Puerh Tea
Puerh tea is a kind of fermented tea made of the large leaf variety in Yunnan. There are two distinct methods of fermenting Puerh tea: green Puerh (sheng/raw), produced without any fermentation during production; black Puerh (shu/ripe), produced through a process that ferments the tea.
Sheng Puerh fermentation occurs naturally and represents the traditional method of Puerh production. The aging process might take decades to reach full maturity.
Shu Puerh is artificially fermented before compression to varying levels. Tea is piled, moistened and often covered with thermal blanket to preserve heat and fermentation usually takes 45-60 days. This wet piling process was developed during the 60's and commercial production started from the early 70's.
