Theme - Tea production

„guan mu; 灌木 - Literally means bush or shrub. 灌 - guan, to irrigate. This style of cultivation is relatively new in Yunnan, having only started in the early to mid 20th Century. Tea bushes are cultivated in rows. Guan mu cha is the tea from cultivated bushes.“

„bing; 饼 - cake. Something shaped like a cake. 茶饼; cha bing - tea cake. This is a cake of tea that has been pressed by hand or machine into a compact form. Easy for transporting and storage. The more tightly pressed it is, the slower the tea will age. They can range in size from 100 gms to several kilograms.“

„Yunnan Provincial Government has stipulated that for tea to qualify as Pu er it must be:

i) of the Broad Leaf variety (Sinensis Assamica)
ii) grown in the Lancang (Mekong) River region
iii) sun dried. The third point is important as there is much tea grown in the Lancang River area that is not sun dried.

There are also increasing amounts of Small Leaf Variety (Xiao Ye Zhong /小叶种) being grown in the Lancang River area.“