Puer Tea Glossary - Zhi Zheng Tea Shop

„shai qing; 晒青 - Sun dried. This is a critical aspect of Puer Tea processing. Oven dried tea is considered inferior to sun-dried. The Provincial Government has ruled that Puer tea must be sun-dried.“

„Yunnan Tea Company standardized the trade number for Pu Erh Tea in 1976 for the purpose of export. Each bingcha has 4 digits: the first 2 digits indicate the manufacturing year, the third digit indicates the leaf grade, the last digit indicates the tea factory (e.g. Kun-Ming 1, Meng-Hai 2, Xia-Guan 3, Pu Erh 4). The loose-leaf tea has 5 digits with the third and fourth indicating the class level of raw materials. Examples of early trade numbers for Puerh Tea are 7452, 7562, 7572, 75671, 76563.“