Compiled and Edited By
Harold B. Camara, A.S., (Surg. OR)
(The Pu'erh Cha "Tea Medic" ®)
"Specility Food Processor and Food-Craft Exhibitor"
Proprietor; 1st Pu'erh Cha "Man- Head" Tea Garden and Tea Shop
21 August 2005
THE HISTORY OF PUERH, THE BEGINNING OF TEA.
But First A Word ABOUT OUR: Pu'erh Cha; PU-ERH TEA:
Pu-erh Teas Are Known In China As "MEDICAL Teas".
Although green tea has gotten all the press, pu-erh teas are finally being enjoyed in the West. We believe pu-erh teas merit a place among the tea shelves of Americans.
The Pu-erh teas we spcialize in are from the Dayeh (large leaf) species of broad leaf tea trees of Yunnan, China. These trees are believed to be an older variety of the modern, smaller leafed tea bush. Some pu-erh tea trees can be ancient, the oldest known tree is over 2000 years old!
Pu-erh leaves are processed differently than green tea leaves. They are oxidized similar to an oolong tea, but not as long as black tea. The leaves are then dried loose or compressed into tea bricks, tea cakes or Tuochas that look like bird nests. For most Americans, tea in this state is a unique visual experience. Some tea cakes have been aged in caves to develop their particularly earthy flavor.
Pu-erh tea has yet to be researched to the same degree as green tea, but what we do know is that pu-erh tea has unique benefits that the other teas do not. In particular, pu-erh helps decrease blood cholesterol levels and improves fat metabolism. We believe that as research on this tea increases, science will confirm the special metabolic stimulation that pu-erh teas offer. It is thought that pu-erh tea’s unique double fermentation may create special enzymes and microbes that offer the body micronutrients essential for better health.
Many coffee drinkers enjoy pu-erh’s rich, deep flavors. Since pu-erh tea has less caffeine than coffee, it is a great alternative for those looking to decrease caffeine intake but still like a full bodied beverage. Tea also provides health benefits not found in coffee and is a great addition to anyone’s diet. One cup of pu-erh tea with each meal has shown to stimulate weight loss. We suggest trying the "Pu-erh Diet". Drink 1 cup with each meal for one month and decide for yourself. Tea will balance the body’s systems and stimulate a more functional metabolism.
Our pu-erh teas come in loose leaf and compressed forms. The loose leaf is easy to measure and generally milder tasting. The compressed Pingchas and brick tea are usually more hearty tasting. Made with fine leaves our dragon cakes are a high grade, smooth pu-erh. Some of the Chitsu Pingchas are aged and are quite strong and earthy. The pu-erh lover will enjoy these special cakes, although a newcomer to pu-erh may find these aged teas robust. Some enjoy drinking pu-erh tea initially, for others the deep red liquid’s mellow taste is an acquired one. We are truly fortunate to offer select grades of pu-erh that make drinking it a delight. Again, each tea has a slightly different character that actually gets better and smoother with age. We happily offer these fine, healthful teas for your exploration and enjoyment.
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AND NOW A WORD ABOUT:
THE HISTORY OF PUERH; THE BEGINNING OF TEA.
It is well known around the world that tea cultivation and its leaf utilization originated in China. Tea is a traditional and natural drink it has already spread to thousands of households and become an integral part of the daily life of millions of people. Through hundreds of years, savoring and sampling tea has become recognized as “a genuine, healthy, and civilized drink” and “an embodiment of courtesy and purity”. Indeed, we may well say that it is hard to win a bosom friend by drinking a thousand glasses of good wine , but easy to infatuate a person by tasting a cup of pure tea.
It is also well known to the world that Xishuangbanna and Simao areas in the lancing River valley, Yunnan Province , are the birthplaces of tea trees, where our ancestors planted a kind of broad leaf-tea tree named after the old and beautiful region “Puerh”. From then on Puerh tea began to enjoy popularity in the country and became a fashionable drink all over the world. No matter what the color of your skin or what language you speak, when you taste a cup of clear tea giving off delicate fragrance, and when you feel deeply that it helps not only produce saliva and also prevent disease and benefit health. You cannot help but praise highly its wonderful effects, and hold in esteem the people who produce this world-famous tea from Xishuangbanna, a mysterious treasure land.
Today, in beautiful and fertile Xishuangbanna by the roadsides where the eyes are greeted with green and luxuriant tea bushes that lie layer upon layer and row by row in uniform order, connecting mountains and ridges and reaching the sky. Among them, are scattered rare trees such as camphor, dragon, and spruce trees with floating with hidden fragrance gladdening the heart and refreshing the mind. China Puerh Tea goes from these green mountains to the factories, and on to the world.
THE HISTORY OF PUERH TEA CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE EASTERN HAN DYNASTY (25—220AD).
According to legend, the species was left over by Zhugeliang, Marquis of Wu, and Chief Minister of the State of Shu in the Three Kingdoms. Therefore, the use of Puerh Tea dates back at least 1700 years. The first official record appears in 862 in the ”Book on Barbarians”, in which Fan Chuo, the envoy sent by the emperor of the Tang Dynasty to the State of Nan Zhao, writes, ”The tea is yielded in mountains beyond Yinsheng City and picked form scattered trees without processing. Barbarians of Mengshe drink tea by cooking it with pepper, ginger, and cassia’’.
Similar records are found in “The Sequel of Botany” written by Li Shi of the Song Dynasty:” The tea is yields in the mountains beyond Yinsheng City , picked without revealed to seasons and drunk by cooking it with pepper and ginger”.
