Drinking Tea is like eating daily meals – while there may be staple foods, you shouldn't eat the same thing every day. Long-time Puerh tea enthusiasts generally prefer raw tea, but sometimes they need ripe tea as a change of pace. For instance, early in the morning or late at night, when you just want a few sips of tea, it's recommended to drink ripe tea and not too strong, so it doesn't affect your sleep. However, many tea enthusiasts don't know how to choose teas with higher cost-effectiveness and better quality, which is because they haven't focused on the key points.

Puerh raw tea is a unique post-Fermented tea from Yunnan Province, with a history of over a thousand years. The phrase “the older, the more fragrant” typically refers to high-quality Puerh raw tea. Ripe tea was developed between 1973 and 1976 by state-owned tea factories in Yunnan using artificial fermentation techniques. Ripe tea involves artificially piling and fermenting raw tea under specific humidity and temperature conditions, allowing the raw tea leaves to quickly ferment to mimic the effects of decades of aging, though it can only approximate these effects and never fully equal them. This process unexpectedly created a unique type of tea product.

We've written many articles discussing the advantages of raw tea and how to select high-quality raw tea, such as its floral aroma, honey fragrance, wild character, rich flavor, and potent qi. Eventually, we found that our tea enthusiasts' progress was slow, and they were still uncertain about choosing tea. It wasn't that we hadn't explained clearly enough; rather, we had covered too many key points, making it unclear what the main focus should be. So, we concluded that if beginners were to buy raw tea and focus on only one advantage, what should it be? It would be the aftertaste and salivation. Most Puerh ancient tree raw teas are pleasant to drink, but why is there such a significant price difference? The reason is whether there is a pleasant aftertaste left in the mouth after drinking, and aftertaste and salivation are among the most common.

When raw tea is artificially fermented into ripe tea, the bitterness and astringency are significantly reduced, to the point where they are almost nonexistent. However, the aftertaste and salivation also decrease significantly. The original floral and honey aromas transform into more subtle scents like ginseng, jujube, and wood. The taste becomes richer and fuller. Similarly, there are many advantages to ripe tea, but if we were to choose just one, it would be the smoothness upon entry and swallowing. When raw tea is artificially fermented into ripe tea, it undergoes more processing changes, much like turning rice into porridge. Porridge is undoubtedly easier to swallow than rice, and if it's difficult to swallow, it must be quite unpalatable. The same applies to ripe tea.

How to choose between raw and ripe tea? In summary: “Beginners should look for aftertaste and salivation in raw tea and smoothness in ripe tea.” As the saying goes, “False teachings fill books, true teachings fit in a sentence.” Start by focusing on the key points and gradually expand your knowledge; this way, you'll find greater enjoyment in entering the world of tea. Mastery of tea arts cannot be achieved overnight; find your true love through gradual progression.

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