Pu'er Tea, Originating In China & Produced In Assam, Is A Unique Variety Sold Recently At ?9000 Per Kg

You may have seen and had tea, but have you ever seen tea in cake form?!

India is the second largest tea-producing country in the world, second only to China, with majority of the production in the nation coming from Assam.

Besides production, India is also among the world's top tea-consuming countries, with 80% of the tea produced in the country consumed by the domestic population.

Despite being a nation of tea lovers, this variety of cake tea is probably unheard of - the Pu¡¯er tea.

Pu'er or Pu-erh Tea/ herbsandkettles.com

Earlier this week, the Pu¡¯er tea was sold at Rs 9000 a kg, a record price in its category. Nilesh Divekar of Shangrila Enterprise, a buyer of Pu¡¯er tea, told a local media outlet, ¡°I have been learning from small tea growers and helping them get a good price and a market. There is a need to diversify and go beyond black and green tea.¡±

The unique tea cake

Pu¡¯er tea is a variety of fermented tea traditionally produced in Yunnan Province, China and named after the market town in which it was first developed.

It is often sold in brick form and can be made from green and black tea leaves. The brick is formed by pressing the loose tea leaves into a cake form.

Pu'er or Pu-erh Tea/ herbsandkettles.com

Pu'er tea is made to undergo microbial fermentation after the tea leaves have been sufficiently dried and rolled, resulting in a distinct flavour profile as the leaves darken.

This process allows the flavour of the tea to develop, just like older wines.

Way to brew the tea

In India, it is produced at the Gauripur Tea Plantation in Golaghat district of Assam, which produces 25 kg of Pu¡¯er tea every month.

Pu'er tea cake/ EastMojo

Speaking to a local media outlet, Aparaj Saikia, managing partner of Gauripur Tea Plantation, said, "We have been producing Pu'er tea for our personal consumption since the last 4 years and started doing it commercially this year."

One needs to break off a small portion of the cake and brew it like any traditional tea but in boiling water for a very short time (15 to 60 seconds). It can be steeped multiple times, offering a unique flavour for each infusion.

'Pure' Pu'er from China

To be considered authentic pu'er, the leaves must be from the plant Camellia sinensis var. assamica, grown in Yunnan Province, dried in the sun, and allowed to ferment over weeks, months, years or even decades.

According to the production process, four main types of pu'er are commonly available in markets:

1. Maocha, green pu'er leaves sold in loose form as the raw material for making pressed pu'er. Badly processed maocha will produce an inferior pu'er.
2. Green/raw pu'er, pressed maocha that has not undergone additional processing; collectors highly seek high-quality green pu'er.
3. Ripened/ cooked pu'er, maocha that has undergone an accelerated fermentation process lasting 45 to 60 days on average. Poorly fermented maocha will create a muddy tea with fishy and sour flavours indicative of inferior aged pu'er.
4. Aged raw pu'er is a tea that has undergone slow secondary oxidation and microbial fermentation.

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