Research has revealed that “ Yinsheng City ” was Yinsheng prefecture, one of the six governors’ seats of the Nan Zhao State during the Tang Dynasty, now Jingdong County , Yunnan Province, covering today’s Xishuangbanna and Simao. “Barbarians of Mengshe” was a general term referring to national minorities of the Nan Zhao State , during the Tang Dynasty. Even now, some of the nationalities continue to drink tea cooked with pepper and ginger. “Pick tea without regard to seasons” was a description true to the growth cycle of subtropical zone where Xishuangbanna is located.
History shows that tea cultivation flourished during the Tang Dynasty through the Song Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty (618—907) Puerh Tea yielded mainly in Xishuangbanna was transported for sale throughout the empire. According to the records put down by Ruan Fu in his book “The Records of Puerh Tea”: The westerners began to use Puerh Tea during the Tang Dynasty”. In the Song Dynasty (960—1279), the State of Dali sent envoys to Guang Xi Province to barter Puerh Tea for horses with troops stationed in Jing Jiang. There were also tea and horse exchanges in Sichuan , Yunnan , and Tibet . Puerh Tea sold in the Central and Southern Shina was Jintuancha (Compressed Round Tea), also called “Yuancha”. Wang Yu Cheng, a well-known scholar of the Song Dynasty upon tasting the sweet-scented Puerh Tea, praised it writing a poem, which reads:” It smells as sweet as an orchid in bloom, and has a shape like an autumn full moon. For fear running out to begrudge tasting it I try, as with it my gray headed parents I’ll supply.”
In the Yuan Dynasty (1206--1368) Puerh Tea was already an important commodity in the market. Li Jing in his book “The Customs of the National Minorities in Yunnan Province”, chapters titled “Gold Teeth”, “The White Tribe” (referring to the Dai people), points out that: “Exchange of felts, cloth, tea and salt in fairs takes place every five days”. The term “Puerh Tea” originated from the tea trade among the people and was officially recorded in history during the Ming Dynasty (1368—1644). Xie Zhao Zhi of the Ming Dynasty points out in his book “The Outline History of Yunnan”: “The government officials and ordinary people all use Puerh Tea”. “The newly edited History of Yunnan” points out that: “Puerh Tea enjoys such popularity that no tea made in China whether from Anhui , Fujian , or Zhejiang , can compare with it”. The time from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty was a great period of prosperity for Puerh Tea, because Puerh Tea as an article of tribute was appreciated by the government very much, which subsequently promoted its rapid development. Meanwhile in the Xishuangbanna tea cultivation zone with Six Tea Mountains as its main base produced 80 thousand dan (a unit of weight = 50kg .) of dried tea annually, an all-time high yield.
According to the historical records, Puerh Tea sold in Tibet only in 1661 reached thirty thousand, dan. From 1862 to 1874, the production of Puerh Tea was still on the rise. The Mansa Tea Mountain alone yielded more than 5 thousand dan of dried tea annually. Almost every household in Xishuangbanna was engaged in tea cultivating, manufacturing and selling. With bells of packhorses ringing, the tracks in the mountains were blocked by tea merchants and caravans, and the business boomed. In 1729 E Ertai Governor of Yunnan , instituted a policy meant to strengthen government over the national minorities. For example, in Youle Tea Mountain , (the biggest one of the Six, now a town of the Jinuo people in Jinghong County ), a county government was established with five hundred soldiers stationed to guard tea cultivation and collect tax revenue. In the Mountains of Meng Hai, Mengzhe, Yiwu, and Yibang special bureaus were set up to control grain and tea taxation. In 1736, the county government was withdrawn from Youle and reestablished in Simao, where a government tea-commerce bureau was established with branches in charge of collecting revenues and purchasing tea in the Six Tea Mountain areas. In Puerh, a tea factory was established and the tea-commerce bureau was responsible for tea manufacturing and tea selling, thus changing the government-controlling tea trade market among the people into a tea distributing, manufacturing, trading center and a place for paying tribute. From then on, the reputation of Puerh Tea became wide spread. Just as Tan Cui writes in his book “A Survey of Mountains and Rivers of Yunnan”: “Puerh Tea is well-known to the world and yielded in the Six Tea Mountains which are Youle, Gedeng, Yibang, Mangzhi, Manzhuan and Mansa stretching along for eight hundred li (248.54 miles). Workers engaged in the tea business amount to more than 100 thousand people.
Merchant’s purchase the tea and tea is carried everywhere. IT IS REALLY A LARGE BUSINESS!” In “A Survey of the History of Yunnan”, “The Puerh City History” and “The History of the Great Qing Dynasty as a Unified Domain”, there are also similar records:
“The national minorities, living in a compact community, barter tea for everything, thus feeding on Tea Mountains ”. During the period from 1821 to 1875, Puerh Tea was at the peak of its production and marketing. Merchants flocked to Puerh from all parts of the country, and the market boomed. More than a thousand Tibetan merchants went there every year to purchase tea. Merchants from India , Burma , Ceylon , Siam , Cambodia , Vietnam and other countries of South East and South Asia also came to engage in tea trade. Annually, caravans consisting of more than 50 thousand horses and rivers with bell ringing greeting the ear throughout the year.
