As we all know, often the first thing we check on a compressed Pu-erh is the date on the back of its packaging – age equals the value and quality in many Pu-erh consumer’s mind. A date on the back was however not required until 2007 as part of the local government's attempt to regular the Pu-erh production industry. So how do you decide the age of a Pu-erh produced before 2007 with a blank back like the one in the image?

A production date was regarded as not essential for Pu-erh teas until 2007, mainly due to there is not an expiry date for Pu-erh teas – the more they are aged the better, and the traditional way of how they were produced – in the villages and families. During the recent decades, various methods have been used to ‘fake’ Pu-erh’s age for the purpose of fetching a high price on the market. There are various aspects associated with an aged Pu-erh, such as tea colour and texture etc, each one can be manipulated up to certain point. The multiple aspects and dynamic nature of Pu-erh teas make judging their actual age hard, not only for the beginners buy also for many experienced Pu-erh consumers.

To establish some standards, the local governments in the Yunnan Province introduced the 12 points of information, such as the production date, the manufacturer and location etc, to be printed on the back of a Pu-erh product (apart from Maocha) in 2007 to offer consumers some references.

For the products produced before 2007 with a blank back, one can only go back to the very basics of aged Pu-erh teas drawn from experiences: colour, aroma, taste, texture and aftertaste.

Overview:

The implication of Pu-erh tea’s storage on it’s aging has gone through intense debate during recently years, largely by two camps of tea dealers and consumers: 1/ the traditional cool and dry storage camp, represented by the conventional Kun-Ming storage 2/ south eastern Asia semi wet storage (natural and artificial) camp represented by HK storage.

With all the opinions and arguments in the community and industry, we would like to find out what the consumers, especially those outside of the conventional Pu-erh consumption areas ( ie with no or limited pre-conditioning to one type or the other) , think.

The result was a surprise, with preferences split down the middle and summed up neatly as “One’s cup of tea might not be the next person’s”, indicative of tea consumption across the wider tea industry.

Background

Conventional wisdom would indicate that the best storage conditions for loose leaf Chinese teas (green tea, white tea, Oolong tea or black tea) involve environments that are dry, cool and lack moisture and foreign odours.

This does not necessarily apply fully to Pu-erh tea however, which, due to its leaves being harvested from arbour tea trees instead of tea bushes, is a unique class of Chinese tea. When raw and fresh, Pu-erh teas can be rough, bitter with plenty of astringency and could be harsh on digestive system. As such these teas need to be “softened” to improve and become more mellow, smooth and richer in aroma and flavour.

The conventional way of ‘softening’ Pu-erh tea is via natural aging which involves three forms of oxidisation and fermentation:

1. simple chemical oxidisation.
2. enzyme mediated oxidisation.
3. micro-organism involved fermentation.

Differing climate conditions require different storage times to achieve similar results for Pu-erh tea, but with subtle quality trade-offs. ie

• 10 years storage in Beijing is equivalent to 4 years storage in GuangZhou.
• Slower aging retains more botanic aroma and mellow aftertaste, but at the cost of retaining greater astringency.

Two main traditional regions have an association with Pu-erh tea consumption under differing storage conditions:

1. The south-west and north-west regions of China (including Tibet) have a long association with aged Pu-erh teas stored under cooler and drier conditions.
2. South-east Asia is another market with a solid foothold.
   • Pu-erh consumers here discovered that the Pu-erh teas stored under certain tropical or sub-tropical climates (typically higher temperature and humidity level) such as HK and Malaysia go through a faster post-fermentation to reach a state that is categorically different from the same age Pu-erh tea from the south-west and north-west of China.
   • The market then started differentiating Pu-erh teas by storage types, in addition to other crucial elements such as areas and year of production and raw or ripened: HK storage, Malaysia storage, Taiwan storage and Kun-Ming storage etc.

Test to compare the differences between Pu-erh from these regions

We wanted to find out how consumers respond to differences in storage, so invited a small group of volunteers from a Pu-erh discussion group for a blinded test.

