A Chronicle Of Ripe Pu'er Tea Featuring Prominent Figures, Historical events, And Renowned Tea Factories(1)

Pu-erh ripe tea has only existed for about 40 years since its inception. I've always wanted to write an article about its origins, but unfortunately, I lack sufficient research materials. Fortunately, I recently came across the article "Lu Zhuxun: The 'Godfather of Ripe Tea' Who Never Produced a Single Cake," which mentioned Mr. Yang Kai's research on the history of pu'er ripe tea, and I was deeply inspired. After organizing Mr. Yang Kai's articles and books on the historical research of pu'er ripe tea, I clearly saw the trajectory of ripe Pu-erh from its inception to the present day, the important turning points, and the factories, people, and events that have left their mark on the chronology of Pu-erh ripe tea: Lu Zhuxun, a representative of Pu-erh ripe tea; the Menghai Tea Factory that produced the legendary 7452 and 7572; how Macau, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Yunnan, and other places promoted the transformation from raw Pu-erh to ripe pu'er tea… I will use three blog posts to clearly explain the origins of Pu-erh ripe tea, its development history, important turning points, and processing techniques—in other words, this is a chronology of Pu-erh ripe tea, vibrant with figures, historical events, and famous tea factories.

Lu Zhuxun

The Budding Stage: The Precursor of Ripe Pu-erh Tea – Red-Soup Raw Pu-erh

The concept of ripe Pu-erh tea was actually only truly established around 1975. Before that, Pu-erh tea, by today's standards, was all raw Pu-erh tea. Records of Yunnan compressed tea's materials, production, and packaging in works completed before the founding of the People's Republic of China all similarly mention that the raw Pu-erh tea of ​​that time had a "red soup color." This red-soup Pu-erh was the precursor to ripe Pu-erh tea.

Red-soup Pu-erh

The reasons for the red-soup Pu-erh can be summarized in three points:

1. Due to the Processing Technology

Referring to descriptions of Pu-erh tea production processes at that time, it can be found that the production process of Pu-erh tea then was the same as that of raw Pu-erh tea today. Sun-drying was used during drying, and coupled with the relatively rudimentary production conditions at the time, the finished tea inevitably underwent "micro-fermentation," resulting in a "pale red" soup color. Later, the "tea-building" process, where the tea was allowed to dry naturally after being moistened with water, further intensified the "fermentation" of the tea leaves.

Local people and tea farmers pick tea leaves, stir-fry them in a wok to wilt, then repeatedly knead them on bamboo mats before sun-drying or air-drying them—this is the initial processing of tea. It is either sold in small quantities at the market or packed into bamboo baskets according to quality.

After placing the tea leaves in the baskets, a little moisture is sprinkled on them, and the baskets are surrounded by large bamboo shoots (commonly known as bamboo shoot leaves). Then, while adding tea, it is pressed tightly with fists or sticks, a process called "building the tea." The tea is then stored separately to dry naturally.

2. Poor Transportation Conditions

The journey from Yunnan to Guangzhou and Hong Kong is long. Tea can only be transported by human porters and pack animals, and it often takes a year to reach Hong Kong. During this long transport period, the tea is exposed to wind and rain, resulting in a darker tea liquor color by the time it arrives.

3. Aging Required Before Sale

After arriving in Hong Kong, Pu'er tea is not consumed immediately. To achieve a smoother and more pleasant taste, it is often aged for a period of time before being sold.

This custom can also be traced in an interview with Hong Kong tea connoisseur Lu Zhuxun, who said, "When my great-grandfather was in the Pu'er tea business, the freshly made Pu'er tea had a rather dark color, but it was only sold after being aged for six or seven years until the flavor became purer."

Thus, we can see that Pu'er tea consumed in Guangzhou and Hong Kong before the founding of the People's Republic of China, due to processing techniques, production and transportation conditions, and the effects of later storage, exhibited slight fermentation. However, the "red liquor" of Pu'er tea was not intentionally caused, but rather had many objective reasons.

Emergence Period: Habits Lead to Demand—The Beginning of Pu'er Tea Reform 

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, private tea shops and tea factories gradually began to be jointly owned by the public and private sectors, and tea began to be centrally purchased and sold. In 1949, China Tea was established, and tea-making techniques and production scale developed rapidly. Transportation conditions also improved significantly, leading to changes in the quality of Pu'er tea supplied to Hong Kong.

In 1950, Yuan Shoushan, who ran the Tongxinghao Tea Shop in Yunnan, came to Macau. Sitting on a wooden chair in the Yingji Tea Shop, he remarked, "Hong Kong customers, accustomed to the red-broth Pu'er tea (raw tea), simply cannot stomach the under-fermented flavor of the new tea. This has led to a shortage of aged tea cakes on the market." This information corroborates the situation at the time. It was also discovered that the Hong Kong market, accustomed to "traditional tastes," had a gap in demand for highly aged Pu'er tea. To allow newly supplied Pu'er tea to naturally adapt to the tastes preferred by Hong Kong people, time was the only option. To quickly meet market demand, various regions embarked on a path of reforming Pu'er tea processing techniques.

Development Period: A Hundred Schools of Thought Contend, Reforms in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Kunming

Hong Kong: Lu Zhuxun's Red-Broth Raw Pu'er and His Fuhuahao Tea Shop

Fuhuahao Tea Shop in Hong Kong

Ying Kee Tea Shop in Macau

Lu Zhuxun, a prominent figure in Hong Kong's tea industry and a representative of the development of ripe Pu'er tea in Hong Kong, was born in Guangdong in 1927 and his life was inextricably linked to tea. At the age of 11, he became an apprentice at the renowned Ying Kee Tea Shop in Macau.

After the quality of the Pu-erh tea supplied to Hong Kong changed, Lu Zhuxun keenly sensed a business opportunity. Drawing on his family's experience in the Pu-erh tea business and his previous experience making black tea, Lu began developing a Pu-erh tea (red-broth raw Pu-erh tea) that would be popular in the Hong Kong market. A month later, his research was successful.

In the late 19th century, Macau's leading position in the tea entrepot trade was gradually replaced by Hong Kong. In 1954, Master Lu left Macau with his skills and settled in Hong Kong, establishing his own brand, "Fuhua Hao Songpinmai".

Fuhua Membership Card

To Be Continued

The Historical Relationship Between Pu'er Ripe Tea And Liubao Tea

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.