For thousands of years Puerh Tea has found favor in the eyes of the broad masses of the consumers. The “Records among Reeds in the Buddhist World” by Chai E in 1925 points out that “Puerh Tea is warm in property, fragrant in smell and able to cure diseases. The tea, pressed into a round mold by means of bamboo chopsticks is steamed and sold as dear as gold”. Puerh Tea as a traditional drink has particular curative effects besides the effects of producing saliva, quenching thirst, and refreshing the heart and mind. The “Supplementary Amplifications of the Compendium of Materia Medica” by Zhao Xueming of the Qing Dynasty points out: “Puerh Tea yielded in Youle and Gedeng is warm in property, fragrant in smell and the tea yielded in Manzhuan in bitter in taste and potent in property. Able to dispel grease and get rid of toxin from beef or mutton and should not be taken by the weak”. Being bitter and astringent, it is helpful in reducing phlegm and improving breath, able to speed peristalsis and ease constipation Puerh Chagao (Puerh Tea Ex-tract) is as black as lacquer and can dispel the effects of alcohol. It is still better to help digestion and produce saliva when it is black with greenish hue. In volume six “Part of Xylophyta”, he points out “Puerh Tea Extract can cure many diseases such as abdominal distention and chill that can be sweated out by taking ginger and Puerh Tea drink. Additionally, mouth or throat ulcer can be cured by keeping 2.5kg of Puerh Tea Extract in the mouth for the night”.
Puerh Teas distinguishing features and curative effects are the result of many factors:
First, the influence of climate: Xishuangbanna is located south of the Tropic Cancer, and dominated by mountain ranges and valleys. Twenty percent of the region is tropical, at altitudes of 900 or fewer meters above sea level, while 80% is subtropical at altitudes of 900 or more meters above sea level. In the subtropical zone, the quality of heat is good and rainfall plentiful. There is neither bitter cold, nor intense heat, but an abundance of foggy days with high relative humidity, which is suitable for the growth of tea trees, especially the Yunnan broad-leaf tea trees that need such weather conditions the most. Notably, temperature inversion is caused under the influence of cold air going down the slope whose temperature drops due to radiation. Therefore, at certain altitudes the growth period of the same plant is so inverted that the tea trees in the mountain areas have a better quality of heat than those in the valleys. The geographical location of Xishuangbanna determines its long exposure to sunshine with more than 2000 hours of sunshine a year. In the region 900 meters and less above sea level, the annual average temperature ranges from 20 to 22 ? ,while in the regions 900 meters and more above sea level, the temperature ranges from 18 to 19 ? ,as the sun casts its rays on mountain slopes, changing its direct light into oblique light, thus weakening its intensity. The monthly average temperature, hence the tea trees grow all year round. With the annual acting accumulated temperature 6500 ? , the vigorous growth period at a temperature of 18 ? lasts more than 200 days. In Jinghong, the period is still longer, reaching 365 days. Usually, the spring-tea-picking period is 10 days earlier than in other areas of the country. In Xishuangbanna, the yearly difference in temperature is insignificant, but significant is the daily difference reaching more than 10 ? . Hence, the tea trees can take in heat by day, growing fully, and consume less energy, breathing at night with higher net assimilability helpful to accumulation of energy.
Xishuangbanna is plentiful in rainfall because, with the warm and moist air from the Indian Ocean moving north over the region, the temperature drops and rain is formed with 120—150 rainy days and annual rainfall reaching 1200— 1600 mm ., fully meeting the needs of tea cultivation.
“High mountains, enveloped with clouds and fogs, yield famous teas”. Xishuangbanna is not only a beautiful and fertile land. It also has lofty ridges, and towering mountains without break. Every mountain is covered with trees and every gully houses, water. It is really a green world full of life, scattered with mountain plantations. Huang Shan is famous for its sea of clouds while Xishuangbanna is famous for its sea of fog. All year round, the fog appears silently in the midst of night from valleys and mountains, instantly blotting out the sky and the earth, covering everything in such a vast blanket that one simply cannot tell the time of day or the direction. Only the trickle of dripping dew reminds one that this is a world where life and growth will never cease to exist. At noon when the blazing sun is high in the sky, the all-covering fog suddenly vanishes without a trace. It is the fog that covers everything, moistens everything and finally makes the broad-leaf tea leaves luxuriant, their taste particular and their nutrients abundant and wonderful, thus creating the best raw material for preparing this famous tea.
Secondly, it is the composition of the soil. The soil in Xishuangbanna tea cultivation areas is formed by the weathering of granite, purple rock, and sandstone on bedrock and is mainly laterite (a soil formed by decaying rocks weathered by tropical heat and centuries of heavy rain) and partly yellow soil; highly weathered, with acid reaction and pH value of four—six. Compared with other tea cultivation areas, the soil in Xishuangbanna has the following prominent features: The quick decomposition and quick accumulation of soil elements, the organic substances of the soil are comparatively abundant, usually about 5%. According to measurements by tea research institutions, the topsoil in Nannuo Mountain, where the Kong Tea Trees grow, contains organic substances amounting to 5.1—6.78%;in Nanlanghe Tea Plantation these levels reach 3.7—4.25%,in the plantation of Meng Hai Tea Research Institute 3.5—6.3%,which is quite rare in other tea cultivation areas.
Under warm and moist conditions, the weathering process is quite rapid, and the thickness of true soil may reach several meters deep due to the protection of beneficial vegetation. According to measurements, the main roots of the sixty-year-old tea trees reach depths of 3.7m . Notably, only deep roots can make trees luxuriant.
The presence of sand in the soil, to which a high content of organic substances of appropriate weight, proper softness, rich moisture, and air permeability is added.
Thirdly, the function of the ecosystem: In the course of tea tree cultivation, individual development, must be a recurrence of the ecosystem development, thus the environmental, surroundings for ecosystem development must be secured, which include light, heat, water and other factors necessary for animals and plants. While the vegetation and plant community play a controlling role in adjusting factors such as light, heat and water. Any change in vegetation can change all ecological factors. In the tea cultivation zones throughout the country, Xishuangbanna’s ecosystem provides the trees.
