The Qing imperial palace had a special record for Puer Tea, which was kept as part of the royal archives. Puer tea (tribute tea) was meticulously produced at the tribute tea factory in Ning'er, the seat of Puer Prefecture, through a strict process known as “five selections and eight eliminations.” The “five selections” include choosing the day, specifically selecting an auspicious day before the Grain Rain; choosing the time, with the best time being before sunrise on a clear day, in line with the saying in the “Tea Classic” that “the spirit disperses at sunrise”; selecting the tea mountain, choosing the best tea plantation, which objectively encouraged tea farmers to cultivate high-quality tea; selecting the leaves; and selecting the shoots. The “eight eliminations” refer to specific requirements for the tea pickers, including: discarding those without buds, large leaves, small leaves, thin buds, curved buds, pale color, insect-eaten leaves, and purple color. Afterward, the tea would be delivered to the official government office, where it would be selected by officials such as the magistrate and prefect, sealed with an official stamp, inspected by a thousand commander, and sent off in a grand ceremony. It would then be loaded onto horseback and transported to the capital. Apart from being enjoyed by the Qing emperor and his family, Puer tea (tribute tea) was also given as a precious gift to meritorious civil and military officials and presented to foreign kings and envoys.
The “Puer Tea (Tribute Tea) Manufacturing Skills” emerged alongside the production of tribute tea and gradually matured over time with the development of its history. Through countless generations of practice, these skills have become relatively fixed procedures. They are roughly divided into four steps: worshiping the tea deity, raw material selection, fixing and sun-drying, and steaming and pressing into shape. Puer tea (tribute tea) is available in three forms: loose tea, Compressed tea, and tea paste. Loose tea refers to the tea that skips the fourth step in the above process; compressed tea is the tea after all four steps; and tea paste involves boiling down the tea into a juice, which is then slowly simmered over low heat for several days until it becomes a paste. This paste is then placed in a muslin bag and naturally dried over several months.
Fixing
Kneading
Sun-drying
Pressing
(Provided by the Ning'er County Media Convergence Center)
Tribute tea. (Provided by the Puer City Intangible Cultural Heritage Center)
On June 7, 2008, the “Puer Tea (Tribute Tea) Manufacturing Skills” were approved as part of the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage.
On November 29, 2025, China's application for “Traditional Chinese Tea Production Techniques and Related Customs” was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, with “Puer Tea (Tribute Tea) Manufacturing Skills” among them.
Currently, the “Puer Tea (Tribute Tea) Manufacturing Skills” specifically refer to the manual craftsmanship passed down through generations in workshops in Ning'er, not including mechanized tea production or the artificial post-fermentation process invented in the 1970s. Its transmission takes two main forms: family workshop production passed down from generation to generation, and tea merchants hiring workers to produce tea, with skills passed down from master to apprentice. (Integrated report by the Puer City Media Convergence Center)