Raw, Ripe, Qingbing, Aged Raw: The Many Names of Pu'er
When buying pu'er, you'll often hear a string of terms: raw tea, ripe tea, qingbing, new tea, mid-aged tea, aged raw, dry-stored aged raw... Some come from the national standard, while others are customary terms in the tea trade. Sort out which ones have definitions and which are just convention, and you're less likely to get tripped up by vintages and jargon when someone is describing a tea.
Defined by the Standard: Raw and Ripe
The national pu'er standard GB/T 22111 divides pu'er into just two types:
- Raw tea: Sun-dried maocha that is refined, steamed and pressed into shape, and dried, without wet piling; also called raw (sheng) pu'er.
- Ripe tea: Sun-dried tea made through post-fermentation (wet piling), in both loose-leaf and compressed forms; also called ripe (shou) pu'er.
For the differences between the two, read Raw and Ripe Pu'er: Two Paths for the Same Leaf. Most of the other names below branch off from these two types based on age, color, or how the tea was stored.
Qingbing: The Color Speaks
"Qingbing" (青餅, "green cake") refers to a young raw tea cake. New raw tea has dark green dry leaf tinged with yellow and a yellow-green liquor, with a fresh green character that contrasts sharply with the reddish-brown of a ripe cake. So the Hong Kong and Taiwan tea trades customarily call raw cakes qingbing and ripe cakes shubing ("ripe cakes"). Some also take "qing" to mean "still young," which comes to much the same thing. Qingbing can be drunk now or stored; after many years, once the color has changed, it's no longer usually called qingbing, but mid-aged tea or aged raw.
New Tea, Mid-Aged Tea, Aged Tea: Talking About Vintage
None of these terms has a standard definition, and sellers in different places draw the lines a bit differently. Common approximate ranges are shown in the table:
| Term | Common age range | What it's roughly like |
|---|---|---|
| New tea | From the current year to about 3 years | Lively floral and honey aromas, more noticeable bitterness and astringency, liquor yellow-green to gold |
| Mid-aged tea | About 8–15 years; some say 10–20 years | Liquor gold turning orange-yellow, bitterness and astringency softening, aged notes starting to appear |
| Aged tea | About 20 years or more; purists say 30 years or more | Liquor orange-red to amber, woody, camphor, and aged notes |
"New pu'er" most commonly refers to tea made from the current year's spring harvest, meaning the production year on the packaging is this year; a looser usage includes tea from within 1–3 years. "Mid-aged tea" is the stretch between new and aged tea, when transformation is already visible but the tea isn't yet old; many tea drinkers feel tea at this stage has both liveliness and aged character, at friendlier prices than aged tea. Researchers who tracked compositional changes in the same batch of raw tea over years of storage also observed clear turning points around year 3 and year 8, broadly in line with tea drinkers' experience. The details of aging are in Aging and Vintage in Pu'er.
Aged Raw: Raw Tea That Has Grown Old
"Aged raw" (laosheng cha) simply means raw tea that has been stored for many years, a term used to distinguish it from ripe tea. As raw tea ages, its liquor turns red too, so some people assume it's the same as ripe tea; in fact, the red of aged raw is more translucent, its aroma is mainly woody, camphor, and aged notes, and its taste has many layers, unlike ripe tea made by wet piling. There's no consensus on how many years it takes to count as "aged"; it's generally at least 10 years, and the threshold you'll often hear is 15–20 years.
Dry-Stored Aged Raw: Adding the Storage Name
"Dry-stored aged raw" is short for "aged raw tea kept in dry storage." Dry storage means a storage environment with relatively low humidity, good ventilation, and no deliberate humidification; raw tea aged in such conditions transforms more slowly, with a clean aroma and translucent liquor, keeping more of the leaf's own character. The opposite is "wet storage," meaning tea kept in a high-humidity environment to speed up transformation, which often carries a storage smell. The differences between storage types are in Dry Storage and Wet Storage.
Other Terms You'll Often Hear
- Maocha: Sun-dried raw material that hasn't yet been refined or pressed; see Sun-Dried Maocha.
- Shusan: Short for ripe loose-leaf tea; for how it's graded, see Grades of Ripe Loose-Leaf Pu'er.
- Hao-grade, Yin-grade, qizi bing: Names for aged teas by era; see Hao-Grade, Yin-Grade, and Qizi Bing.
- Semi-ripe: Tea between raw and ripe; see Semi-Ripe, Raw-Ripe Blends, and Light Fermentation.
When You Hear These Terms
Vintage terms are the easiest to use for dressing up a price. When you hear "mid-aged tea" or "aged raw," ask a follow-up: What year was it produced? Where was it stored? Is there packaging or batch information to check against? Methods for judging vintage are in How to Judge a Pu'er's Vintage. Guyuntang Tea's Bingdao Old Village Dragon Pearls are raw pu'er; you can drink them now or set them aside and watch how they change.
FAQ
What is qingbing? A young raw tea cake. New raw tea has a green color that contrasts sharply with the reddish-brown of ripe cakes, which is why it's called qingbing ("green cake").
How old does aged raw have to be? There's no standard definition; it generally means raw tea stored for 10 years or more, and the threshold you'll often hear is 15–20 years.
How do mid-aged and aged tea differ? By convention in the tea trade, mid-aged tea is about 8–15 years (some say 10–20), and aged tea about 20 years or more; these are customary, with no uniform dividing line.
What year does "new pu'er" refer to? Usually tea made in the current year; a looser usage includes tea from within 1–3 years.
What does dry-stored aged raw mean? Raw tea stored for many years in a dry, ventilated environment without deliberate humidification, with a clean aroma and translucent liquor.