Fourth, fine varieties of tea species: Puerh Tea is a broad-leaf tea species found only in Yunnan , and the excellent natural environment in Xishuangbanna adds brilliance to its splendor. Yunnan ’s broad-leaf tea has thick mesophyll, large sprouts, high germination, more pekoe, long age, and abundant contents.
The scientific measurements show that Yunnan broad-leaf tea is a superior to narrow-leaf tea, while the broad-leaf tea growing at low latitude is still better than that at high latitude. According to measurements taken by the Yunnan Tea Research Institute, the water leaching extract of the broad-leaf tea, a main norm for measuring tea quality, is 3—5% higher than that of narrow-leaf tea, its tea polyphenol 5—7% higher, and its catechin 30—60 mg/g higher. The water-leaching extract of the Yunnan broad-leaf tea growing at the north latitude higher than 25 is 41—48%, its tea polyphenol 30—33%, its catechin 135—150, mg/g., while in Xishuangbanna (at latitude 21—24N) its water leaching extract is 47—48%, its tea polyphenol33—36%, and its catechin 170—190mg/g.
The broad-leaf tea growing in Xishuangbanna can put forth buds 5—6 times a year, its yearly growth period reaches more than 300 days and its picking period lasts almost 9 months from the last ten-day period of February to the middle ten-day period of November. Its new branches can grow 185cm long in a year. Its buds are heavy and compact. Its grade-three young tealeaf with a bud weighs 0.7g , and two leaves with a bud— 0.8g . The heaviest is 4.6g and the longest— 16.8cm . Leaves 33cm long and 13.6cm wide even have been picked. According to the measurements, the granum (grain) lamella of the Yunnan broad-leaf tea reaches 200 layers, two times more than that of narrow leaf tea, thus ensuring a high yield. Xishuangbanna is characterized by its complicated topography, thus forming small-sized eco-zones respectively where the tea trees, growing in different ecosystems, develop their own species of local colonies, characteristic of particular botany by natural hybridization, natural and artificial selected improved varieties to popularize or as parents to breed new varieties. In this respect, Xishuangbanna is superior to all other areas. As species have integration and inseparability from environmental surroundings, even when some areas have introduced the Yunnan broad-leaf tea they are helpless to take away the surroundings with the species. Therefore, our seed-breeding experts have come to the following conclusion: “As to China black tea, the narrow leaf tea species are inferior to the broad-leaf tea species, and the broad leaf tea introduced to the broad tea of origin.”
FIFTH, THE PECULIARITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND PROCESS OF NATURAL TRANSFORMATION:
The processing of Puerh tea is characteristic of it own technology which undergoes the following procedures such as killing out, kneading, drying and heaping, which shows that compact tea was produced by kneading at that time. The earlier and middle stages of the Qing Dynasty were a period of great prosperity for Puerh tea, during which production was already perfected and in conformity with norms. According to the records inscribed by Zhang Hong in 1775 in his book “A New talk in southern Yunnan ”, Puerh tea is treasure that divides into Maojian (Pekoe Tip Tea), Yacha (Sprout tea), Nu’Ercha (Maidens Tea), and so on. The tea picked before Grain Rain day is called Bud Tea, that is not compressed into balls and has a flavor as sweet as lotus flowers and a color as green as lotus leaves. The Sprout Tea is thicker then the Bud Tea, compressed into balls weighing 1-10 Jin(a unit equal to 0.5kg ) each, enjoying popularity among people of Yunnan”. It is recorded in “Supplementary Amplifications of the Compendium of Materia Medica” written by Zhao Xue Ming in 1765: “Puerh tea is prepared in the shape of a ball falling into three sizes. The biggest, weighing five Jin is made into the shape of a human head and called Rentoucha (Human Head Tea) used especially for paying tribute and unavailable in the market.
Sometimes counterfeit products called Chuan Cha (meaning tea from Sichuan ) are produced by the local people at the border of Sichuan and Yunnan . The mass is not as compact and green as the tea of Puerh that is fragrant beyond comparison. Puerh tea extract is as black as lacquer and is good for dispelling the effects of alcohol, and still better if it is black with a greenish hue”. This shows that the technology for producing tea was quite good. The China Tea Scientific Research Institute still holds human head tea samples left by the Qing imperial court with no changes in quality. As to Maidens tea according to “A new talk in Southern Yunnan” written by Zhang Hong, the name is based on the fact that the tea is picked and produced entirely by girls to accumulate money for their dowry. In the novel “A Dream of Red Mansion”, it is described as the tea that Jia Bao Yu drinks.
In the “Records of Puerh Tea” Ruan Fu writes:
“The strong tasting PUERH TEA IS WELL KNOWN TO THE WORLD AND
PEOPLE OF THE CAPITAL VALUE IT VERY MUCH.”
As the imperial court set great store by it, the needs of the court had to be met first, and Puerh Tea became tea of tribute, which in turn promoted improvement and development of manufacturing technology and varieties of products. The production of tribute tea was very exquisite, First excellent tea had to be picked. According to “The records of Puerh Tea”, “Fine white buds called Mao Jin (Pekoe tip tea) are picked in February for paying tribute and only after this, is tea selling among the people allowed”. Secondly, great attention was paid to varieties of colors and designs. “The Records of Puerh Tea” points out: “Those who pay tea for tribute must prepare compressed tea weighing 5 Jin, 3 Jin, 1 Jin (a unit equal to 0.5kg )and 1.5 Liang (a unit of measurement equal to 50g ) respectively. Additionally, they also have to prepare Bud Tea, Sprout Tea packed in bottles, and Tea extracts packed in cases, totaling eight designs called Eight Designed Tea of Tribute.
