Tea

Sheng puer — 生普洱 — is the 'raw' puer, made mainly from the large-leaf tea trees of Yunnan province. The character 生 means 'raw', 'living', 'unfinished', and it perfectly captures the nature of this tea: sheng puer keeps changing over the years and unfolding during storage. The history of puer is tied to Yunnan — one of China's oldest tea regions. It was from here that during the Tang dynasty, around the 7th–10th centuries, tea was transported along trade routes, often in pressed form so it would keep better during long journeys. Over time people noticed that such tea did not simply keep, but changed, becoming softer, deeper and more complex. Sheng puer is made from tea leaves that are withered, heated, rolled, dried and often pressed into cakes, bricks or nests. Young sheng can be bright, herbal, floral, astringent and very alive. With age it becomes softer, deeper, honeyed, woody or fruity. It is a tea of development, ageing and character. The name 'sheng puer' only became necessary much later — essentially after the appearance of shu puer in the 1970s, to distinguish 'raw puer' from 'ripe/fermented' puer. Read more about sheng puer on the blog, but it can only be truly understood by tasting!