Pu Erh is a fermented tea from China. Unlike oxidised teas (such as black tea), the leaves for Pu Erh tea are carefully fermented, giving it a distinctive flavour.
This fermented Pu Erh Ancient Teabush Ripened (Shou) is pressed into a kind of cake and then wrapped in thin, breathable paper. This is a traditional way of preserving tea. The microbes gave the tea a woody, slightly earthy character during the fermentation process. Unlike raw Pu-Erh, Ripened Pu-Erhs do not ripen rapidly the longer they are stored.
- Flavour: powerful heavy tea with a very dark colour
- Origin: Yunnan, China
- Weight: 357 gram
Why does my Pu Erh weigh 357 grams?
Pu Erh has been packaged and sold in stacks of seven cakes since the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (清朝 1644-1912). Each cake weighed 7 liang (357 grams). Packed and transported per 7 in a bamboo tongue, the tea weighed a total of 49 Liang. Probably these numbers were easy to use with the tax system of the time and are still maintained today. The name Yunnan Chi Tse Beeng Cha (云南 七 子 饼 茶) on the packaging also literally translated roughly means ‘seven cakes of Yunnan tea’.
