Pu-erh Tea
About this Collection
Pu-erh (also known as pu'er, puerh, or puer tea) stands apart from black, green, oolong, and white teas. It's classified as a dark tea, processed and aged in ways that transform its character over years or even decades. What begins as yellow green liquor deepens to rich red, developing complexity, smoothness, and that thick mouthfeel pu'er lovers chase.
The process is minimal but deliberate. Leaves are withered indoors to release moisture, rolled in baskets to break cellular structure, fired quickly to stop enzymatic activity, then dried (often outdoors) and allowed to age. Ten years is now considered aged, though traditionally it was 20 or 30. Older cakes are rare and expensive, each one developing its own personality over time.
Jeffrey described puerh as having stone fruit notes, apricot skin, a hint of natural smokiness from the ambient environment where it dries, and that lingering cooling sweetness you taste minutes after the cup is gone. It's thick in the back of the throat, with a finish that stays with you like a sense memory. Each cake is like a different friend, he said. Some come from famous regions like Lao Ban Zhang, commanding premium prices for name recognition alone, while neighboring trees a hundred yards away might sell for half the cost despite identical quality.
Our ever evolving collection features sheng (raw) and shou (cooked/ripe) puer tea, plus rare and truly limited oolong and dark teas. Many come from Jeffrey's personal tea storage started in 2012, some brought back from his visits to China, others generously shared by friends there. Each one is carefully selected and, as Jeffrey would say, pretty darn good.
Puer rewards patience and attention. Steep it multiple times, watching it unfold and evolve. Whether you're exploring raw or ripe styles, aged cakes or recent harvests, this is tea that invites you to slow down, return, and remember.
If you enjoy pu-erh's depth and aging potential, consider Oolong Tea for complex, resteepable profiles, or explore our Tea Gift Sets to introduce others to this remarkable category. Browse our teaware collection for pu-erh tools and brewing essentials.
Jeffrey Lorien shares the spirit and transformation of pu-erh in the video below.