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 deposit. This is believed to the one of the reasons that Pu-erh tea has been 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 was traditionally made into cakes to facilitate its unique characteristic of post-fermentation, and the convenience of being transported by porters and horses out of the region for trade. Unlike all other categories of Chinese teas - the fresher the better, Pu-erh's value increases with its age, manifested in its smoother texture and richer flavor.

The traditional Pu-erh tea cakes have however been modified during recent years, made in loose forms for reasons:

• the human porter and horseback transportations are not longer required
• the convenience of not having to break cakes. It is more suitable to the modern busy life style to simply take some leaves and brew, although many aslo prefer the Pu-erh teas' original cakes.
• The traditional weight of a Pu-erh cake is 357gm. For those who just wish to give it a try, loose tea in smaller quantity is ideal.
• Loose Pu-erh has less collection value. It is more fore consumption.

Our Pu-erh teas are sauced directly from Menghai mountain area – one of the main Pu-erh producing areas in Yunnan province south-west of China. The tea leaves used belong to ‘Quan Mu’ type – the Camellia Sinensis of forest grown (uncultivated), large leaf species. The skills used to make these fine pu-erh teas are inherited from many generations of previous tea farmers and masters and carefully guarded in the region.

 There are two main types 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. The teas are ready to be consumed immediate after their production.

We offer both raw and ripened, cake and loose Pu-erh teas.

Pu-erh tea's preparation is also quite different from other Chinese teas. Please refer to the preparation instruction to avoid pit falls of Pu-erh tea brewing: (http://www.valleygreentea.com.au/preparation/pu-erh-tea-preparation-and-storage-guide.html)

Dear customers:

We have experienced a recent surge in Pu-erh tea purchasing prices in China, between 36% - 150% over the last 12 months depending on the tea type. Certain stocks are also difficult to source.

While Valley Green Tea endeavours to keep our prices consistent by absorbing most of the increases with the help of strong Australian dollar, we unfortunately had to put our prices up to a less degree to cover part of the additional costs.

We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused. A post has been published on our site blog to explain the reasons given for the price surge in China.