Pu Er is a post-fermented tea produced in Yunnan province only.
Pu Er tea’s definition includes the following basic & must aspects:
1.)Tea leaves: Tea leaves from Yunnan tea-growing areas.
2.)Selecting the tea leaves from Yunnan tea-growing areas, followed the traditional way of making tea plus sun-drying the tea leaves can be defined as Pu Er tea.
There are two types of Pu Er tea in terms of fermentation; green(raw) Pu Er tea; another is cooked(ripe) Pu Er tea.
There are mainly two shapes of Pu Er, mainly loose leaves, cakes; but there is also other shapes, like bricks, mushroom shape, Tuo Shape, melon shape, and other unique shapes as well.
Today I would like to share puerh tea cake process .
- Sorting the Maocha
Picking out the old/yellow leaves or old stems in Pu Er Maocha
- Weighing the Maocha
If press into 357g cakes, then weigh 357g of refined Maocha.
3.Steam the Maocha
Steam the Maocha in a bucket by hot steam for around 5 seconds; then the tea leaves become very soft.
4.Shaping the Maocha in the cloth by hand
This is the initial step to make the cake shape by hand. This also requires high skillful people to make the cakes shape looks beautiful; if not, then the shape will become uneven or ungly.
- Pressing by stone
The skillful people stands on the stone and shake the stones on a regular direction to make the cakes in a uniform shape and evenly.
- Unwrap the cloth, take out the cakes gently & put them in the racks in doors for 3-4 hours before putting them inside the baking room.
- Putting the teas in the baking room
In the baking room, it stops the leaves oxidation completely by hot heat inside room providing by wood fire. Normally, cakes are required to stay inside the baking room for 48-72 hours before taking out.
- Wrapping
Wrapping with Pu Er paper, then put 7 cakes into a bamboo leaves to make one tong(seven cakes in one tong, called Qizi bing tea).