Emperor Huizong of Song, Zhao Ji, wrote in the Treatise on Tea:

“Tea as a thing… is mild, leisurely clean, with high elegance and tranquilizing grace.”

This shows that

the significance of Tea drinking has long surpassed the taste itself;

true tea lovers

will take the time to understand its history and every detail when savoring it.

So when drinking Puer,

you must first clearly discern its features,

understand its essence, and then approach it.

Puer is distinct from any other tea.

A thick brick of tea,

heavy in hand,

is as rich as its quality.

It's like an elderly person who has seen much of life,

deep and full of depth.

Each brick, each cake of tea,

is like a piece of history, a passage of text.

Generally speaking, “tea values freshness, wine values age,”

this is an old saying in the industry, a true one too.

For many teas,

when fresh, their aroma and flavor are indeed the best.

But Puer not only does this,

it also has the attribute of “aging well.”

Puer comes in two types: ripe and raw.

Ripe Puer is directly picked and fermented for immediate consumption,

a “quick-made tea.”

Raw Puer is made from freshly picked leaves,

stored for five to ten years before being consumed,

with excellent collectible value.

This is widely recognized as the most distinctive feature of Puer compared to other teas.

High-quality Puer can be called an art of slowness.

The process of making Puer:

withering, rolling, sun-drying, sorting, steaming and pressing.

The aging of Puer under natural conditions is quite slow,

taking decades sometimes,

before newly made Puer can complete its transformation,

eliminating its impurities and astringency,

and leaving behind aged fragrance, Osmanthus scent, camphor aroma, and orchid scent,

until reaching the realm of “taste without taste” and “aging well.”

Every cake of high-quality Puer, infused with the fragrance of time,

can be called an art created by the hands of time.

In Yu Qiuyu's words—

Puer as Puer,

lies in the time it has experienced, the people it has encountered,

the peace and displacement it has gone through,

and the people you meet, intentionally or not, when you savor it.