What is Puerh?

   Puerh - a tea that is grown mainly in the province Yunnan, which is located in southern China. "Yun" in Chinese "Cloud", and "Nan" - "South". "Cloudy South" was named this region for the fact that there are very warm and very high humidity. Mountains Yunnan is covered by dense wild forests, which often there are tea trees, whose age is more than a thousand years! Officially registered the oldest tea tree was found in 1961 in an ancient forest on the mountain Da Hey Shan . Hight of this tree - 25,6 m, and age - more than 1700 years. 
   Puerh – is a fermented tea. Produced as a several other areas of China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Burma. It features specific technology production: the collected leaves are processed to the level green tea, are subjected to fermentation process - natural or artificial (accelerated) aging. 

  
 There are two main types of Puerh: shu (other names raw and green) and sheng(other names ripe and black). What does it mean? Key levels of Puerh production: collecting tea withering leaf curl (a term for various manipulation of the sheet to mechanical failure cell walls and squeezing the tea juice), pressing, fermentation. Fermentation of the same tea before, occurred already in the process long transport and subsequent storage of tea. 
   To appearance of vehicles tea time to ripen on the way to consumer. In the second half of XX century, with increasing demand and reducing the time of delivery of goods to the consumer no longer have time to mature tea (fermented) to the desired degree, and therefore in the seventies of the XX century was the technology of artificially accelerated fermentation (tea leaves piled up in heaps, watered with water, after which the temperature inside the heap increases, thus accelerating the process of fermentation). 
   So up with two main types of Puerh - is made on original technology "raw Puerh" (Shu) and "ripe Puerh "(Shen). 
The fans there are for raw and for ripe, but raw Puerh interesting like you can independently control the fermentation process, and accordingly, the taste of tea. This process requires some patience: 2-3 years storage of tea starts to leave the bitterness and rudeness of fresh leaf, and tea can start to drink. And if you wait 10 - 20 years more, then you can enjoy a truly unique tea (Though incorrectly stored tea can go bad). Pipe Puerh during prolonged storage as changes. In time, ripe Puer goes so called "taste / smell of wet piles", which is much improves its organoleptic characteristics and increases value. 

   This tea is known in China more than a thousand years, but only in last decade, began to gain popularity in Europe and America. Unfortunately in Europe Puerh tea is still almost unknown. Puerh - a unique tea, because: 

• - It improves with time, as objects collectible wine and brandy and therefore, like them, is a popular collectibles. 
• - Opens a whole world of flavors and fragrances, as can be infinitely varied, depending on age tea, where going to the tea leaves, etc.
• - Is extremely useful: improves the functioning of digestive system, lowers cholesterol blood, contributes to excess weight loss, etc. 
• - Serves as an excellent tool for sociolaisings, because it stimulates the brain in a special way activity. And if you need to have a closer relationship, or conduct successful business negotiations, or just have fun with friends is not necessarily drink alcohol or coffee ...

Your personal virtual tea-house

to be continued