty yeas are teas which are not ordinary, there is something special about them. They can be special in many different ways and those ways may differ according to the country in which they are being consumed. For example, in the United States, where green tea represents a small percentage of total tea consumption, it may be considered a specialty tea. However, in Japan, where green tea represents the majority of consumption, it would not be considered a Specialty Tea.

Having established this caveat, specialty teas may be defined as teas which are of special (high) quality. They may be unblended teas, that is, teas which come from a particular region of a tea producing country known for high quality. They may even be teas which come from a particular tea garden (plantation) of a region reknown for high quality - much the same as how some estate wines are highly valued.

Typically, branded teas available in this country are blended. They may contain teas from many tea gardens and from many producing countries. Tea companies blend their teas to maintain a particular flavor profile which consumers have come to expect from those companies and to maintain a stable raw material cost structure. These companies all employ expert tea tasters who periodically change the blends to reflect changes in the tea marketplace and in the qualities of the tea which they receive.

Specialty tea need not be unblended. The definition may also include teas which utilize traditional recipes which are recognized within the industry as being of high quality. An example of this definition is an English Breakfast blend which traditionally uses high quality China Keemuns or a blend of Ceylon and India teas. Other examples of this type of specialty tea are blends called Irish Breakfast or Russian Caravan.

In addition, flavored teas such as Earl Grey (flavored with oil of bergamot), scented teas such as Jasmine (a green tea which is flavored with Jasmine flowers), spiced teas (flavored with ginger), or a tea which undergoes special processing such as a Lapsang Souchong (which has a smoky flavor) are also refered to as Specialty Teas.

- THE ABOVE DEFINITION IS COPIED FROM THE WEBPAGE OF "THE TEA ASSOCIATION OF THE USA"

A Bud N One Leaf aims at bridging those produce and consume premium quality speciality teas and natural herbal infusion. We have organic tea garden in Zhejiang province and gourmet tea outlets, and we have an advisory board consists of university professors and technical expertises in tea industry.  We believe that consumers are the best and ultimate judgers for quality and diversity.

We brew a traditional beverage into a modern lifestyle

Our group of veteran tea professionals and supply chain specialists could provide tailor made services such as:

1. New product development and sourcing services

2. Pre-shipment inspection and professional organoleptic quality control services

3. Supplier and buyer authenticity verification services

4. Training courses design and lecturing services

5. Marketing and brand strategy consultation services

6. China Market/Consumer behavior research and analysis services

7. China import/export services

8. China tea industry information and networking services

Our Key Product Series:

1. High-grown Organic Green Tea

2. First Flush Spring Specialty Tea 

3. Sencha

4. Oolong Tea

5. Organic Green Tea Powder

6. Jasmine Green Tea

Tang's High-grown Spring Tea (organic) Top Grade/汤-高山春茶-有机毛峰特级

Jasmine green tea is a scented tea made from green tea (tea base) and jasmine blossoms.

1. Tea Base: China Green Tea that is bake-dried, it is an unfermented tea with more nutrients remain. Unlike gunpowder* or sencha*, bake-dried green tea is mild in taste and has better absorption.  Prime quality tea base is spring tea plucked in March, April and May of the year. Tea plucked in spring is higher in amino acids level, and has a mellow and sweet flavor.

*gunpowder: a China green tea which is strong and has a distinctive smoky tone.

*sencha: a steam processed green tea, with a fresh grassy taste, a clear liquor, and is popular in Japan. 

2. Flowers: Jasmine blossoms that are half opened. Jasmine flowers are available from May to October.  Southern provinces could expcet early blossoms in April.  July and August are peak seasons and produce the best quality. The flowers are better plucked in late afternoon, as the making of jasmine tea requires a relatively cool environment so that the blossoms would open and release scents slowly to ensure most of the volatile essential oils are being absorbed by the tea instead of releasing to air.

3. Basic Process:

   a. airing and sorting jasmine blossoms.

   b. mixing tea base with fresh jasmine blossoms evenly at a proper ratio and keeping for hours.

   c. controlling temperature of the mixed tea by ventilating in times of needs

   d. sieving out jasmine flowers after the tea fully absorbed the scents.

   e. baking the tea to reduce excessive moisture.

   f. repeating step2-6 by mixing fresh jasmine blossoms with the above processed tea (the more rounds of jasmines  added, the better the flavor of the tea)

   g. mixing small amount of top grade jasmine blossoms to the above processed tea and keeping for hours

   h. sorting and packing the jasmine green tea.

Jasmine green tea is a nice beverage for the spring season.  (Traditionally, Chinese matching teas with seasons for thier respective healthy effects, e.g. green for summer, oolong for autumn and black for winter). 

Non-alcohol tea cocktail (normally black or green tea mixed with fruit juice, sugar, and/or milk etc, well shake and serve cold) is often referred to as "bubble tea" in China. 

Bubble tea originated from Taiwan, the making of a nice bubble tea requires a skillful bartender.  Depends on ingredients used, the tea juice will present colors of rainbow.  Bubble tea could be served with/without pearl* added.  When pearls are added, a jumbo straw is used.

 

* Peal: dark color, chewy edible balls of pearl-size, made from Tapioca Flour.  Low in calorie.

a lovely small teahouse at Chendo 

a drive-in teahouse at Wuyi

Spring Green Tea Series