According to 'Xu Bo wu Zhi' (or 'A Sequel To Cyclopaedia Of Natural Science') written by Li Shi in Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.), people living in the juncture area of Tibet, Yunnan and Sichuan drank Pu-erh tea as early as Tang Dynasty (618-907A.D.) during which tea trade was also flourishing. Zhao Xuemin (circa 1719-1805 A.D.), a physician and famous pharmacist of Qing Dynasty, wrote in his 'Ben Cao Gang Mu Shi Yi' (or 'A Supplement To The Compendium Of Materia Medica') that Pu-erh Tea (sometimes spelled "Puerh Tea", "Pu-er Tea" or "Pu Er Tea") was a namesake specialty of Pu Er Prefecture. An important town in Yunnan province now known as Pu Er County, Pu Er is a distributing center of tea. Where as Mt. Liuchashan (Six Famous Tea Mountain) - a Specific place from which Pu-erh tea produced, is situated within the prefectural boundary of Xishuanbanna in Simao District. Renowned for its scenic mountains, mild climate, frost-free winter and spring, abundant rainfall, nebulous ambience and fertile soil, the place is the native centre of origins of world's tea trees.

In accordance with an ancient Dai document of Xishuanbanna, Yunnan had tea trees planting some 1,700 years ago. There is an old tea tree called the 'King of tea trees' still growing on Nannuo Mountain in Menghai County of the same prefecture. In 1961, a large wild tea tree was discovered in the primeval forest on Dahei Mountain of the same county. That tree rose 32.1 m high with a diameter of 1.03m and its age was over 1,700 years old. Exuberant and verdant, it still can yield quality tea leaves. Yunnan's favourably natural conditions are suitable for the breeding of its large-leaf tea trees which feature early budding, strong buds, long growth period. tender leaf texture, etc. They have become unique materials for preparing Pu-erh Tea.

Different from black tea and green tea, Pu-erh tea leaves are processed from large-leaf and dried Qingmao tea through special fermentation. They are broad and brownish red in colour. When preparing tea, a pleasantly mellow fragrance exudes. Pu-erh tea is in fact a rare health drink for all ages. Literati throughout Chinese history had highly praised the beverage. Wang Yu of Song Dynasty. Zhao Xuemin of Qing Dynasty and Cao Xueqin (author of 'Dream of the Red Mansion') had Pu-erh tea mentioned in their works.

Receiving popularity among consumers in some 20 countries and regions upon its entering into international markets is not a fortuity for Pu-erh tea. A medical experiment conducted by a hospital in France proved that regular consumption of the tea can apparently lower blood lipid by 13%(3 cups/day in one month). The tea can also lower the alcoholic contents in blood. Besides, over 40% of the subjects which drink Pu-erh Tea lose their weight for different extents obviously for people of the 40-50 age group. For lowering lipid matters, 34% were tested with excellent result and 33% good, Triglyceride, cholesterol and uric acid can be lowered to various levels as well. Thus, Pu-erh Tea is renowned as slimming tea or health tea in Japan, Italy, Hong Kong, Macao, etc.

A clinical test conducted by Kunming Medical Institute proved that Yunnan Pu-erh Tea has a higher curative effect than clofibrate, a medicine to cure lipemia. Same effect has been verified on lowering cholesterol level. No side-effect occurs for regular consumption. Recent medical experiments also report that Pu-erh Tea decoction (100g of tea to be boiled in 700m1 water and take q.i.d.) is bacteriostatic, especially effective against bacillary dysentery. Therefore, regular consumption of Pu-erh Tea can prevent dysentery too. Unlike other stimulating black teas and because of its mild nature, Pu-erh tea can cut the grease, help digestion, promote body fluid secretion, quench thirst, vigorate the spleen and dispel alcoholic toxics.

Yunnan Pu-erh tea is available in compressed and bulk forms. Compressed teas (known as Tuocha Tea) include Yunnan Green Tuocha and Yunnan Pu-erh Tuocha (bowl-shaped), Yunnan Chi Tsu tea cakes (full-moon-shaped), Pu-erh Square tea cakes (square-board-shaped), Pu-erh tea Bricks (rectangle-shaped). They are famous produce of tea factories in Xiaguan, Menghai and Kunming. Bulk tea features broad, stout and brownish red tea leaves with brightly red decoction and unique mellow flavour. Dozens of Yunnan's tea factories produce bulk Pu-reh tea and the tea is sold abroad in numerous brand names.

