“Raw” Puer or “Cooked” Puer?

shengcha was meant to turn dark before consumption

The taste of shengcha pu’er has been popularised in the market only recently because of many reasons. However, one important condition is immediate access of the freshly produced maocha. The logistics possibilities of nowadays is a far cry from what it used to be like even three decades ago.

Traditionally, whether in the loose leaf or compressed, the tea used to be consumed some years after they were produced. When they had turned quite dark, thereby, having “naturally” post-fermented ( partially or thoroughly ). Considering the remoteness of those famous tea mountains in Yunnan when and where even roads themselves were a rarity and the tea loads carried by porters on foot, it would be very strange for even the emperor to enjoy seasonal tea from these pristine origins.

Tea porters, photo by Sun Mingjing, 1930’s

It takes us a few hours on the jeep to go from nearest new towns to them, now that there are roads, albeit steep, rough and rocky, opened with the help of modern machinery. I have always wonder how those porters could endure the weight ( 135 kg — 300 lb — of net tea per person to carry! ), the rough terrain, and the temperamental weather of southern Yunnan to carry the products to just Pu’er the trading post alone.

Imagining how sudden tropical showers and then the blazing sun would have worked under the feet of the small mountain men and on their shoulders have always amazed me. What else could have happened inside their straw rope loading, wrapped in bamboo leaves?

These tea discuses and bricks were then changed hands like a currency, from within the Qing dynasty borders to the Ottoman Empire, until someone said, let’s drink tea.

When I was small, a famous teashop in Hong Kong maintained a basement “puer den” where the heat and humidity do similar working on the tea as that in history — “natural” post-fermentation to turn it dark and mellow.

a shu cha puer is shengcha puer having post-fermented

In Italy, the curing of the most expensive ham — Culatello — is also a post-fermentation process. The partially dried meat, wrapped in the skin of the animal’s bladder, is hanged in a cellar to let mould grow on it. The enzymes in the microbes break down certain fats in the meat to complete the unique flavour of the much prized prosciutto.

Many other food and beverage products are processed with the help of microbes.

The case of puer is more vegetarian but also similar. ( Click here to read about how post-fermentation is done in puer production )

The process of “trenching” during post fermentation in Puer production to let the tealeaves gradually dehydrate naturally

A shu cha puer ( Chinese: 熟茶普洱, or shortened as 熟普 ) is the result of a shengcha puer having gone through a post shengcha stage of fermentation. This post-fermentation lasts for about three months. This is the only tea category that is “fermented” in the true sense of the word.

The production of the modern shu cha, first developed in Hong Kong and then transferred to Mainland China in the 1970’s, is through an “oudui” ( Chinese: 漚堆 ) process. Unlike shengcha that is to be “naturally” post-fermented, a processing step within a controlled and properly setup environment to produce shu cha puer enables management of quality and food safety standard.

shu cha is not “cooked”

“Shu cha” is basically a new term. All puer teas, whether post-fermented naturally or through oudui, used to be darkened anyways. The term came about to differentiate when shengcha puer began to be sold as a finished product. I have presented some details about how the modern post-fermentation for dark tea had come about in the “Origin of Post-fermented teas” and “Pu’er, a Post-fermented tea” articles and will not repeat myself here.

The Chinese word “shu” for a puer tea that has gone through proper post-fermentation is popularly employed and is relative to the word “sheng”. However, the English word “cooked” distorts the nature of the tea. The tea is NOT cooked at all. We prefer not to use it.

Rather, although not quite accurate anyway, a shu cha is more “ripen” as in the sense of maturity, or as a fruit, ready to be consumed. However, ripen in the context of puer may also mean when a shengcha is matured long enough that it has become more sweet and rounded. The word ripen or ripe, therefore, is not so accurate for describing the modern shu cha. …continue reading