In China today, we must acknowledge that Liubao tea has become a niche tea. Few seasoned tea drinkers regularly drink it, and many have never even heard of this dark tea. Perhaps only older generations of tea drinkers would have a strong impression of "Liubao tea," given its heyday around the 1950s. Today, Pu'er tea is one of the most popular and famous teas in China, but back then, many might find it hard to believe that Liubao tea held such a position.
As early as the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Liubao tea was already listed as one of the twenty-four famous teas due to its "betel nut aroma." Later, its moisture-resistant properties (very important) made it a popular export tea for overseas Chinese, a source of comfort for many Chinese laborers who went to Southeast Asia, and an important daily health drink, thus becoming popular throughout Southeast Asia. Liubao tea emphasizes "red, strong, aged, and mellow," with a bright red tea soup, a mellow and refreshing taste, and a pure aroma…wait, is this not referring to ripe Pu'er?
It turns out that the emergence of modern ripe Pu'er tea is closely related to Liubao tea. As everyone knows, ripe Pu-erh tea only appeared in the 1970s; before that, only raw Pu-erh existed. Raw Pu-erh is highly stimulating and has a strong, bitter taste. Only aged raw Pu-erh, known for its smooth and mellow taste, is relatively close to the modern ripe Pu-erh. Although aged raw Pu-erh tastes somewhat similar to ripe Pu-erh, there are fundamental differences. Aged raw Pu-erh undergoes natural late-stage fermentation, while ripe Pu-erh uses artificial catalytic fermentation. This artificial catalytic fermentation process originates from traditional Liubao tea.
Liubao tea uses a "piling" process to ferment raw tea leaves. The book *Tea Harvesting and Processing Methods*, compiled by the Guangxi Supply and Marketing Cooperative in June 1957, describes this process as follows:
The phrase "piling for several hours" in the book refers to "piling." This is a crucial step in forming the unique quality of Liubao tea. Its purpose is to promote the transformation of substances within the tea through the moist heat of piling, reducing bitterness and astringency, and making the tea soup mellow. It is precisely because of this process that Liubao tea soup is silky smooth and without any astringency.
Many people have likely heard that those with sensitive stomachs shouldn't drink raw Pu-erh tea. Raw Pu-erh is considered strong and stimulating; newly made or recently aged raw Pu-erh has a strong bitter taste, a pale or yellowish-green liquor, and is considered cold in nature, easily irritating the stomach—completely different from the ripe Pu-erh we generally associate with it. However, in 1959, Guangdong tea merchants, knowing Hong Kong people's fondness for "red-broth Pu-erh," began developing "Guangdong Pu-erh tea," using wet storage to accelerate the fermentation of raw Pu-erh. In the 1970s, Yunnan tea merchants visited the Wuzhou Tea Factory in Guangxi, learning the fermentation techniques of Liubao tea. In 1974, the Yunnan Provincial Tea Company successfully developed ripe Pu-erh tea, which quickly swept the market with its enticing aged aroma and deep liquor color.
Since then, ripe Pu-erh, with its strong market competitiveness, has almost completely replaced Liubao tea in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Because Yunnan has a large tea-producing area and a high average annual temperature, its tea production is much higher. Therefore, compared to Liubao tea, ripe Pu-erh tea has a lower cost and higher cost-performance ratio, and enjoys the name of Pu-erh, gradually replacing Liubao tea as the representative of dark tea. Liubao tea, on the other hand, has gradually become less well-known. Driven by the market, major tea factories have refined the fermentation process of ripe Pu-erh tea, resulting in various products that are excellent in both tea leaves and technology. However, having tasted both ripe Pu-erh and Liubao tea for many years, I can objectively say that both are very good and worth trying. They have many similarities but also differences. In the next installment, I will share my years of drinking experience with you regarding these similarities and differences.
No comments:
Post a Comment