Pu'er Tea Knowledge

2026/10/12

Pu'er Through the Seasons: The Right Cup for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter

Fresh tea in spring, cold brew in summer, watching it age in fall, boiled ripe pu'er in winter. Adjust your tea and brewing method to the season and every cup of the year feels just right.

2026/10/11

Visiting Yunnan's Tea Mountains: Seasons, Routes, and Tips

If you want to see ancient tea trees for yourself and walk into tea-making villages, the spring tea season is the liveliest time. How to get to Xishuangbanna and Lincang, what mountain roads and lodging are like, whether you can watch tea being made, and the documents travelers from Taiwan need for entry: read this before you go.

2026/10/11

Hao-Grade, Yin-Grade, and Qizi Bing: The Three Eras of Aged Pu'er

Hao-grade teas from Songpin, Tongqing, and Fuyuanchang; Yin-grade teas with the Red, Green, and Yellow Marks; and the qizi bing cakes from the 1970s on. Learn how collectors divide the eras and make sense of aged tea names.

2026/10/11

Tea Competitions and Tea Kings: How Pu'er Is Judged and How to Read the Awards

The Yiwu Tea Competition is held every year after the spring harvest, with contests in tea picking, tea making, and raw material, and a Tea King chosen by blind evaluation and auctioned on the spot. From the Song-dynasty origins of tea contests to the scoring method and the results of the 14th edition in 2026, here's how to understand a "Tea Competition Gold Award" on a package.

2026/10/11

Xiao Qing Gan: Ripe Pu'er Inside a Mandarin Peel

Green mandarins picked in July and August are hollowed out, filled with ripe pu'er, and slowly dried. How xiao qing gan is made, how sun-dried differs from oven-dried, and whether to brew it whole or cracked open, all in one place.

2026/10/11

Six Tips for Buying Pu'er: Vintage, Mountain, Blending, and Packaging

Pu'er names often include a year, a mountain, and the word "ancient tree," and prices vary widely. From reading labels and understanding blends to buying small amounts to taste first, six practical tips to help you buy with confidence.

2026/10/11

Tea Art and Tea Masters: Brewing Tea Is a Craft Too

Brewing tea can be an everyday thing, or it can be a craft. What kind of profession and certification a tea master (chayishi) is, what a tea art performance is all about, where to learn to brew tea, and how tea masters differ from tea evaluators, with the systems on each side of the Taiwan Strait explained separately.

2026/10/10

Tea Etiquette: Serving Tea, Finger Tapping, and Filling Cups 70%

Even a cup of tea has its etiquette: fill cups 70% full, serve elders before the young, and guests tap the table lightly with their fingers to say thanks. These customs have practical reasons behind them, and one has a legend about the Qianlong Emperor's travels south. How hosts serve tea and how guests respond, explained.

2026/10/10

Wild, Transitional, and Cultivated: Yunnan's Old Tea Trees Through the Bangwai Tree

Yunnan's ancient tea trees aren't only cultivated ones; there are also wild types and transitional types in between. The thousand-year-old transitional tea tree at Bangwai in Lancang even appeared on a postage stamp.

2026/10/10

Caring for Teaware: Everyday Upkeep for Gaiwans, Yixing Teapots, and Cups

Good teaware stays with you for years. How to wash a gaiwan, deal with tea stains, season and care for a Yixing clay teapot, and pack up before and after travel: a complete guide to everyday teaware care.

2026/10/10

Pu'er and Taiwan: From Hong Kong's Aged Teas to Cross-Strait Tea Ties

Taiwan grows no pu'er, yet it left deep footprints on pu'er collecting, research, and the revival of traditional craft: aged teas brought back from Hong Kong, Deng Shihai's 1995 book Pu'er Tea, the 1994 trip into Yiwu, and in 2004 pu'er becoming the only mainland tea category opened to import.

2026/10/10

How the Ancients Wrote About Pu'er: Poetry, Notes, and *Dream of the Red Chamber*

Pu'er became a tribute tea in the Qing dynasty and made its way into the writing of the literati. Chapter 63 of *Dream of the Red Chamber* features a scene with pu'er and "daughter tea," while Qing local gazetteers, notebooks, and Ruan Fu's *Record of Pu'er Tea* preserved pu'er's name, origins, and methods.