Raw Puerh Tea

Picked leaves are handled carefully to prevent bruising and unwanted oxidation. They are allowed to wither on bamboo trays in a ventilated space. This withering stage allows the leaves’ cell walls to weaken so that moisture can evaporate smoothly during later stages.

The leaves are then dry pan-fried using a large wok in a process called "kill green" which arrests enzyme activity in the leaf and prevents further oxidation. With enzymatic oxidation halted, the leaves can then be rolled and shaped.

The shaped leaves are then ideally dried in the sun and hand sorted to remove stalks. After sorting, the tea can be sent directly to the factory to be pressed into raw Puerh cakes, stored in non-airtight sacks to allow quick maturation before blending and pressing into cakes, processed into Cooked Puerh or allowed to mature uncompressed and sold as loose-leaf raw Puerh.