The diagram illustrates the production process of Pu-erh tea, detailing the steps involved in making both raw and ripe tea.
Overall, the process begins from the same steps for both types of tea, including rolling and drying. However, raw tea is characterized by aging, while ripe tea requires fermentation before compression.
Both raw and ripe tea begin with the same process. The tea leaves are first pan-fried to inactivate enzymes, followed by a rolling process. Once rolled, the leaves are left to dry under the sun, ensuring they are properly prepared before diverging into separate steps. At this step, the production process splits. For Pu-erh raw tea, the dry leaves are compressed into the powder and aged in storage to produce a vintage type of Pu-erh. In contrast, the ripe tea experiences fermentation by mold, which results in loose ripe tea. These fermented leaves are then compressed into the final product known as Pu-erh ripe tea.