THIRDLY, THE COMPULSORY QUOTA OF TRIBUTE TEA
WAS CLAIMED.
According to “The Detailed Accounts of Tea of Tribute” consulted by Ruan Fu”. As a rule the tea of tribute is paid through the provincial financial bureau at the cost of 1000 liang of silver which is drawn by the financial branch in charge of purchasing tea of tribute, including preparation of tea containers such as tin jars, brocade cases, and wooden boxes”. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, people stopped paying tribute, but the tea producing technology was maintained.
On the whole the processing technology for the production of Puerh Tea consists of the following procedures: fresh tea leaf picking, killing out, kneading and drying, after which it becomes coarse green, which tastes strong and thick, but not up to the required standard. The coarse green can be divided into prepared tea and raw tea, depending on what processing procedures it undergoes. If it has undergone airtight heaping it is called prepared tea, which can be sold when its, taste becomes steady after long-term storage that usually lasts from 3—5 years. Raw tea refers to such coarse tea that turns into prepared tea by means of natural transformation without airtight heaping, which takes from five—eight years. Being totally matured and steady, the prepared raw tea possesses a vigorous lingering scent, keeping the old fragrance at the same time. The longer it is kept, the stronger its internal fragrance is revealed. Therefore, a tradition of producing new tea and selling old tea had existed for a long time in which fathers pick fresh tealeaves, process them, and leave them to their sons or grandsons for sale after long years of natural chemical reaction. “The longer it is stored, the stronger fragrant it smells” is an old saying about Puerh Tea.
The particular flavor of Puerh Tea is also related to natural transformation. The matured Puerh Tea, having undergone particular processing and been compressed into different shapes and various sizes, is laid dry in the shade, then packed in baskets and carried to other parts of the country according to demand. Yunnan is located in the frontier region and Xishuangbanna is along the border where mountains are high and rivers dangerous. In ancient times, transport was quite difficult and depended entirely on horse or ox caravans. On some roads, the horse caravans could make only two trips while the ox caravans managed but one trip a year. The tea was packed on the backs of horses or oxen, bumped for a long time and was exposed to the sun, wind and rain ,thus causing gradual transformation of the internal substances contained in the tea. Only through such transformation did Puerh Tea develop its unique color, fragrance, and taste. Nowadays, Puerh Tea maintains these unique characteristics with the help of modern technology.
“The History of Puerh City”, compiled during the Qing Dynast, mentions that tea picked in different seasons can be made into different varieties of products: “The tea buds picked in February are all fine and white, called Maojian (Pekoe Tip Tea), and specially prepared for paying tribute. The leaves picked in February or March are called Xiaomancha (Grain Full Tea) and those picked in June or July called Guhuacha (Rice-flower Tea). The tea compressed into large cakes is named Jintuancha (Compressed Round Tea),while that compressed into small round cakes, weighing 4 liang ,is named Nu’ercha (maidens’ Tea), which is picked and prepared entirely by girls before Grain Day. The tea and fine tea outside is called Jiefangcha (Remade Tea), and the tea kneaded with dark-yellow unfolded tea leaves is called Jinyuetian (golden-moon-in-the-sky Tea), while tea, compressed so that it is hard to break is called Gedacha (Lump Tea).”
As mentioned above, the cultivation of tea can be traced back to the period of the Three Kingdoms and its sale abroad no later than the Tang Dynasty.
The sale of Puerh Tea in great quantities began at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing Dynasties. Tan Cui of the Qing Dynasty writes in his book “A Survey of Mountains and Rivers of Yunnan”: “Puerh Tea is well-known to the world, and many thousands of workers are engaged in this business. Tea merchants flock there, almost blocking the way, purchasing tea and carrying it everywhere. It is really a large and profitable business!” At that time, Puerh Tea was not only sold all over the country, but also abroad as far as Japan , and the countries of South-East Asia .
Volume 19 “Economics” in “The Puerh City History” compiled during the reign of Emperor Guangxu also points out: “Puerh belonged to Yinsheng Prefecture in ancient times, and westerners have begun to use Puerh Tea ever since the Tang Dynasty”, In the Sing Dynasty there fairs to barter tea for horses. During the Yuan Dynasty, tea already became an important product for exchange among the people of different nationalities along the borders of Yunnan. In the Ming Dynasty government officials and ordinary people all drank Puerh Tea, and during the reign of Emperor Shenzong (1573—1620) a special institution was set up to manage the tea trade.
“A Survey of the History of Yunnan: Army and defense”, compiled during the reign of Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty states: “In view of the exploitation of tea peasants by unscrupulous merchants by means of usury, monopoly of tea trade in all of the mountains and uprisings with arms by peasant in desperation…”. “E Er-tai, Governor of Yunnan, and Guizhou, decided, to set up main stations in appropriate places to manage the tea trade by magistrates who also collect tax money at 3 Qian (equal to 5g .) of silver for each horse load of tea”. The Qing government set Youle County in Youle Mountain as its county seat in 1729, and in Menghai, Mengzhe, Yiwu and other places administrative offices were set up to manage the grain and tea business. In 1736, the Youle County seat was moved to Simao where a government tea bureau was set up to which any merchants engaging in tea trade had to apply for licensers, thus Simao became another Puerh Tea transfer station and flourished as a result. From 1821 to 1876, “more than a thousand Tibetan merchants visited Simao every year and merchants and caravans from India came to carry loads of tea, shellac and other goods to their country, proceeding in an endless stream along the roads. Merchants from Burma , Siam , Vietnam , Laos , Cambodia and other countries also came to do tea business”.
