PU'ER TEA
& HEI CHA

Pu'er Tea or "Pu'er Cha" is made from Yunnan large-leaf varietal of Camellia sinensis. It's one of the oldest forms of tea and travelled the Ancient Tea Horse Road or Cha Ma Gu Dao. For ease of transport, the loose tea leaves were typically processed into compressed disks (bing cha), bricks (zhuan cha), squares (fang cha), and mushroom-type shapes called tuo cha. Pu'er is particularly special because it can be aged for decades or longer, always changing and developing more depth and texture. Raw Pu'er or Sheng Cha is the traditional form of Pu'er, and is sun-dried and compressed. Ripe Pu'er or Shu Cha is produced through a unique fermentation process called "wet-piling". During a 40-50 day period, the piled mounds of tea leaves undergo a mellowing process that changes the tea into a dark, earthy form with a deep reddish-brown color. This processing is said to mimic the effect that natural aging has on Raw Pu'er that has been aged for decades.

​

Hei Cha or literally "Dark Tea" is very old style of tea going back into history as one of the original "post-fermented" teas. Here we have tea leaves that are piled up and fermented using different kinds of post production techniques. The result can in some cases produce a visible "golden flower" or tiny fungus that is characteristic of some Hei Cha. This tea is also aged similar to pu'er and has become increasingly popular.