The appreciation of Pu-erh tea is a comprehensive sensory process, primarily involving the combined use of vision, taste, and smell to discern and perceive the tea, experiencing it with the heart.

Pu-erh tea is categorized into loose tea and compressed tea. Loose tea is graded from special grade to levels one through ten, along with off-grade tea. Compressed tea comes in shapes such as cakes, bricks, tuos, columns, golden melons, and human heads.

Common evaluation methods include visual inspection, brewing analysis, examining the tea leaves, and tasting, with tasting being the most important. The assessment of Pu-erh tea relies mainly on sensory judgment, starting with observing its appearance and aroma, followed by brewing. After brewing, the tea's color is examined, with qualities ranging from ruby red, agate red, to tiger red, among which ruby red is the rarest and considered the pinnacle of tea. After observing the color, the tea leaves (residue) are examined for softness, color, and uniformity. Finally, the taste is evaluated.

Tasting primarily involves savoring the Pu-erh tea liquor, noting its aroma and flavor, which should be sweet, smooth, rich, and aged. This is due to the microbial activity during the post-fermentation process, where molds like Aspergillus niger, Penicillium, and yeast transform the tea.

Sweetness refers to the noticeable sweetness in the tea liquor, stimulating the tongue, cheeks, and base of the tongue to produce saliva. This occurs because large carbohydrate molecules are broken down into smaller sugars, and proteins are decomposed into various amino acids during fermentation, creating the sweet taste of Pu-erh tea. Smoothness describes the tea liquor's soft, mellow, and refreshing quality, with minimal astringency, flowing effortlessly from the mouth to the throat and stomach. This results from the reduction of polyphenols and catechins during fermentation, while water-insoluble tea polyphenols increase, making the tea mellow and smooth. Richness refers to the tea liquor's thick and full-bodied texture, with a pronounced flavor that is fragrant and not bland.

The water-soluble extracts in Pu-erh tea increase over time. During fermentation, large amounts of soluble sugars, soluble pectin, and their hydrolysates are produced. The more water-soluble extracts, the richer and thicker the tea's taste. Aged aroma refers to the distinctive fragrance of Pu-erh tea, resulting from new compounds formed during the post-fermentation process, where chemical components like tea polyphenols interact with microbes and enzymes to produce a complex aroma.