The establishment of Customs in modern times promoted further development of tea sale abroad. Article three in “The Commercial Treaty between China and France ” signed in 1895 stipulates, “It is agreed that Simao in Yunnan is open to France as a trading port”. In 1897 Britain forced the Qing imperial government to sign 19 Additional Clauses attached to the Treaty between China and Burma the stipulate: “It is agreed that Britain may set up a consulate in Simao”. France set up her Customs in Simao on 2 January 1897 and Britain set up her Customs on May 8, 1902 . According to the statistics of Customs from 1912 to 1923, Puerh Tea exported through Simao Customs was worth 110210 Liang of silver.
At this time, the tea sale abroad depended mainly on transportation by horses or oxen. During the peak-period fifty--thousand packhorses and several thousand oxen hobbled along the post roads year round with the highest annual sale abroad amounting to more than 40 thousand dan. As Puerh Tea enjoyed popularity among the Tibetan people, it played a positive role in frustrating the attempt of British imperialism to control Tibet by selling tea from India .
The routes for Puerh Tea sale abroad as follows:
The first route from Puerh to Xiaguan, Luzhou, Xufu, Chengdu , and Chongqing , was where the Puerh Tea was transferred to Tibet and Xizang .
The second route started with Meng Hai to the border port, Daluo, where the route branched into three: the first led to Burma and Thailand the second to India via Burma and the third, to Malaysia and Singapore via Burma .
The third route began from Yiwu Tea Mountain , Mengla County ; the tea was transported by horse caravans, to Fengsali, Laos , then to Hanoi , Vietnam , where the tea was carried by train to Haiphong , then to the countries in the South Ocean .
Besides paying tribute, Puerh Tea was also presented as a gift to the guests of other countries. In the town Ning’er, in the Prefecture seat of Puerh, a special government factory and a tea bureau were set up to manufacture highly finished products for paying tribute to the imperial court. As the Qing imperial court was especially fond of Puerh Tea, it was stipulated that 66 thousand Jin of tea should be ready for annual tribute. Puerh Tea paid as tribute to the Qing imperial court was organized by local officials and was much better in fragrance, curative effects, and digestive power than the tea of tribute from other places. All these characteristics just met the needs of the relatives of the emperor, all of whom came from nomadic tribes and meat as their main food. Therefore, Maidens’ Tea, Compressed Round Tea, Tea Extract of Puerh Tea series enjoyed great popularity among the imperial kinsmen, generals, and ministers, including the emperor himself. For quite a long period, it was a fashion to drink Puerh Tea among them by either steeping it in boiling water or cooking it in boiling water or cooking it in milk. As the imperial court valued it very much, ordinary people began to follow the example, there upon Puerh Tea began to gain great fame and high prestige. That is why there is a description of Jia Bao Yu drinking Puerh Tea to ease digestion in the novel “A Dream of Red Mansion”. The book “Maids of Honor talking about the Past” also Mentions the Empress Dowager drinking Puerh Tea “The old Queen Dowager entered the room and sat east of the knag, and the maid brought a cup of Puerh Tea which was warm and grease dissolving”.
The beginning of payment of Puerh Tea as tribute began no later than 1726. When E Er-tai, Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou , carried out a policy of strengthening government over the people, it most likely already began. We know from the decree “The Official Banning of Purchasing Tea by Forcing Prices Down” that reads, “It is decreed that Puerh Tea will be purchased with government silver which has been appropriated to the Bureau of Simao for purchase and transportations”. This shows that Puerh Tea purchased every year for tribute.
The payment of Puerh Tea as tribute to the Qing imperial court did not stop until the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted for almost 200 years. Through the early 1960s,the Palace Museum still kept a few tons of Puerh Tea left by the Qing imperil court, including Compressed Tea, Maidens’ Tea, Tea Extract and others, and it still has kept fresh and intact a sample of Human Head Tea, weighing about 5 Jin.
The Qing imperial court also used Puerh Tea as a high-grade gift to foreign delegations. For example, in 1972 Britain appointed Lord George McCartney, Former Governor stationed in Madras , India , to head a delegation consisting of 95 persons with great quantities of gifts to be presented at court on His Majesty Qianlong’s eightieth birthday and to request that the Qing imperial court establish additional commercial ports, lower taxation and set up concessions and post counselors. Though He did not express agreement, Emperor Qianlong presented His precious gifts including Puerh Tea and Puerh Tea Extract, based on the principle “the rites set value on reciprocation”.
The chieftains of past ages in Xishuangbanna also set great store by Puerh Tea. According to the records of “The History of Xishuangbanna” Soothing Envoy, Dao Yingmeng once in 1572 prepared gifts for his wife, daughter of the King of Burma, when she went to visit her Parents. Among the gifts were four bamboo tubes of Puerh Tea with four compressed cakes in each tube, which were regarded as precious as gold, silver, or pearls.
The production of Puerh Tea has a long history from which many old legends have evolved. The most representative one is reflected by the fact that Zhugeliang (Chief Minister of State of Shu in the Three Kingdoms) was chosen as Tea Forefather of the tea business, which is entirely different from the practice of most of tea peasants in Central China , who have chosen Lu Yu as their forefather. Every year on the 23rd day of the seventh month by the lunar calendar ,on the birthday of Zhugeliang, in every village a mass rally is held, called “tea Originator’s Meeting”, which shows that Zhugeliang is omnipresent in all activities, celebrating the tea business.
