We read pu-erh labels. We decipher the information on the package

Many of us are familiar with the situation: you come to the tea shop, you see wide selection of extruded puers and it is often very difficult to choose tea - after all, few people can read Chinese characters.

It is good if you can try tea or at least deploy it to appreciate the appearance of the tea leaf and the aroma of dry tea - but this is not always available, since many puers are packed in such a way that paper packaging cannot be unfolded without damage. It remains only to choose at random, guided by the criteria of price and attractive packaging design.

How to decipher the information left by manufacturers on the pressed tea? Is it as difficult as it seems?

Let's try to figure it out.

In addition to hieroglyphs, there are also numbers on the puerna packaging, though not at all, only in factory puerh.

With numbers, perhaps, let's start. So, for example, let's take this pancake.

The first two digits are the year when the recipe for making this puer was created. In this case, 1999. Note that this is not the age of puerh.

Pu-erh recipe - certain proportions of mixing different in the region / grade / type of sheet to obtain a characteristic, stable and recognizable taste. To some extent, this ensures that puers from the same factory, produced according to the same recipe in 2008 and 2010, will taste more or less the same. Over the years, new formulations appear, some disappear, but especially successful ones continue to be used.

The third digit, from 1 to 9 - the size, grade of the sheet. The larger the number, the larger the sheet. In our case, 7 means a large, but not as large as possible sheet. The smaller the number, the more tea buds in the composition of this pu-erh, the smaller and more tender the leaf.

The fourth digit is the factory code. In our Pu-erh, the fourth figure 8 is the factory of Hivan.

Factory codes:

1 - Kunming Tea Factory

2 - Menhai Factory

3 - Xiaguan Factory

4 - Factory Feng Qing

5 - Puer Tea Factory (Now Puer Tea Group Co.Ltd)

6 - Six Great Tea Mountains Factory

8 - Haiwan Factory

9 - Langhe Factory

That's how much you can learn from numbers, not knowing Chinese ;-)

What to do if there are no figures on the Puer package, only incomprehensible hieroglyphs?

In fact, there are not so many of them, not everything is so terrible. Let's try to figure out and select the main ones, which are usually found on the packaging of many pancakes or bricks.

Typically, the label highlights the main data:

Let us analyze these elements in a little more detail.

1. The logo, the trademark of the plant - usually it is a drawing on the front side of the cake, which can be used to find out at which factory this puerh was made. Some factories have several brands.

2. The name of Pu-erh is spelled out in big beautiful letters in the center or at the top. Often includes such hieroglyphs as 茶 Cha (tea), Bean (Pancake), Puer.

3. The address of the factory may include hieroglyphs with the name of a locality, such as 勐海 (Menghai) or 云南 (Yunnan).

4. The main thing to remember from hieroglyphs is the type of puer. As a rule, it is spelled out in the title or in more detailed information about the tea, in large letters, in a circle or in the center. There you will find the hieroglyph Shen сы (raw, green puer) or shu у (black, ready puer).

5. It is not necessary to read the form of pu-erh in Chinese, but you can see it visually - it’s a pancake, a brick or a grinder (the shape of pressing is like a thimble).

6. With weight, too, everything is clear, there are numbers we know)).

So, you and I have almost already learned Chinese ;-) Fortunately, tea suppliers give their names to Puerhs in Cyrillic, from which you can also learn something.

Here is a brief list of combinations of words that are often found in the names of puers:

Lao is old.
Bean - pancake.
Cha - tea.
Chi Ji Bin Cha - Pancake Seven Sons or Pastry Seven Sons. He says that this Pu-erh was packed for 7 lozenges in tuna, in which it was kept.
Gu Shu - ancient trees. The manufacturer claims that the leaves and buds from ancient trees served as raw materials for pu-erh.
Da Shu or Qiao Mu are straight-stemmed trees, not bushes.
E. Shen - means "wild" and, paradoxically, does not mean that this Pu-erh is raw, Shen Pu-erh.
Gong Tin - Palace Puerh, such a phrase in the title suggests that the raw materials for the Puerh were the most selective, upper and small leaves and buds.
Lao Shu - old trees. As in the case of E Shen, it is not necessarily black (shu) pu-erh. For example: Shen Puer "Lao Shu Cha" 2008, Kunming Gui Factory Company.
Jin I (Jin Hao) - says a large proportion of tea buds in the recipe.
Lao Cha Tou - Pu-erh in clumps. Sometimes referred to as "Old Tea Heads".

That is, if the Puer is called Jin Ya Gu Shu Chi Ji Bing Cha Ye Shen - do not let this shock you. This only means that the pu-erh has a lot of tea buds, it is collected from ancient wild-growing trees and packed in tuna of 7 pieces each! )))

Summary

Somehow like this. Now, from a seemingly incomprehensible set of numbers, hieroglyphs and letters, we can already make up at least some concept of puer, which we are going to purchase. Of course, ideally, tea should be tried. After all, Pu-erh is an extraordinary tea, he chooses you. But we hope that our modest advice will help you find exactly your Puerh, which will give you the bliss of tea, good health and unforgettable tea conditions!

Enjoy your tea with i-tea.club!