Chinese Bingcha Loose Leaf Pu'er Tea

Enjoyed particularly in Hong Kong, Pu'er tea is often drunk with rich food and dim sum – it is believed to aid digestion and purify the blood.

Pu'er tea is traditionally a very slow fermentation of a partly oxidised "dark" tea that can take decades to reach maturity and cost many thousands of pounds. This ripe Pu'er has first been "wet-pilled" where it undergoes an initial wet fermentation for 45 days to begin the process. This allows the tea to reach a smoothness and delicacy of a much older "raw" Pu'er. It is also vastly more affordable.

Some very old Pu'ers that date back to before Chairman Mao's Revolution are extremely valuable. They can be traded for eye-watering sums due to their rarity and the history they belong to - much like vintage champagnes. An old bottle of champagne may be worth a king's ransom and then disappoint as soon as it is opened. It may be corked or spoilt. Its value is not determined on the quality of the liquid inside but on the age of the bottle. The same is sometimes true of Pu'er. Once an old Pu'er cake has been unwrapped, broken and the tea infused - it might not be the most delicious tea despite its price - and its value is then lost, so they are often more traded than drunk.