Best Tea and Honey The Greatest Tea of All: Pu Erh
Pu Erh tea is without a doubt the finest of all teas based on the Camillia Sinsensis tea tree. It is made only from the leaves of a subspecies of Camillia that has larger leaves than the more common strain, and only in China’s Yunan province. Pu erh tea is made in the same way as green tea, up until the final steps of the process. At first, it is allowed to oxidize very briefly in the air, which the tea industry call the fermentation. The tea is then quickly heated. Green tea receives no further treatment, but pu erh tea has just begun its long journey. It is usually pressed into bricks or pellets and allowed to undergo a second oxidation through aging. Oxidization is called fermentation in the tea business, and pu erh is thusly a post-fermented tea. The “post-fermentation” allows the lightly treated leaves to develop a unique earthiness in the flavor, while the usual astringency of tea slowly fades away. Our host website offers several Pu Erh teas on this page, Red Leaf’s Pu Erh Section, and we hope you enjoy a taste soon!