Study design:

aged ripened pu-erh teaWe sent out two samples of ripened Pu-erh without identifying the region of storage as follows:

1. One of Kun-Ming storage Xia Guan TuoCha (dry and cool storage).
2. One of HK storage (semi-wet storage, completed Jin-Cang 进仓 and Tui-Cang 退仓 – please see footnote for explanation). The tea had been stored in HK for 10 year under classic HK storage before bing compressed into cakes in 2017. 

The samples were marked as #1 and #2, and we invite the volunteers to send back their response on the following aspects: aroma, flavour, texture, aftertaste and overall comments. We publish the full results as follow.

Results

General demographic details:

• Sample size: 12
• Gender: Male -6 Female-6
• Country of residence: Australia, USA, Canada, Germany, Mexico and UK

In summary there was a 50/50 split with regard to the tea preferred.

Result in details:

Main findings:

• It is clear that even after the completion of the Tui-Cang 退仓, the ‘damp’ taste as the direct result of the HK Pu-erh storage (Jin-Cang 进仓) is sensed and tasted by tea drinkers, mostly describing it as a major putting off factor.
• By comparison, the dry storage Pu-erh is described by those who preferred it as bright, clean, bold, with good woody/earthy taste.
• It is a common consent that HK storage Pu-erh is darker in colour with a smooth texture. 
• The main surprise to me: for those who preferred the more heavily ‘storage fermented’ HK Pu-erh, there is no report of the ‘damp’ sensation at all, which is quite prominent in the other group. 

Acknowledgement:

We would like to thank you all for those who participated in the taste test and sent back you valuable feedback. 

Footnote:

• Jin-Cang 进仓 (Entering the storage): storing Pu-erh teas under artificial conditions that are classically higher humidity and temperature, and low air flow to speed up the ‘post fermentation’. Various HK storages apply different conditions. The teas after Jin-Cang 进仓 often have some level of mouldy smell/flavour and cloudy tea brew.
• Tui-Cang 退仓 (retreating from the storage): removing the teas from the initial storage and store in close to classic dry storage conditions (cool, dry and high air flow) for up to 2 years to remove (although not fully) the dump and mould flavour, and restore the initial Pu-erh's the bright and clear tea brew.

A Cool Summer’s Evening…

By my way of thinking, the sweltering inferno that is often Sydney summer, does not call for abstinence from the joy of a nice cup of tea, but rather an opportunity to sample the more refreshing brews in our stores. Besides the fact that research has suggested that a hot cuppa can actually help to cool you down in the heat (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-hot-drink-on-a-hot-day-can-cool-you-down-1338875/), it is just so delicious that I couldn’t bear the thought of giving it up over something so trivial as a hot day. It’s going to take a lot more than that to drag me away from my tea.

So, after the brutal heat of late which had kept me sipping on my invigorating green teas Dragon Well and Bi Lo Chun, a slight cool change gave me the excuse to (literally) dig into a beautiful ripened pu-erh Toucha. Before settling into this warm and cosy cuppa however, I got to try my hand at one of our new bamboo trays!

Usually, I would just use my cake knife and gather the tea on a piece of paper- putting the leftover leaves in a paper bag to keep them fresh for next time. Although this method works just fine and won’t affect the quality of your tea, the convenience of these trays really does speak for itself. While their dimensions mean that you do not have to constantly worry about your tea flying off into the sunset when you break it, they also have a small gap in the corner where you can easily empty the contents into a mug, or Gaiwan as I did. When combined with a fitted bamboo drawer, you can easily store the inevitable leftovers in a box that will simultaneously make a complimentary feature in any kitchen or living room. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, your leaves will be kept in a well ventilated space where they are protected from being crushed by the copious domestic forces which threaten their fragile peace.

While using the Gaiwan does involve a little more effort than say a mug, the small serving size makes for a much richer experience.

The tea is brewed to perfection as it is not stewing in a large body of water for extended periods of time, and the small mouthfuls provide a more acute conception of the delicious flavour.

