The diagram illustrates how the process of Pu-erh raw tea and Pu-erh ripe tea.
Overall, to produce raw and ripe tea, the processes are started with the same initial stages. After the drying process, the raw tea production is followed by fermentation while the ripe tea process requires some stages to be ready.
The process commences with frying tea leaves in a pan in order to inactivate enzymes. Following that, the fried leaves move to dry naturally under the sun, resulting in loose raw tea. After that, the raw tea is fermented by with mold. As a result, loose ripe tea is ready to be compressed. The final production is Pu-erh ripe tea.
In contrast, to produce vintage Pu-erh raw tea, the loose raw tea undergoes a compression process to make Pu-erh raw tea. Following that, the final product, the Pu-erh raw tea needs to be aged in the storage. Finally, the vintage Pu-erh raw tea is ready.