What is the difference between raw Pu'er and ripe Pu'er

Pu'er is one of the most popular teas, not only because of its unique taste and rich aroma, but also because it has certain benefits for human health: strengthening teeth, anti-aging, etc. Although many people like to drink Pu'er, they cannot distinguish between cooked Pu'er and raw Pu'er. They can be distinguished by color, aroma, taste, soup color, etc. Let me tell you the details in detail.

Production process of raw Pu'er: After the fresh leaves are picked, they are withered (withering means frying the fresh leaves in a pan to release the moisture in the leaves), rolled, and dried in the sun (Pu'er tea must be dried in the sun, like ordinary green tea, which is directly fried, dried, and steamed), which is raw loose tea, or sun-dried green tea. The sun-dried green tea is steamed at high temperature (to make it soft and moist, which is convenient for shaping), put into a fixed mold to shape, and then dried in the sun to become a compressed tea product, which becomes a raw cake, or various types of bricks, and Tuo.

The color and aroma of tea cakes: The tea leaves in tea cakes are mainly green and dark green, and some turn yellow and red. Usually, the smell of new tea cakes is not obvious (the smell here is not the smell of tea soup, but the smell you smell directly on the cake surface). If it is exposed to high temperature, it will have a dried sweet smell.

Taste: The taste is strong and irritating. If it is heated to high temperature, the tea soup will be fragrant, and the water will be sweet and thin, with a slight astringency.

Soup color: mainly yellow-green and turquoise.

Cooked tea production process: After the fresh leaves are picked, they are withered, rolled, and dried to become raw loose tea, or sun-dried green tea. The sun-dried green tea undergoes artificial rapid post-fermentation and watering and piling to become cooked loose tea (the piling process includes selecting tea leaves by grade, piling by grade, adding bacteria that are beneficial to accelerating fermentation, increasing temperature, artificially sprinkling water and adding humidity, piling, and turning regularly. This process currently only takes about 30 days. The piling technology was successfully experimented by Kunming Tea Factory in 1973. In other words, all cooked tea before 1973 was fake, and there was no cooked tea before 1973.) The cooked loose tea is then steamed and shaped to become cooked compressed tea.

Tea cake color and aroma: The tea leaves in the tea cake are black or reddish brown, and some buds are dark golden yellow, with a strong fermented smell, similar to mold. The lightly fermented ones have a longan-like smell, and the heavily fermented ones have a damp straw mat smell.

Taste: Thick and sweet, almost not bitter, and resistant to soaking.

Soup color: Lightly fermented soda is mostly dark red, while heavily fermented soda is mostly black.

After reading the above content, I believe you can distinguish between ripe Pu'er and raw Pu'er. People who like raw Pu'er will no longer sigh because they bought the wrong ripe Pu'er. In fact, most of the Pu'er tea on the market is ripe Pu'er, because the bitter taste of raw Pu'er is difficult for most people to accept, but once you get used to it, you will taste the sweetness after the bitterness.