Theme - Yunnan

„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.“

„Pu'er Tea; 普洱茶. That 'Puer Tea' was given this name suggests that historically this kind of tea - post fermented camelia sinensis assamica must have come from the south and west of Puer for there to have been any sense in transporting it through that city. The majority of good Puer tea still comes from the Xishuangbanna region. Puer County itself was not an historically important tea producing region.“

„The piling, wetting, and mixing of the piled máochá ensures even fermentation. The bacterial and fungal cultures found in the fermenting piles were found to vary widely from factory to factory throughout Yunnan, consisting of multiple strains of Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., yeasts, and a wide range of other microflora. Control over the multiple variables in the ripening process, particularly humidity and the growth of Aspergillus spp., is key in producing ripened pu'er of high quality.“