Terms: Pile Aroma, Glutinous Rice, Sweet, and Caramel Notes

After wodui pile fermentation, ripe tea's aroma is a completely different world from raw tea's. Newly made ripe tea and ripe tea kept for a few years also smell very different. This set of terms is the one you'll use most when drinking ripe tea.

Pile Aroma (Duiwei)

What it is: The smell left by wodui fermentation, like damp straw, a hot pile of earth, or fermented grain, sometimes with a slightly sour or pungent edge.

How it forms: Ripe tea's wodui involves wetting shaiqing maocha and piling it up so that microbes take part in fermentation in a hot, humid environment, over roughly 40-plus days. This process creates many new aroma compounds, most noticeable right after the tea comes out of the pile. The process is covered in Wodui: How Ripe Pu'er Is Made.

Does it fade?: Yes. When new ripe tea is stored in a ventilated, clean environment for 1–2 years, pile aroma usually weakens noticeably and turns into aged and sweet notes. That's why many tea lovers say "ripe tea should rest a while before you drink it."

Judging good from bad: Slight pile aroma in new ripe tea is normal; if pile aroma is still heavy after several years, with a pungent sourness, the fermentation or post-pile handling may not have been done well.

Example: A current-year ripe tea you just bought: lift the gaiwan lid and there's a stuffy smell like a pile of straw; the liquor is deep red, but the aroma isn't quite clean. That's pile aroma.

Glutinous Rice Aroma (Nuoxiang)

What it is: A warm, rounded aroma like steamed glutinous rice or rice cakes.

How it forms: There are two situations to distinguish:

• Natural glutinous rice aroma in ripe tea: Some high-quality ripe teas develop a gentle, glutinous-rice-like aroma in storage.
• Added nuomixiang leaves: Yunnan has a plant commonly called "nuomixiang" (糯米香, "glutinous rice fragrance") whose leaves carry a very strong glutinous-rice aroma. Some products blend it with ripe tea to make "glutinous rice pu'er." This aroma is strong and obvious, much more intense than the natural note.

Both are fine to drink; you just want to know which one you're buying. Flavored pu'er is introduced in Flavored Pu'er.

Example: A ripe tea that, smelled hot, has a faint aroma like freshly steamed glutinous rice, gentle and unobtrusive: that's the natural glutinous rice aroma.

Sweet Aroma (Tianxiang)

What it is: A general term for sweet aromas, like brown sugar, roasted sweet potato, or roasted chestnuts; warm and comforting.

Where you'll find it: Most common in ripe tea; most ripe tea carries a sweet aroma once the pile aroma has faded. Aged raw tea can have it too.

How it differs from honey aroma: Honey aroma has the nectar-like character of honey and is mostly used for raw tea; sweet aroma refers to sweet smells in general and is used more for ripe tea.

Example: A ripe tea stored 4–5 years with a warm aroma, sweet like roasted sweet potato, can be said to have sweet aroma.

Caramel Aroma (Jiaotangxiang)

What it is: A sweet aroma like caramel, dark brown sugar, or the top of a crème brûlée, richer than sweet aroma, with a roasted edge.

Where you'll find it: Some ripe teas, especially those fermented to a medium-to-heavy degree.

Judging good from bad: Caramel aroma is sweet and warm; if it becomes burnt and bitter, like something scorched, that's a burnt taste, possibly from over-fermentation or carbonization, and it's a defect. How fermentation level affects ripe tea is covered in Ripe Tea Fermentation Levels.

Example: A ripe tea with a deep red liquor that, before you sip, smells sweet like caramel custard, and tastes sweet and smooth without burnt bitterness: that's caramel aroma.

What Is the "Fishy Smell" in Ripe Tea?

New ripe tea sometimes carries a smell like fish or seafood that isn't fresh, which tea lovers call a "fishy smell" (魚腥味) or "fishiness." Common views in the tea world:

• During wodui, too much moisture or unstable temperature control created a less-than-ideal fermentation environment, producing compounds with a fishy note.
• After coming out of the pile, drying and storage weren't ventilated enough, so the smell lingered.

This smell is a defect, but when slight, it often weakens after 1–2 years of ventilated storage. If the fishiness is strong, or accompanied by moldy or sour smells, we recommend contacting the seller to ask.

How to Let Ripe Tea's Smells Fade

• Unwrap and air it: Take ripe tea out of sealed bags and keep it in a clean, odor-free, ventilated place for a few weeks to a few months.
• Awaken it: Pry off the tea you plan to drink and keep it in a clay jar for a few days first.
• Rinse one more time: Before brewing, rinse quickly with boiling water 2–3 times, a few seconds each, to carry away some of the surface smell.

Related methods are in Rinsing and Awakening Tea and Aging Ripe Pu'er.

How Ripe Tea's Aroma Evolves

The general direction looks like this: pronounced pile aroma right out of the pile → pile aroma fades and sweet aroma appears after 1–2 years → aged, jujube, and glutinous rice aromas become clearer after 3–5 years → with longer time, the aroma becomes calm, steady, and clean. The cleaner the storage environment, the smoother the path.

FAQ

What is pile aroma? The smell left by ripe tea's wodui fermentation, like damp straw or a stuffy pile of earth; most noticeable in new ripe tea, and it usually fades after 1–2 years of ventilated storage.

What is glutinous rice aroma? A warm, rounded aroma like steamed glutinous rice; some forms naturally in ripe tea, and some comes from adding the leaves of a plant called nuomixiang, which is much more intense.

How do caramel and sweet aromas differ? Sweet aroma refers generally to warm sweet scents, like brown sugar or roasted sweet potato; caramel aroma is richer with a roasted edge, like caramel custard.

What is the fishy smell in ripe tea? An occasional fishy note in new ripe tea, commonly attributed to less-than-ideal moisture or temperature control during wodui. It's a defect, and slight cases weaken with ventilated storage.