Puerh History and Culture

Puerh History

Preface

As with most things Chinese that have been translated for the Western World many things get lost in the translation, many concepts are incomprehensible to the Western mind, and many misunderstandings are perpetuated. In addition to those difficulties Puerh History is often debated, argued over, and mis-communicated even in Chinese circles. There are many books on Puerh History written in Chinese and very few of them agree with one another. So please keep all of this in mind as you read the following accounts, or any others for that matter! I have collected this data from many sources over many years. Portions of the Historical facts on this particular page came from a friend of mine who paid to have the original Chinese text from various Puerh Bingchas translated.

The Tea Horse Caravans

One of the more colorful aspects of Puerh history is the Tea Horse Roads and the Caravans that traversed them. Tea products made in Yunnan were transported by mules and horses in long Caravans along established routes that became known as the Tea Horse Roads. Traders from Tibet, Laos, Burma, etc would trade for tea in the tea markets of Pu-erh County and then hire the Caravans to carry the tea back to their respective homes.

It was the logistics of transporting tea via these Caravans that inspired merchants to start compressing the tea in the first place, it was easier to handle and they were able to get more tea on each horse that way. This form of transportation was relatively cheap, but the transportation lead time was quite long since the Caravans traveled very long distances at a very slow speed. It was quite by accident that they discovered that Pu-erh actually tasted better at the end of the journey than at the beginning. Recently experiments have taken place that retraced the old routes via horseback. They loaded up the horses with tea and modern instruments to measure the temperature, humidity, etc that the tea was exposed to in hopes of understanding the aging process better.

During Ming and Qing Dynasty there were five main "Tea-Horse Roads". The first and most traveled one is from Pu Erh (the place) to Kunming and then to other inland provinces in China, all the way through Beijing. This route was later extended to reach Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The second Tea Horse Road is from Pu Erh to Xia-Guan and eventually to Tibet. This route later connected to Nepal. The third one reached Vietnam. The fourth one reached Burma. The fifth one reached Laos. This was a major form of trade in those days and Pu-erh was literally traded as a form of currency.

Though the Caravans no longer exist, the rich culture and history prevails to this day. The old tea Horse Roads are quite the tourist attraction in China and you can still find remnants of three well-maintained routes today in Pu-Erh County. Many footprints of mules and horses can be found on those roads, as well as sign posts, and other famous landmarks. These are the roads that made Pu-erh famous.

Noteworthy Facts

• The most classical Puerh Tea is the Bingcha, recorded in Yong-Zheng 13th year in Qing Dynasty (1735). Each tea cake weighs 7 Liang (357 grams). Seven cakes make 1 Tong (wrapped in leaves), weighing 49 Liang. It was sold in nice places and also was exported abroad. It was re-named as "Yunnan Qizi bingcha - Yunnan seven cake tea" during the Cutural revolution.
• Head Tea (aka Golden Melon) is shaped like a ball, weighing between 2 Liangs and 10 Jins ( 1 Jin = 500 grams). They were mainly for domestic trade or serving as tributes to emperors. Stacks of Golden Melons progressing in size from gigantic to small are considered to be a status symbol.
• Mushroom shaped tea appeared in 1912. It was invented at that time in order to prevent the tea from going mouldy during the transportation. It was produced in Xia-Guan and Fo-Hai (two cities in south China) with the trademark "Bao-Yan". The production was then stopped in 1966. In 1986, the production was resumed due to the request of Buddhists in Tibet.
• In 1940, the Chinese State owned company CNNP started to manufacture Pu Erh Tea with a trademark "Zhong-Cha" at the Fo-Hai Tea Factory (now called "Meng-Hai Tea Factory"). Later, Yun-Nan Tea Company and Guang-Dong Tea Company also produced the same brand and started to export abroad. There were varieties such as red-label, green-label, yellow-label, small-letter and big-letter etc.
• Brick Tea was mainly produced in the Si-Chuang province prior to 1949. It is now also available in other provinces as well.
• Standard Tuocha tea were defined to weigh 100 gram each. Five make 1 Tong.
• Black Puerh Tea was invented by Kunming Tea Factory in 1972/73 and was manufactured in Xia-Guan Tea Factory ever since 1976. It is now manufactured in many different factories and is by far the most popular type of puerh sold.
• Yunnan Tea Company standardized the trade number for Pu Erh Tea in 1976 for the purpose of export. Each bingcha has 4 digits: the first 2 digits indicate the manufacturing year, the third digit indicates the leaf grade, the last digit indicates the tea factory (e.g. Kun-Ming 1, Meng-Hai 2, Xia-Guan 3, Pu Erh 4). The loose-leaf tea has 5 digits with the third and fourth indicating the class level of raw materials. Examples of early trade numbers for Puerh Tea are 7452, 7562, 7572, 75671, 76563.
• Meng-Hai Tea Factory started to use the trademark "Da-Yi" around 1978. Xia-Guan Tea Factory started to register the trademarks "Song-He" and "Nan-Zhao" in 1992.
• At the beginning of 1990s, many small tea factories were born. Some of them started to use class level 3 (or even higher) raw tea (which was only available for emperors in the past) instead of level 6 (or even lower) raw tea (which was the traditional material for producing Pu Erh Tea).

