Pu er: aged tea, but also old tea

This is probably one of the oldest forms of tea still available today, as its history goes back to the Tang Dynasty (唐代) (618-907 A.D.), a time when tea was consumed boiled and added to soup. Pu er (普洱 市) is a town in the Chinese province of Yunnan (云南). In the past, this is where crops from neighboring mountains were sent for export elsewhere in China or abroad, in the form of compressed bricks, by the tea road. All the tea that passed through Pu Er was systematically considered Pu er tea, hence the name is still used today and has become a controlled designation of origin (appellation contrôlée). Other provinces in China, and other countries, produce post-fermented tea (黑茶), but, of course, cannot use the term “Pu er”

Enjoy!