Pu-erh tea

Pu-erh (or Pu Erh) tea belongs to the Compressed Tea category - one of six main categories of Chinese teas. Named after its birth place, ‘Pu-erh’ village in Yun Nan province south-west China, it was first traded in the village market during Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

Despite having been around for more than a thousand years, Pu-erh tea has gained recent notoriety due to its exclusive ability to reduce body fat. Green tea is believed to be more effective at reducing body sugar level, Pu-erh tea is more targeted at body fat reduction. It is widely consumed in areas like Tibet where high fat meat (eg. lamb and horse meat) and dairy foods are main part of their diet.

Pu-erh tea is in its own tea category, having many unique characteristics - the most prominent one being post-fermenting. For other categories of Chinese teas, fresher is better. Pu-erh tea increases its value with age (like wine). PREPARATION is also quite different from other Chinese teas. Pleas read the preparation instruction carefully to avoid pit falls of making Pu-erh tea.

There are two main classes of Pu-erh teas:

• Sheng Cha (raw/green tea): tea leaves are compressed into shapes (cakes, bricks etc) before the start of the fermenting process. It takes 2 years minimum for these teas to be suitable for drinking. All our raw tea cakes are at least 2 years of age and ready to be consumed.

• Shou Cha (ripened/pre-fermented): a speed fermenting process is utilised before the tea leaves are compressed into shapes - which are then ready for consumption.

We offer both raw and ripened, cake and loose Pu-erh tea. Our standard , raw cakes (357gms) are aged for at least of two years and are now ready for consumption. All our Petite cakes are ripened cakes.

Our Pu-erh teas are sauced directly from Menghai mountain are – one of the main Pu-erh producing areas in Yunnan province. The tea leaves used belong to ‘Quan Mu’ type – the Camellia Sinensis of wild grown (uncultivated - therefore free of pesticide residuals), large leaf sub-type.