Pu-erh Tea's quality never fades as years go by. But, the tea must neither be placed amid substances with peculiar smell nor in dampness. Don't keep it hermetically sealed. For drinking, use only 3-5 g of tea leaves, add boiled water and cover the cup for about 1-3 minutes. For better taste, use spring water and purple clay tea sets.

Yunnan Province and Tea

Located in the Southwest frontiers of China, Yunnan Province features rough terrain which is dotted with cloud-veiled mountains and crisscrossed with meandering rivers. The Province has abundant rainfall, mild climate and fertile land, all of which prepare ideal conditions for tea cultivation, and Yunnan is the homeland of tea trees.

According to historic records, Yunnan has a history of 2,100 year since it domesticated the aboriginal tea (known as the 'wild tea'). In Yunnan province, the 800-year-old cultivation type ancient tea tree is still growing in the Nannou Mountain of Menghai County, the 1,700-year-old ancient wild tea tree now growing in Bada of Menghai County and the 1,000-year-old ancient tea tree now growing in Bangwei of Lincang Prefecture which indicates the transition between the wild and cultivation types. They are praised as the 'Three Ancient Tea-tree King' of the world. Those ancient tea trees are regarded as the 'living fossils' of Yunnan's aboriginal tea plants.

According to historic records of China, the ethnic Pu people in Yunnan began to grow tea and served it as tribute to the emperors as early as in the Chinese Shang and Zhou Dynasties. In the west and East Han Dynasties, tea was grown in river valleys and by the mountain trails of Yizhou. In the Three Kingdoms Period, The Nanzhong tea-seed was widely popularized. In the Tang Dynasty, tea produced in Xishuanbanna was marketed to Dali area and became the favorite drink of the noblemen of the Nanzhao Kingdom. In the Song Dynasty, Pu-erh County became a famous market for trading tea and horses. In the Yunnan Dynasty, tea had become the most important commodity in the transactions undertaken by people of all ethnic groups. In the former part of the Qing Dynasty, reputation of the Pu-erh tea reached its climax. The years starting in 1926 and ending in 1936 which were on the eve of the War of Resistance Against Japan marked the most prosperous period of production and sales of Yunnan tea, during which more than 5,000 tons of tea were yearly sold to Sichuan and Tibet, while over 500 tons were exported to foreign countries.

Yunnan's tea export to foreign countries started more than 200 year ago. According to annals recorded during Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Yunnan's tea export was stared as early as in 1763.

Tea processing in Yunnan Province began in the early 20th century in hand-operated workshop, and modernized tea processing in Yunnan did not begin after the establishment of China Tea Trade Company (Yunnan) Ltd.

Yunnan is a treasure land of China for developing the tea industry. All the tea-producing areas of the province are located at elevations from 1,200 to 2,000 meters. The annual mean temperature ranges from 12°C to 23°C, effective annual heat cumulation is between 4,500°C and 7,000°C, and annual rainfall is 1,000-1,900mm. The monsoon season is concentrated in May through October, during which the rainfall constitutes about 85% of that of the whole year. The monsoon coincides with the hottest months, and there is a very high value of effective rainfall. In the dry season which starts in November and ends in April, There are sufficient sunny day. There is adequate sunshine, and the tea trees have a long growth period. Under normal conditions, the tea-leaf plucking period may last for 8 to 9 months. The tea-growing areas are generally covered with red, yellow of brick-red soils with the pH value ranging between 4 to 6. Comparing with other major tea producing countries, the climate of Yunnan is more suitable for growing tea trees. Therefore, Yunnan has rich varieties of tea trees and excellent tea species.

Up to the present, Yunnan has registered a total number of 199 species of local tea trees, the good ones among which are 46 asexual-propagation species and 153 sexual-propagation species. Overall, Yunnan's tea species are known as the "Yunnan large-leaf tea", which, just like the ideal Assam tea of India and the Kenya tea, belongs to superb tea species of the world, and is the ideal raw material for producing the black tea and Pu-erh tea. Comparing with the small-leaf species, Yunnan tea has higher polyphenol by 5-7% than the average value, catechin by 30-60% higher than the average value, and water-soluble substances by 3-5% higher than the average value.

According to the different method used in tea processing, Yunngn tea is made into over 100 kinds of products. Yunnan Tuocha Tea is famous for its medicinal properties, it was proved to be an efficacious beverage with the functions of eliminating fat, reducing weight, strengthening body and lengthening longevity, stimulating metabolism, and balancing and regulating the level of cholesterol. Yunnan Tuocha Tea is also highly reputed as 'slimming tea', 'beauty tea' and 'healthy tea' in more than twenty countries and regions including France, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong and so on.