Notting Hall Specialty Loose Leaf Teas

The Yunnan Province in China has been producing tea for over 1700 years. Home of the wild tea trees, this area, with its high mountains, rich soil and abundant rainfall, is also home to the world’s oldest tea culture and tea economy. Named for the ethnic group “Pu” from “Pu County”, the broad leaf used to make the tea these tea farmers produced and consumed, as food, a medicine and a beverage, called Pu-erh Tea. This tea soon became so valuable, it was even used as currency, and the area became a very important economic and trading area in China.

Throughout that time, the health benefits associated with Pu-erh had been documented. The wide-ranging health benefits included aiding digestion, reducing cholesterol, increasing circulation and metabolism, and flushing the system. In fact, it is believed that Genghis Khan with a diet of only meat and yak’s milk, could not have been a healthy man without drinking his Pu-erh. It is believed that the compressed cakes we are familiar were today, were actually created to be easily carried in his saddlebag.

Pu-erhs can be divided into two categories: “raw” or “green” and “cooked” or “semi-fermented” and two types: compressed and loose. Here in the U.S., the semi-fermented tea is becoming very popular. Using large, broad leaves, natural fermentation occurs from the heat and moisture created within the leaves, while they age. The tea, as it ages, goes from a greenish color to a dark reddish color. The flavor also changes from sharp and bracing to mellow, smooth and earthy.

For a wonderful introduction to pu-erh teas, be sure to take a look at our
Pu-erh Sampler and Collection.