First, it is said that tea cultivating and tea picking was taught by Zhugeliang. According to legend, the Manse Mountain , Yiwu County , yielded tea as early in the Han Dynasty. Zhugeliang is said to have taught the local people how to cultivate, pick, and drink tea during his southern expedition. The peasants in the Manzhuan Mountain say that the local people followed Zhugeliang who, for fear that they would fall behind, told them to sleep face downward and tie their horses facing north. Unfortunately, somehow they acted contrary to the instructions and fell behind. Seeing what happened, Zhugeliang sowed three handfuls of tea seeds, saying, “Now your food and clothes will depend on them!” Thereupon the local people remained in the Tea Mountains and fed on tea. The Jinuo people in the Youle Mountain also say that they were left when Zhugeliang went south.” One day Zhugeliang was missing all of a sudden, and they found him after two days of searching, but Zhugeliang wanted them to stay and gave them a handful of tea seeds and allowed them to settle down to feed on tea. That is why the Jinuo people call themselves the lost ones and pay great respect for Zhugeliang.”
Secondly, the names of Six Mountains ; are all related to things left behind by Zhugeliang. According to legend Zhugeliang traveled all over the Six Tea Mountains were named. In “The Puerh City History” compiled during the reign of Emperor Guangxu are found the following records. “In ancient times Marquis of Wu (Zhugeliang was his name) traveled the length and breadth of the Six Tea Mountains . Where he left a gong of copper at Youle, a boa of copper at Mangzhi, a brick of iron at Manzhuan, a clapper of wood at Yibang, a stirrup of leather at Gedeng and a seed-sowing hag at Mansa, and the places were named after all of these articles”. The book also mentions that among these mountains there is one mount called Kongming Mount (another name for Zhugeliang), where he stored his arrows. It is located 100 li west of Xishuangbanna Township , Mengla County .
Thirdly, the King Tea Trees are also unrelated to Zhugeliang. The local tea peasants have great respect for the large King Tea Trees, which grow in the Six Tea Mountains . Every year before pinking new tea, they purchase sacrificial offerings and offer them to the King Tea Trees with a grand ceremony. According to legend some of the King trees were planted by Zhugeliang himself. Ran Fu of the Qing Dynasty mentions this in his book “The Records of Puerh Tea, “King Tea Trees larger and taller than other tea trees grow in Gedeng Mountain . According to legend they were left by Marquis of Wu to which minorities offer sacrifice before picking new tea”.
Puerh Tea has a long history; hence, there are a lot of cultural relics and historic sites concerned with it in existence. In the thickest primeval forests among the Six Mountains , steles are found with inscriptions and carvings dealing with the business. One, portraying a tea peasant riding a white bull and holding high a teacake in both hands, was left on a cliff. This is evidence that since ancient time’s people have taken pride in producing round teacakes. The most famous stele is the tea-case stele, or lawsuit-settling stele, with an inscription of more than 1100 characters recording the whole story of a tea case. The stele, 1.3m high and 70 cm . wide, still stands in the courtyard of the Shiping County Guild on the right side of the temple of Guan Yu , in Yiwu Township , Mengla County .
Puerh Tea appears in many literary works such as the novels “A Dream of Red Mansion” “War and Peace”, and Ruan Fu of the Qing Dynasty even writes a book called “Records of Puerh Tea”. Legends, poems, songs, and folk rhymes are even more wide spread.
Xishuangbanna is inhabited by Dai, Yi, Hani, Bulang, Han, and other nationalities that have their own ways of drinking tea. During the Tang Dynasty, they “drank tea by cooking it with pepper, ginger, and cassia”; in the Song, they also “drank it by mixing with pepper and ginger”. With the development of society and the increase in varieties of Puerh Tea, the ways of tea drinking among the various nationalities became more varied, involving different ways of preparing tea, performing ceremonies, and observing proprieties. For example, the Jinuo people like cold-tossed tea. The Wa people are fond of cooking tea. The Bulang people prefer bamboo green tea. The Lahu people are keen on baked tea. The Dai people only love tea packed in bamboo tubes. The Hani people have a fancy for tea cooked in ollas. Thus, Puerh Tea culture has contributed significantly to China ’s national tea culture.
During the later period of the Qing Dynasty, Puerh Tea production declined because of heavy taxation. According to “The Puerh City History”: “It was stipulated in 1735 that each hundred Jin of produced tea is a yin (50kg) and on each yin three Qian and two fen (equal to 0.5g) of silver is levied as taxation. Permission for three thousand Yin of tea was issued that year, and 960 Liang of silver was collected. From then on taxation was increased every year, and 3200 Liang of silver was levied on ten thousand yin of tea at its peak. The taxation was so heavy that the tea peasants suffered greatly and the tea merchants were unable to make profits. Consequently, “The Puerh Tea business became a disaster” (A Sequel of General History of Yunnan , Volume 54). In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the tea taxation was still heavier, and the government appointed tea officials to control tea trade and levy tea taxation. Later, foreign Customs were set up and two fen of silver, the provincial transit duty, was laid on the quantity of tea worth a Liang of silver. Unable to bear such heavy taxation, the tea peasants gave up the tea business and sought out other ways to make a living. Subsequently, horse caravans sought other loads. A succession of fires befell the Six Mountains , tea trees burned up, diseases spread, many tea peasants died, and the number of tea trees dropped sharply to less than half of earlier quantities. The tea plantations in the Six Mountains languished as tea production dropped from 80 thousand to 50 thousand dan.
