Hottest thing in Puerh

Do you know what is the hottest thing in Puerh tea market these days?

Puerh discs displaying aged tea

It is the Puerh tea made from tea leaves picked from old Puerh tea. These old puerh tea trees have to be at least 100 years old. Generally the older the trees the better the puerh tea. If the trees are 500 to 700 years, the puerh tea is considered very good and very expensive. Some even boast that their puerh tea is made from tea leaves harvested  from 1000-year old trees.

Sign displaying tea from thousand year old trees

 

For such vintage puerh, there are many brands such as the Yiwu tea, Meng Ku, Mend Er, Bu Lung and many others. But all these teas cannot be compared to Lao Panchang, the king of Puerh.

Panchang versus Yiwu

Panchang is a tea producing district in Yunan. The trees in Panchang are generally very old, their age ranges from 500 to 800 years. These trees are huge with thick trunks and deep roots. These trees can absorb nutrients deep under the ground. As a result, the leaves are broad and hairy. These leaves make very strong puerh tea with a unique characteristic flavour. That is the reason why Panchang puerh is branded the king of puerh. Fresh unprocessed leaves can cost as much 750 RMB. After processing, the tea generally cost around 8000 to 12000 per kg.

A cup of freshly made panchang tea

Old puerh trees are indeed previous. They grow on mountains in this region where the climate and soil conditions suit the trees well. Some wild trees are a 1000 years old while others are more than 500 years old. The leaves are broad and thick due to good nourishment picked up by the deep roots.

 

 

In contrast, this new tea plantation where you see has only tea bushes. The leaves are small and will not produce puerh tea of great character.

When you enter the Panchang village, you will be surprise that many tea merchants gather there in search of the king of puerh. Everybody wants a slice of tea business from the panchang brand. Green tea from this region is like wine from the Bordeaux region of France. If it is panchang puerh, one can guarantee the strong character in this tea. If you don't see that many villagers in the town, don't be alarm as most of them will be out in the tea plantations plucking tea leaves.

Entrance to the Panchang village

Tea leaves being plucked from trees

At 750 RMB per kg for the fresh leaves they plucked from the trees, life has never been the same again for these villagers. When time was bad and the tea was not selling well, a granny remarked that she did not want to live that long. Now the tea market for Panchang puerh is so good that this granny said she did not want to die so early as life was really worth living. 

Modern houses in the village

Fresh leaves cost as much as 750 RMB/kg



Every household is building big house and posh and modern houses can be seen everywhere in the village. There is a sign of prosperity everywhere.

Some puerh trees are so precious that the owner fence them up and prohibit people from touching them. Like this 1000 year-old tree, a sign was put up to forbid illegal plucking of tea leaves from it.

Some even suggest to the owner of this puerh tree to charge tourist 100 RMB per session for taking a picture with this 1000 year-old tree. Now with that proposal, tea farmers can have other source of income which will make life even better for them. They remarked that the price of Panchang tea will even go higher in the future.

 

The farmers roast the freshly picked leaves in a big wok. This process is essential to kill off the chlorophyll in the leaves and dried them for further processing. These dried leaves can be sold to tea merchants as a semi-finished product and earned the farmers a decent profit.

 

Tea merchants examine the quality of the semi-finished tea leaves. They pay a few thousand RMB for the semi-processed tea. When the tea is finally packed in their factory, it will cost anything from 8000 to 12000 RMB. That's why old Panchang Puerh is called the kin of Puerh.

If you have not tried this king of puerh, just drop by a reputable merchant and get some real panchang tea. You will sure like its strong and heavy character, just like the Bordeaux wine from France.