What are the traditional processing methods for Pu'er tea?

Pu'er tea is made from the fresh leaves of the Yunnan large-leaf tea tree, and has the characteristics of a strong taste, resistance to repeated brewing, and a mellow aroma. To make loose Pu'er tea, the fresh leaves are first subjected to fixation, rolling, and sun-drying to make sun-dried rough tea, and then made into loose Pu'er tea through moderate watering and pile fermentation, sun-drying, and screening. Loose Pu'er tea can be processed by tea farmers themselves. The specific steps and methods are:

1. Fixation. Pot fixation is mostly used. Because large-leaf tea has a high water content, during fixation the combination of covering and tossing must be used so that the fresh leaves lose water evenly, achieving the purpose of thorough and uniform fixation.

2. Rolling. Rolling is directly rubbing the fixed tea leaves with the hands. During rolling, the strength should be controlled flexibly with the hands according to the composition of the tea raw materials. Tender leaves should be rolled gently and for a short time; old leaves should be rolled firmly and for a long time. Rolling until the tea leaves basically form strips is moderate.

3. Sun-drying. Sun-drying is using sunlight to dry the moisture in the tea leaves. Generally, a bamboo mat is used to spread the tea leaves thinly in the sunlight to dry, and drying until the tea leaves are about 90% dry is moderate.

4. Pile fermentation. Pile fermentation (that is, piling the sun-dried rough tea to keep it warm for 5 to 6 days or longer) is the key process for the formation of the color, aroma, and taste quality of Pu'er tea. Generally, the tea leaves are first splashed with water to absorb water and become damp, then piled to a certain thickness and allowed to ferment naturally. After several days of pile fermentation, the tea leaves become brown in color, have a special aged aroma, and the taste becomes strong and mellow.

5. Air-drying. After pile fermentation reaches the moderate level, spread the tea leaves indoors on a bamboo mat to air-dry, so that the tea leaves after pile fermentation release moisture and dry naturally in the air.

6. Screening. After the pile-fermented and dried tea leaves are first broken apart and loosened, fine pieces and broken bits are removed by sieving, winnowing, and picking, and old stems are picked out for grading, thus making loose Pu'er tea.