Tea production continued to decline in the early 20th century. From 1913 to 1928, when the Simao-Puerh-Border Administrative Bureau was set up, the political situation was stable and a private government joint operation was introduced to promote tea production and sale, enabling tea peasants and merchants to make profits. Tea output thus leveled off to fifty-thousand dan a year. From 1929 to 1938, the provincial government set up a county government on Xishuangbanna and changed the original form into a private run and government operate form, under which tea merchants could set up factories to produce tea and sell it among the people with taxation levied by the government. In 1930 each kilogram of tea was subject to taxation of three Yunnan yuan, in 1936 it was increased to 5 yuan and in 1938—8 yuan. Additionally, after 1936 tea from India and Ceylon entered the international market as competition with Puerh Tea, thus affecting its export in South-East Asia . There fore, the yearly output of Puerh Tea dropped to less than 40 thousand dan. During the Anti-Japanese War, tea production dropped rapidly to forty-thousand dan. After the anti-Japanese War, the China Tea Company attached to Kuomintang Ministry of Economics was moved to Nanjing and the tea monopoly came into the hands of Lu Chong-ren’s Fuhai Tea Factory. Later the factory was merged and then renamed to“Ren-qi Company”. On the eve of liberation, the Company transferred its assets, causing rapid drop of tea production to less than 6 thousand dan.
The founding of the People’s Republic of China and the establishment of a socialist system brought life back to Puerh Tea. Taking various measures, the people’s government devoted major efforts to develop tea production by establishing tea company branches in various counties, setting up tea-purchasing stations in various tea plantation areas, raising tea-purchasing prices, founding tea-research institutions, managing tea production guided with scientific theories, actively transforming old tea cultivation areas, and opening up new tea cultivation regions. As a result, the output of tea has risen annually. By 1952 Xishuangbanna Prefecture had developed new tea plantations of more than 32000mu, changing the distribution of old tea cultivation areas, and laid a solid foundation for further development of Puerh Tea production by setting up state-run tea factories, raising yield per unit area and improving tea quality.
With reforms and China’s Open Policy tea production in Xishuangbanna has continued to rise. Now, Xishuangbanna sustains tea plantations covering an area of 250,000 mu with an annual output of dried tea exceeding 200,000 dan. In 1994, 9300 tons of refined Puerh Tea was produced, 2,500 tons of which were sold abroad. Tea-processing technology has further improved, with new varieties, thus forming a complete line of Puerh Tea products. After the success of Congo in western markets, the successful production of new kinds of tea such as, Broken Black Tea, Nannuo Baihao, Yunhai, etc. has ushered in a new epoch for Puerh Tea.
The Menghai Tea factory, built more than 50 years ago, has continued to blaze new trails and produce up to a hundred tea varieties by merging traditional characteristics with modern technology, thus becoming one of the Hundred Star Enterprises. The newly built Dadugang Tea Factory, whose products became well-known overnight during the Asian Games in 1990, is now the largest tea production and export base in Yunnan . The Yunnan Tea Research Institute, founded in Menghai, has preserved more than a thousand varieties of tea tree samples, bred new, improved varieties for sever as decades, and made ten significant breakthroughs in applied basic research, the utilization and popularization of which have helped to promote the Puerh Tea production and the tea business in Yunnan.
Chiseling incessantly, one can carve on metal and stone! Indeed, after more than 40-year’s development, Xishuangbanna is now home to ten large and medium-sized tea factories, which are all Star Enterprises, each producing Puerh Tea along with its own brands of products. Now Puerh Tea has formed five product lines consisting of more than a hundred varieties. CTC tea enjoys popularity in Europe and America , and Puerh Tea is praised as a fitness tea and beauty tea. All Puerh Tea products inherit the traditional processing and packaging, with which tea of tribute is produced, and are regarded as rare treasures. Among them Puerh Green Tea is loved very much by the broad masses of consumers for its thick taste and endurance to leaching, Nannuo Baihao, Yunhai Baihao, Longshan Xuanfeng, Zhutongcha, Banna Baihao, Longshan Haozhen, Bannaluo, Liming Yinzhen, Shanggang Yinhui, Xuanyun, etc. are also tea varieties of good quality enjoying great prestige both at home and abroad.
With the progress of science and technology and increased to the curative effects and fitness power of Puerh Tea. Our compatriots in Hong Kong and Taiwan , call it “Treasure-and-benefit Tea”, and claim that Puerh Tea can produce saliva and quench thirst, tonify spleen and dispel alcoholic effects, stimulate appetite and empty bowls, check bacteria and reduce weight. They treasure it as an indispensable wonder tonic. The Japanese call Puerh Tea. Our compatriots in Hong Kong and Taiwan , call it “Treasure-and-benefit Tea”, and claim that Puerh Tea can produce saliva and quench thirst, tonify spleen and dispel alcoholic effects, stimulate appetite and empty bowls, check bacteria and reduce weight. They treasure it as an indispensable wonder tonic. The Japanese call Puerh Tea “Inconceivable Panacea Tea”. In 1991, the Kunming Medical Institute demonstrated the anti-cancer role of Puerh Tea at the Asian-pacific Region Tumor Symposium. Medical experts from Japan , France and other countries have also concluded that Puerh Tea not only has curative effects against cancer, but also plays a certain role in lowering blood fat, cholesterol, uric acid, etc. Thus, Puerh Tea is not only a good-quality drink but also the best tonic for fighting cancer, reducing weight, and prolonging life.
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Roy Fong,
Owner and Proprietor of;
San Francisco California
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