Puerh in the future

Today the emphasis is twofold. On one hand a significant amount of scientific research is being done on the effects of puerh on the human body, the microbial activity involved, and the science of developing mature puerh faster. On the other hand recent economic affluence has created a new middle class in China. Consuming Pu Erh Tea has become a symbol of achievement. This new middle class has created an unprecedented demand for quality Puerh, which in turn has put pressure on the factories to produce more tea even faster. New research facilities have been commissioned to further the processing techniques with an emphasis on scientific theory, manufacturing technology, quality and economics.

Relevant Links

A Brief History of Pu-erh A Brief History of Pu-erh from Hou De Fine Asian Art. The most interesting thing is their concept of STEAMING puer cakes. BEWARE and do this at your own risk! Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

A Brief History of Tea (Korean point of view) An interesting Korean tea site Link was added on:04/09/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Ancient Tea-Horse Road A nice article describing the 6 Ancient Tea Horse roads. Link was added on:04/15/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Chinese Tea Ceremony Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

History of Pu-erh tea A good historical account of Puerh. Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

History Of Yunnan Tea A nice but brief history of Puerh. Link was added on:04/09/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Learning about Puerh - Lesson 1 A series of 11 articles on various aspects of puerh culture. Note: These links require IE, Firefox wont work Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8 Lesson 9 Lesson 10 Lesson 11 Link was added on:01/08/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Millennium Tea Horse Ancient Tea Horse Road Reenacted A news site that tracked the reenactment of a caravan of Puerh that is traveling the Ancient Tea Horse Road in modern day times. Link was added on:03/31/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

New lives for ex-opium farmers take root An article about Opium farmers converting to growing tea. Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Nutri Pharm A very gimmicky looking site targeting the Health Food scene. However it has one of the best historical accountings of Puerh that I have seen in English. Well worth a read. It seems to be somehow endorsed by Roy Fong from ITC. Link was added on:03/31/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Puerh Hundred Batches A very interesting booklet from a Puer museum in Kunming Link was added on:01/21/2006 and was last edited on: 03/23/2007

Puerh Space This site is in Chinese only but it looks very interesting. I found some translation help. Explore this whole site for some good historical background. Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Puerh Tea A brief article about the history of puerh. Link was added on:04/15/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

rec.food.drink.tea This is a newsgroup that is entirely centered on the consumption of tea. People from all over the world contribute freely. If you have a specific question this is a good place to start. If you are unfamiliar with reading newsgroups just talk to your favorite PC Guru, it really is easy. My favorite newsgroup reader is called "Forte Agent", a free version is available. Outlook Express (NOT regular Outlook) will also work. The link above takes you to Google with a search of Puerh, or Pu-Erh, or Puer, in the RFDT Tea newsgroup. Google can be used to read the newsgroups but the latency can be high. Link was added on:01/28/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Six Famous Mountains A series of articles about the Six Famous Tea Mountains. Lots of good info here. Link was added on:01/08/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Sunsing Tea Some very good information on antique Puerh collecting. The site is based in Hong Kong. Read chapters 2, 5, and 11. However do browse the entire site as it is very enlightening. They have 10 gram sample of Antique for USD$165. Link was added on:12/24/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Tea Culture in China Somebody´s essay on Tea Culture Link was added on:04/15/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Tea Dao "Tea is regarded as one of the top urgent matters in home live. Vang Anshi (1021-1086), the famous political reformer and literates of Song Dynasty, once said: Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Tea Money An interesting article on the ancient use of tea bricks as a form of currency. It is unclear whether these bricks were actually puerh or not. It seems natural that the process of making puerh may have had some relationship to this custom though. Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Tea Online A Chinese site devoted to all kinds of tea. Seem to be devoted to the industry as a whole and not any particular business or factory. Lots of fun surfing through this one. Link was added on:03/31/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

