Description

Wokan Shan “Gong Ting” Bing Cha Shou Pu Erh Tea

Our Bing Cha Shou Pu Erh tea is a ripened tea from Wokan Shan in Yunnan’s Pu Erh district. The seed-grown trees of the large-leaved “Qun Ti Zhong” variety thrive in a tea garden at 1650m. The related planting dates back to the 1960s and adheres a biodiverse, strictly pesticide-free cultivation approach.

As a “Pu Erh Tea”, it falls into the “Dark Tea” (“Hei Cha”) processing category. Most characteristic for this category are it’s tea’s post-fermenting properties and the pressing of the processed tea leaves. At this, the “bing” (or “cake”) is one of the most common pressing forms. While the pressing further promotes the post-fermentation process, this is initially induced by a processing step called “wet piling” (chin .: “wo-dui”). By initiating bacterial processes, it enables accelerated “ripening” of the tea leaves stored in this way. The millennium-old technique is closely related to dark tea processing in general. However, the method underwent specific modifications for dark tea from Yunnan (= “pu erh tea”) processing during the 1970s.

The “wet-piling” is also responsible for the tea’s intensely sweet taste of dried dates and dark chocolate and the aroma of old, well-tanned leather. It is not to be confused with the “sheng” Pu Erh tea, which omits this processing step  and accordingly only matures naturally and over a comparatively long period of time.

“Gong Ting” means “palace”, traditionally referring to the highest grade of ripened pu erh teas. The related grading, however, takes place after “wo-dui” only, thereby exclusively reflecting the fermentation process. Accordingly, it doesn’t refer to either properties of the tea’s picking nor of its processing prior to wo-dui.

200g Bing Cha

Shou Pu Erh Tee – A Type of “Dark Tea”

“Dark” teas (“Hei Cha”) have a tradition everywhere in China where large-leaved tea tree varieties are native. However, pu erh tea, from the region around the eponymous city in Yunnan province,  is most probably the most famous type of dark tea. In contrast to the more than thousand-year-old tradition of making dark teas using the “wo-dui” method, the specific design of the process used to ripen Shou Pu Erh tea was an innovation of the 1970s. Unlike other dark teas, “wo-dui” storage for Pu Erh tea takes about 2 months .

Examples for dark teas from other regions in China are Liu Bao Cha from Guangzhi (“wo-dui” several days to weeks) and Fuzhuan Cha from Hunan (“wo-dui” about 1 day).

The History of Dark Tea

At the time of the Ancient Tea-Horse-Road Yunnan was one of the provinces, from where tea was transported north on that very trade route. Now the long journey on foot and with mules as a means of transporting tea took a very long time. As a result, the tea kept getting wet on the way, but could not dry well due to the cramped transport conditions. This is why the tea finally reached its end customers – mainly Mongols, Tibetans and Uyghurs – in a changed condition. While the producers and traders originally considered this rather undesirable, it soon became apparent that the end customers really appreciated this changed condition. Accordingly, ways were soon found to bring the tea into the desired state during processing already. With this, the tea’s continued maturing during its long journey was no longer a problem either…

Picking and Processing

The proper picking time for our Wokan Shan “Gong Ting” Bing Cha Shou Pu Erh Tee falls into spring. At this, picking takes place according to best picking standard 2+1. That is, one young unopened bud each with the 2 youngest leaves attached to it qualify for picking.

The next step is the heating of the tea leaves on the large tray of a special frying oven. The subsequent rolling serves the breaking-up of the cell structures and even distribution of juices in the tea leaves. This, in turn, follows the sun-drying of the tea leaves, which is another essential characteristic of pu erh tea processing.

The sun-drying it the final step in producing the “mao-cha”. This, in turn, is the raw basis for the further processing of specific types of pu erh tea. That is, it can either undergo “wo-dui” ripening or not, making the difference between “sheng” and “shou”. Furthermore, it can undergo pressing into one of the common pressing forms (brick, cake, mushroom, etc.).

Preparation

Preparing a Pu Erh tea usually starts with a “washing steep”. It is disposed of after a few seconds of rinsing the tea leaves with boiling hot water. As the name already tells, this preparation step serves to clean the tea leaves of dust and other impurities. Also, it effects an “awakening” of the tea leaves, which is beneficial to the ensuing first proper steep’s taste.

After the washing steep, pour 3g tea leaves / 100ml with boiling hot water (90°-100°C). Then let infuse 40 seconds to 1 minute for a first delicious steep. Thereafter, Wokan Shan “Gong Ting” Bing Cha Shou Pu Erh tea will produce a good range of similarly delicious follow-up steeps. For these, keep the infusion period constant at first, then prolong with weaking taste accordingly.