It is not difficult for even amateurs to obtain ripe Pu-erh tea, not only in Yunnan Province.
When tourists visit China, many buy Pu-erh tea as a souvenir, and about 80% of them are ripe Pu-erh tea.
You often hear people say, "I bought it from the authentic place in China, so it's really good tea." However, the reality is that most of these are not balanced with the price.
The overall quality of Pu-erh tea is determined by the balance between the richness of the taste and the type of aroma.
Unlike raw Pu-erh tea, ripe Pu-erh tea involves microbial fermentation, making the manufacturing process complex. Therefore, it is rarely produced by individual farmers. The production of ripe Pu-erh tea generally means a factory.
Of course, factories have employees. Salaries and equipment costs must be paid whether the tea sells or not.
In other words, compared to individual farmers who only need to sustain themselves, factories have high fixed costs and must sell in volume to recover those costs.
Therefore, the basic concept of producing ripe Pu-erh tea in factories is to produce in large quantities and to procure low-cost tea leaves.
While individual farmers produce raw Pu-erh tea in units of tens to hundreds of kilograms per year, factories produce it in tons.
To sell a large amount of tea, the quality must be uniform. If the quality of tens of tons of tea is inconsistent, it cannot be sold.
For this reason, factories blend tea leaves to ensure uniform quality.
Some believe blending is a technique or secret to creating quality Pu-erh tea, but the purpose of blending in factories is different.
The purpose of blending is solely to standardize quality. It is common to blend three types: spring tea, summer tea, and autumn tea, to standardize cost and quality.
In terms of blending raw materials, similar efforts are made in factories for green tea, black tea, and oolong tea, not just Pu-erh tea.
The major difference with Pu-erh tea is that ripe Pu-erh tea is made through microbial fermentation, which breaks down tannins, the cause of astringency. As a result, even if cheap raw materials are used, the tea does not taste astringent.
On the other hand, products made from cheap tea garden raw materials in green tea and black tea have strong bitterness and astringency, making it immediately clear that the quality is low. The same applies to raw Pu-erh tea made from cheap raw materials, which becomes very astringent.
No matter how cheap and low-quality the raw materials plucked in midsummer are, ripe Pu-erh tea does not become astringent.
The reality is that many people cannot judge the quality of ripe Pu-erh tea because it does not have the astringency associated with cheap tea.
Unfortunately, good quality raw materials in Yunnan Province are used for the production of raw Pu-erh tea.
This is because high-quality raw Pu-erh tea sells for much higher prices than high-quality ripe Pu-erh tea.
This raises the question, "Is there hardly any good quality ripe Pu-erh tea on the market?" In fact, the position of ripe Pu-erh tea in Yunnan Province is similar to that of bancha or genmaicha in Japanese tea,
meaning that good quality ripe Pu-erh tea is generally limited.
At HOJO, we specifically purchase only spring tea before blending. We repeatedly taste a considerable amount of tea to introduce good quality.
As mentioned earlier, even at airports, hundreds of types of ripe Pu-erh tea are displayed, but finding truly good quality tea is even more difficult than finding good quality raw Pu-erh tea.
What makes good quality ripe Pu-erh tea different? While ripe Pu-erh tea might have an image of a musty tea, good quality tea should leave a certain level of impression when you drink it.
Here are the characteristics of delicious ripe Pu-erh tea:
1. Even when brewed lightly, the taste is rich and deep. The aroma is not a thin scent that escapes the nose but can be felt deep in the throat, leaving a deep aftertaste.
2. Properly fermented tea has a sweet aroma like dried fruits. On the contrary, poor-quality tea smells like earth, natto, feet, or rotten furniture. This is due to the lack of oxygen in the tea leaves caused by poor moisture control during fermentation.
This tea is made at an altitude of 2000 meters. In Taiwan, tea grown at 2000 meters is considered quite high-quality high mountain tea. The significant temperature difference between day and night at high altitudes results in a tea with a rich aftertaste.
The tea trees are cultivated using a method called "Qiaomu."
The tea production area is Yunnan Province's west, a region called Yun County in Lincang. This area is also well known as a production area for Yunnan black tea.
Lincang is located at a high latitude, and the tea cultivation area is very high in elevation, resulting in generally good tea.
This product has a sweet aroma of dried fruits, and together with a deep throat feel, the lingering scent can be felt for a long time after drinking.
Although it is reasonably priced tea, it has a rich taste (throat feel) that is far from casual tea for daily drinking. It is high-quality tea that could easily sell for 2-3 times the price.
Occasionally, you can find such bargain teas in Yunnan Province. It is highly cost-effective tea, making it highly recommended for beginners to Pu-erh tea.
Since there is limited stock, if you like the quality of this product, it is recommended to buy in bulk.
Focus on Sourcing Naturally Cultivated Tea
Since 2010, we have been visiting Yunnan Province every spring. Over the years, we have built connections with many famous tea regions. However, our focus is not on a region's fame, but rather on tea with transparency and a long-lasting aftertaste. To achieve this, we focus on remote mountain villages, selecting tea gardens with ancient tea tree, high altitudes, and no fertilizers, sourcing through unique logistics channels. For more details, please visit the following page.
In Yunnan, teas claiming to be from famous regions are produced in thousands of locations, using leaves from other areas, and can be found everywhere—from airports and convenience stores to supermarkets.
What complicates matters is the surprising phenomenon where imitation teas made from leaves in remote areas are of higher quality than the genuine articles. This is especially common with Pu-erh teas from Lincang, and it is a well-known fact among professionals involved in sourcing locally. For more details, please visit the following page.
In Yunnan Province, there are long-established brands like Dayi and Zhongcha. These brands are renowned because their teas produced before 1990 are highly valued.
So, why are these older teas considered special? Many people assume it's due to long aging, but in reality, the tea leaves used at that time were naturally grown without fertilizers, resulting in their superior quality.
Therefore, even if current teas are aged for a long time, they will not reach the same quality. For more information, please visit the following page.