The Chinese Art of Tea Drinking "The custom of drinking tea is deeply ingrained in almost every Chinese, and has been for over a thousand years. During the mid-Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.), a man named Lu Yu entered the Buddhist monk hood early in life, but returned when older to secular life." Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

The horse caravan Pu'er draws big auctions. 10/16/2005 Eastern Net News In a reenactment of the ancient caravans traveling the old Tea Horse Road, tea that traveled along the road was auctioned off at the Beijing Lao She teahouse. Single bingcha went for as much as $20,000 each. The proceeds went to charity. (Background Info) On May 1, 2005, a caravan of 120 horses was recreated which transports by pack animal 4 tons of Pu´er tea along the old Tea Horse Road from Yunnan to Beijing, the trip lasted 5 and a half months, covered over 4000 kilometers. It is an reenactment of the trips that were made 166 years before the advent of modern transportation. Scientific studies of the environmental conditions encountered along the way. This research should prove useful in learning how to puerh matured in the old ways. Link was added on:04/15/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

The Original Book of Tea Some discussion about Lu Yu´s Cha Jing or Book Of Tea. Link was added on:04/15/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

The Profit in Pu’er Tea An interesting article showing the inflation in the value of puerh. Although one reference to a recent charity auction in Beijing is somewhat misleading as he left out some important history behind that particular batch of tea. This auction was for the Tea Horse Road Caravan tea which held very specific historical and cultural significance to the Chinese people and had little to do with the actual tea. It is like owning a brick from the World Trade Center, its not the value of the brick itself but rather the historical significance behind the World Trade Center. This article leaves out that important fact. So dont think that regular young puerh can fetch anywhere near $100 a gram, it just isnt so. Otherwise, this is a very interesting article. Just dont think that ALL puerh will increase in value like this, the source maocha, the compression, the storage, and many other variables affect the final investment potential. Link was added on:11/24/2006 and was last edited on: 12/30/2006

The Secrets of Pu-er Uncovered An absolutely fantastic account of Puerh processing from a guy who toured the factories and cities involved. A MUST read for anyone who loves puerh! Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

The Silkroad Foundation SILKROAD FOUNDATION The Bridge between Eastern and Western Cultures On-site International Seminar "Dunhuang Art and Society" - The Silkroad Foundation and the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan will co-sponsor and conduct the second seminar on Dunhuang Art and Society next year at Dunhuang, China....... Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

The Tao of Tea Reviewed 03/14/2006 $$$ They have greatly improved their selection of puerh recently. Vintages and grades are now listed but few factories are listed, largely because it appears they have now an OEM type relationship with a particular source. If they had listed the manufacturing source I would have given them 4 stars. The variety offered is decent and the prices are OK to high by US standards. They have one of the best articles about puerh production that I have seen on any Vendor´s site. Link was added on:04/15/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

The World's Largest Tea Museum A Taiwanese tea museum Link was added on:01/08/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

The years explained An article that traces the history of puerh over the last decade or so. It explains the various generations etc. Link was added on:01/08/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Tibetan Butter Tea Butter tea is an indispensable part of Tibetan life. Before work, a Tibetan will down several bowlfuls of this tangy beverage, and it is always served to guests. To prepare butter tea, a little freshly-brewed brick tea with the tea leaves removed, a lump of butter and a pinch of salt are put into the wooden "tea churn" with some boiling water and then churned for a minute or so until the tea is well mixed. The resulting liquid is poured into a kettle, heated and then served. Tea-churning is a daily ritual. When prepared, the tea is transferred to a kettle to be kept warm over the fire. Link was added on:01/08/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Tibetan Tea Culture An interesting site giving a glimpse into Tibetan Culture Link was added on:01/08/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Travel Along the Ancient Tea Horse Path --- Pu'er Tea A very interesting site about traveling to the Ancient Tea Horse Road in China. Link was added on:03/31/2006 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Tribute Tea School Some very interesting pages about Tea History, varieties, including some interesting pictures of historical Chinese Tea Characters. Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

Yunnan-----The Origin Of World "Through the investigation and study of species, tea experts had proved that Yunnan is the original place of world Link was added on:12/23/2005 and was last edited on: 11/04/2006

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