As stated in "Mulan": "The male rabbit's feet kick up and down, the female rabbit's eyes are bewildered; when two rabbits run side by side, how can you tell which is male or female?"

Raw Pu'er is not simply about drinking the present, but about the future. Its production process is not only for current tasting needs but more for the future "aging and aroma enhancement."

The activity of biological enzymes in fresh leaves is destroyed at high temperatures (remember 80°C), so avoiding high-temperature processes is key to raw Pu'er craftsmanship.

Relevant national standards clearly specify the drying method for mao cha: it must be sun-dried (distinct from the famous bake-drying), but the methods for killing-green and the final drying of raw cakes are not explicitly defined.

Thus, the choice between manual killing-green and machine killing-green arises.

Manual (iron wok) killing: Relies entirely on the experience of the killing-green master, generally controlling leaf temperature within 75°C. It is high-cost, slow, and small in quantity. Quality depends on the master's experience but often comes with black spots.

Machine (drum) killing: Uses machinery to quickly raise the temperature to over 150°C, rapidly completing the killing-green process. It is low-cost, fast, and large in quantity. Quality is relatively uniform and stable but often exhibits a green-tea-like bean aroma.

Identification methods are not absolute; machine killing may also produce black spots, and poorly executed manual killing can result in high-temperature notes. These are not the focus of this post.

What's important is:

Since high temperatures destroy biological enzyme activity, it should lead to a comparatively slower transformation;

Since green-tea-like aromas appear, after several years of storage, off-flavors might emerge;

"Yuan Fang, what do you think?"