The Allure of Puerh
Dear Reader,
To those who follow this blog relatively closely, you may remember my previous tea related article with a rather foreshadow-y title including a Part 1. This article won’t be a part 2, however, as it has nothing to do with the socioeconomic impact of tea on the Yunnan provincial economy.
Whats different here is a lack of objectivity, or any data really, I wish for this article to contain my emotional connection to tea and only that.
Puerh, to me, is a fascinating tea type. Of all the teas of the world, Puerh is perhaps the most multi-faceted and information dense one. My fascination with Puerh lies within those two particular points, perhaps that is my tendency to pick information-dense hobbies… but even after a long journey through many tea mountains, building up several Puerh collections and being a part of a couple tea communities, I always feel I can learn more about or from it. Perhaps that is the allure of Puerh?
No, there must be more to it. Lots of hobbies are information dense why out of all of them did I get pulled in by Puerh? I think the more I delve into my near obsession with Puerh the more I think of that same question- Whats so special about it?
But the more I drink Puerh (Doing it while im writing this article! 2013 Xizihao Sanchajing), I find a sort of maximal enjoyment from it. Not the dopamine rush type, but more of the enjoyment I get from observing the tea, the teapot, the little Qing dynasty plate I set the teapot on, the color of the ‘soup’, the tiny little tea cups which I force myself to drink out of where many a times I’ve been questioned on their effectiveness… I observe the tea, perhaps the wet tea leaves, perhaps the dry tea cake… There is simply so much to observe through the lens of drinking Puerh that I can’t not enjoy it. I think in some ways Puerh teaches you how to observe in your own inner citadel of peace and quiet, it teaches you lessons in life you may never have observed without it. It also makes you think, at least it does to me, on how these simple dried tea leaves went from tree, to farmer, to processing facillities, to storage, then to me to drink now. Oh how much of an indulgence it is, as materialistic as it is, to drink this tea. Theres a certain beauty to that thought, no? Having been to the origins of these leaves, perhaps even as far as the tree itself, having seen the thickness of the trunk, just thinking how long that tree has lived (And seen!).
That’s the other thing about Puerh, at least the vast majority of Puerh that I drink, they’re from trees! And trees… grow old, they experience time and gather carbon till some unfortunate force forecasts their demise, that becomes the same with those tea ‘bushes’ we often see online. But with Puerh an enourmous value is placed on tree age and size or any general tree characteristics. Terms like 古树（Gu Shu, Ancient tree), 高杆 (Gao Gan, a really tall tree) and 乔木 (Qiao Mu, Tree with a larger trunk) are used to differentiate, in a almost hiearchical manner, the tier of Puerh. I find it all very confusing as different definitions for the objective qualities of trees float around all the time from manufacter to manufacter and it all gets a bit iffy. Although those terms could be a marque for a ‘better’ puerh… you never know. Some claims in that area are also quite suspicious, 1000+ year old tree you say!
Having seen many tea trees in person, It’s fascinating to me how the location, sunlight exposure, age, width… ‘objective’ tea tree measurements affect the tea itself. Move the same tree to a different village and it’ll lose its characteristic bitterness… its quite fascinating. Perhaps the best example of this is with the tea trees of Lao Man’e, which produce some of the most bitter Puerhs known, yet when you move them to somewhere else (BanZhang in this case), they no longer produce the same amount of bitterness. I’m most certainly not educated enough on why this is the case but, interesting isnt it?
I spoke very briefly on location when it comes to Puerh, and by location I mean specific villages… in Puerh you will often find two types of tea material- ‘Blends’ or ‘Recipes’ and ‘Single-origin’ or ‘INSERT VILLAGE NAME’. The blends/recipes speak for themselves, someone somewhere takes a bunch of loose puerh and blends them together to (hopefully) create a good tasting tea. Single origin, on the other hand, usually refers to tea from a single village (could be a blend of trees across the village or a blend of specific trees). The fascinating part of single-origin Puerh is the abillity for really anyone to differentiate between regions like Yiwu and Bulang, with Yiwu being characeristically softer and more smooth and Bulang being more astringent and powerful. The taste itself, and the characteristics of each regions tea is interesting, sure, but that isn’t my specific fascination with it all. My fascination lies within the people, the people in these villages, the people blending these teas, the people processing the teas, the people who enjoy those teas. The pure vibrancy and optimism of some villagers (Jingmai shoutout!), contrasting with the perhaps more bleak but similarly vibrant people of the tea markets, the absolute serenity and calmness of tea drinkers… its all cohesive and balanced in a way, people of all socioeconomic backgrounds collectively drinking puerh. That’s why I absolutely adore Puerh, I meet these people I would have never met, my world view shifts, my soul changes.
Thats the allure of Puerh. The People.
The people who drink Puerh.
The people who sell Puerh.
The people who blend Puerh.
The people who process Puerh.
The people who pick the leaves which become Puerh.
There is a humanity in Puerh that is simply unrivaled, perhaps you could argue that a more artisan focused tea like certain yellow teas or rock teas expose the maximally human side of tea, but to me Puerh transcends more barriers than those teas ever can.
Puerh gave my soul more humanity and more optimism for life than anything before or after it.
The allure of Puerh is its ability to encapsulate the joys of life while simultaneously allowing the tea drinker (An observer in many ways) to enjoy those joys through a simple cup of it.
Once again, Thank you kind reader whoever/wherever you are for reading this.
Sincerely,
The Author
