The picture highlights the steps and apparatus involved in the production of Pu’erh tea.
Overall, the process comprises three distinct stages. Starting from fresh Pu’erh tea leaves being fried. However, the processes later diverge into two branches treatments, ending with naturally aged raw cakes or fermented ripe cakes.
In the first three steps, fresh Pu’erh tea leaves being rolled and placed on a frying pan, then pan – fried over high heat to inactivated enzymes. The tea leaves are then dried over the sun to prevent oxidation, producing loose raw tea ready for next stages.
Afterwards, the loose raw tea is tightly compressed into Pu’erh raw tea, which is further aged through storage under controlled conditions for a specific period of time, producing Vintage raw Pu’erh. In contrast, other portion of the loose tea undergoes fermentation by mold, transforming it into loose ripe tea. This tea is then compressed into cakes, which is called Pu’erh ripe tea.
