Xigui: Ancient Tea Gardens on the Lancang River
Xigui is a rare low-altitude famous mountain, with ancient tea trees growing on Manglu Mountain beside the Lancang River. Learn about the setting of Xigui tea and its high-aroma, full-bodied style.
Pu'er Tea Knowledge
Storage Taste, Aged Aroma, and Mold: Telling Smells Apart
Storage taste is a damp, stuffy smell from the environment; aged aroma is the woody, camphor, or jujube notes the tea develops on its own; a moldy smell is the pungent odor of mold. A mild storage taste fades with resting and rinsing, while a moldy smell never goes away no matter how you brew. Smelling the dry leaf, hot, and from the cooled cup will tell them apart.
How to Identify Mold: White Spots, Yellow Patches, Hyphae, and Musty Smells
White spots on a tea cake aren't necessarily mold. Looking at the shape, feeling the texture, and smelling it will tell you whether it's white frost or white mold. Moldy tea has fuzzy hyphae, colored spots, and a pungent musty smell, and it's best not to drink it. Keeping humidity below 70% is the best way to avoid it.
Tuicang: Airing Out Storage Taste
Tuicang means moving tea with a storage taste somewhere dry and ventilated so the dampness and stuffiness can dissipate. A mild storage taste takes a few weeks to a few months; heavy wet storage may take several years. Moldy tea can't be saved this way. This is the "leave storage" in the saying "enter storage in Hong Kong, leave storage in Taiwan."
Menghai and Lao Banzhang: The Bold Teas of Bulang Mountain
Menghai is a stronghold of pu'er, and Lao Banzhang is famous for its strong cha qi and powerful huigan. Get to know the mountains of the Menghai tea region and the "Menghai taste."
Kunming Dry Storage and Local Yunnan Storage
Kunming sits at 1,888 meters with an average annual temperature of about 16°C and dry winters and springs, so pu'er changes slowly there and keeps a clean, lifted aroma. Banna and Menghai are warmer and more humid than Kunming and change tea faster. Dry-stored tea has clean layers, but you need to give it a little more time to turn red.
Hong Kong Storage: Wet Storing, Ground-Floor Storerooms, and Where Aged Tea Came From
Hong Kong was once one of pu'er's biggest markets, and its hot, humid climate and tea merchants' practice of "entering storage" turned tea red quickly. Most early aged tea passed through Hong Kong storage, giving it a deep red liquor and a mellow, smooth taste, often with a storage taste too. Large amounts flowed to Taiwan around the 1990s.
Regional Storage: Hong Kong, Guangdong, Kunming, Taiwan, and Malaysia
Store the same pu'er in different cities, and ten years later it can seem like two different teas. Hong Kong, Guangdong, Kunming, Banna, Taiwan, and Malaysia each have different climates, giving rise to what the tea world calls regional storage. Malaysian storage is known for fast change that stays relatively clean. There's no best storage, only stable, clean storage.
Drinking Windows: When to Drink Young, Mid-Aged, and Aged Tea
Raw pu'er doesn't have to be aged a set number of years; young, mid-aged, and aged tea each have their own appeal. Mid-aged tea sometimes has a stuffy aroma and a taste that feels stuck, while aged tea kept too long has a faint aroma and a thin liquor. Ripe tea is ready once made, and small formats like dragon pearls and tea bags are best finished soon after opening.
The Six Ancient Tea Mountains and Yiwu: Home of Pu'er Tribute Tea
Youle, Gedeng, Yibang, Mangzhi, Manzhuan, and Mansa are the six great tea mountains of Qing-dynasty records, later succeeded by Yiwu. They lie on the east bank of the Lancang River, opposite Menghai's "New Six Great Tea Mountains" on the west bank, and still produce tea today.
Should Ripe Tea Be Aged? Resting Ripe Pu'er
Ripe pu'er is ready to drink once made, and resting it for a while lets the pile taste fade and the mouthfeel get cleaner. In new ripe tea, the pile taste usually fades noticeably within 1–3 years; 3–5 years is often considered smoothest, and those who like aged notes wait 10 years or more. Overall it changes less than raw tea, and it's just as sensitive to damp and odors in storage.
How Raw Pu'er Ages: The Process and Its Stages
Kept at home, raw pu'er moves forward year by year in color, aroma, and taste. Its three stages, young, transitional, and aged, each have their own character. Research has found turning points around years 3–4 and 8–10, and aging is mainly a process of slow oxidation, with microbes also playing a part.