What is the raw material of Pu-Erh tea?
Raw material of Pu-Erh tea
The development of Pu-Erh tea is closely related to the tea tree resources in Yunnan.
Tea tree includes wild big tree tea and cultivated big tree tea. It is mostly arbor and big leaf type. In terms of classification, it is mostly Dali tea and thick axis tea, and some are Dachang tea. Cultivated tea trees are mostly Pu-Erh tea varieties and Baimao tea varieties.
Yunnan large-leaf tea tree varieties play an important role in the formation of the unique quality characteristics of Pu-Erh tea. The content of tea polyphenols, catechins, caffeine, theanine and water extracts are higher than those of general medium and small-leaf tea trees.
Ancient tea trees
Ancient tea trees refer to wild old tea trees and their communities distributed in natural forests, semi-domesticated artificially cultivated wild tea trees and artificially cultivated tea trees in ancient tea gardens over a century old.
According to statistics, there are 23 genera of camellia plants in the world, totaling more than 3380 species, while China has 15 genera and 260 species, most of which are found in the southwest. There are more than 30 wild, transitional, and cultivated ancient tea trees over a thousand years old in Yunnan, accounting for more than 40% of the country's total. The area of contiguous ancient tea gardens over 100 acres is more than 200,000 acres.
The wild, transitional and cultivated ancient tea trees and ancient tea gardens owned by Yunnan, known as the ancient tea tree kingdom, are unique in China and the world. They are important natural and cultural heritages and have significant scientific and cultural values.
Categorize by age
Thousand-year wild ancient tea trees: wild ancient tea trees in the primordial rain forest, with a height of more than 15m and a tree age of more than 1,000 years, are extremely rare. The leaves are large, sturdy, with bulging veins and deep serrations. The sun-dried green tea has a greenish-yellow soup, a refreshing aroma, and a slight smell of wild tea, which is completely different from the aroma of cultivated tea trees. It has rich water-soluble pectin, almost no bitterness and astringency, full of sweetness, and extremely long lasting sweetness. . Because of its scarce production, the price is very expensive.
Wild tea trees: The tea farmers of ethnic minorities in the southern Yunnan tea area call the cultivated ancient tea trees that are more than 5m high and difficult to pick as big tea trees. The big tea trees are generally the oldest or the largest tea tree kings in the tea garden. In general, the height of the tree is about 5~15m, and the tree age is mostly between 500~1000 years. Sun-dried green tea made from the sprouts of the big tea tree is called big tree tea. As far as drinking experience is concerned, the older the tea tree, the better the ecological environment, the more balanced the taste, the higher the water-soluble pectin and resin content, and the mellow the taste.
Original ecological ancient tea tree: The tree is 3~6m high, and the tree age is more than 300 to 400 years. Because the surface plants have not been removed, the tea garden has a good ecology. Although the trees are very old, the tea trees have no signs of senescence. The sun-dried green tea produced has thick buds and leaves, sweet taste, slightly bitter and astringent, and the bitterness stays in the mouth for a short time, about a few seconds. Then Huigan (After taste sweetness) is strong.
Ecological ancient tea trees: Most of the trees are 2.5~4.5m high, and the trees are more than one or two hundred years old. Due to the removal of a large number of surface plants and frequent picking, many ecological ancient tea trees show signs of senescence. The sun-dried green tea has thick buds and leaves, rich pectin quality, sweet taste, weak bitterness, and bitterness that stays in the mouth for about ten seconds, which is difficult to distinguish from the original ecological ancient tree tea that is older.
Old tea trees: Planted in 1912-1949 in the Republic of China, most trees are 1.5~3m tall and 60~100 years old, less than 100 years. The sun-dried green tea produced has relatively thick buds and leaves, rich pectin quality, sweet taste, and bitterness that does not stay in the mouth for a long time, which is somewhat difficult to distinguish from ancient tea.
Tableland tea trees: After 1976, densely planted cutting seedling clones of tea trees, most of the trees are 60-90cm high, and about 2000-3000 plants per arce. The prepared sun-dried green tea has a large yield and a fast growth cycle due to the application of chemical fertilizers and dense planting.