The rich, woody flavours gained from its fermentation provided exactly the wholesome warmth I had missed for so long (despite loving my summer teas, a change is always welcome).

Indulging in some shortbread on the side, it was this Pu-erh tea that made my cool summer’s evening into brewed perfection

Use Pu-erh tea to lose weight:

Pu-erh tea is one of the most ancient Chinese teas. It has gained recent publicity due to its portrayed weight loss effects. Can pu-erh teas assist in weight loss and how effective they are? These are the questions the consumers would want to have answers of before they commit themselves.

What history and traditional wisdom tell us

Pu-erh tea originated from the Yun-Nan province, South-West of China. It was first traded on the local market in the Pu-erh area. It has since gone through many highs and lows, for example there was a production and trade peak during the late Qing and early Ming Dynasty, described as ‘up to a hundred thousand tea farmers working in the area at one time, harvesting and processing the teas’. Along with the flourishing of the production and trade, the tea started being exported. There were no roads in the mountains at that time. The teas were compressed into cakes or bricks, carried by human porters out of the mountains on trails before being loaded to horse backs to be fruther transported to areas like Tibet for trading.

The Tibetan diet is vastly different from the traditional Chinese diet, heavily meat and dairy dependent due to the local stock raising agriculture. Pu-erh tea has been consumed in this area for a long time, known to assist in digesting the 'hard to digest' food comsumed,  among many other benefits.

Scientific research of pu-erh tea’s weight reduction effects

There have been many recent clinical trials and reviews published in medical journals studing Pu-erh teas' weight reduction effects based on the tradtional wisedom. Following are some links for those who can tolerate scientific papers (warning: not as exciting as fictions, but evidences based!):

• The mechanisms of weight-cutting effect and bioactive components in Pu-erh tea: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22855451
• Improvements of mean body mass index and body weight in preobese and overweight Japanese adults with black Chinese tea (Pu-Erh) water extract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21745623
• Mechanisms of hypolipidemic and anti-obesity effects of tea and tea polyphenols: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16404708

My opinion

I am a pu-erh tea lover and I drink it because I enjoy it more than anything: its earthy fragrance, smooth texture, refreshing after taste and the deep cleansing feeling afterwards. A cup of good pu-erh after a heavy/rich meal feels like drew from haven! As I consume it on a daily base, its many benefits including weight control are just natural by-products.

For those who intend to use it purely for weight control purpose, the trick is consistency and regularity. Like all other Chinese teas, there is a vast difference in the tea quality. Find a premium supplier and source a good quality product. Make it part of your healthy life style, including being active and eat healthy. As demonstrated above, both traditional wisdom and modern science have proven that pu-erh tea is effective in helping to lose and control weight and body fat deposit. You will feel the difference once it is taken up and starts replacing some of the conventional sugar rich drinks in your diet.

I have ordered some premium loose pu-erh tea for the family recently. My young child has got right into an aged raw pu-erh, describing it as ‘not green, not black, but the perfect balance of the refreshness of the un-fermented tea and smooth texture of fermented tea’. Three kilogram of the loose teas is taking up a box of the storage space, which fortunately is available at our residence. 

A flash of thought came into my mind: it would be only seven cakes if this was cakes. A further reflection of the advantages and disadvantages of pu-erh teas being in their traditional ‘cake’ form came up with following summary. 

Advantages of the cakes: 

1. Less storage space
2. easier to transport
3. less likely to be damage (crushed as loose leaves) 
4. facilitating the post-fermentation

Disadvantage of the cakes:

1. needs to be breakup

Four to one, the Chinese have got it again. 

From many years of tea drinking and trading, I have noticed over and over again that there are little but practically meaningful aspects like these that the Chinese have fine-tuned over their long history of tea consumption, from planting the tea bushes/trees right to the end of making a perfect cup of tea. Call it perfection or obsession, this is how the tea masters were born, a nation full of them.