"Tea Talk on Paper" No. 27: Can Raw Tea Really Be Drunk?

The Pu-erh tea industry is like a martial arts world; you talk your talk, I talk mine, you curse me, I curse you. Most of these people, including me, are trying to sell tea.

Recently, Mr. Zou cursed those who sell new raw tea and those who set Pu-erh tea standards, believing that these people sell undrinkable new raw tea to consumers and define undrinkable new raw tea as Pu-erh tea. Zou thinks these people will be nailed to the pillory of history. Pu-erh tea practitioners, in turn, curse Zou in various ways, even resorting to personal attacks. For a time, the Pu-erh tea industry was filled with curses. Tea drinkers are confused: if raw tea can't be drunk, then isn't raw tea Pu-erh tea?

Houyue factory sun-drying and processing green leaves

Currently, there are roughly three schools of thought on raw tea processing:

1. Storage School.

New tea is lightly killed to retain strength, leading to better transformation during later storage. In my view, this is an unverifiable claim. For example, a large amount of aged tea stored in Dongguan warehouses is almost all made with this process. Now it's really not good to drink; much of this tea on the market is unsold at tens of yuan. You can't say all these teas have poor raw materials; I don't quite believe that. There should be a considerable amount of ancient tree tea among them. These Dongguan teas are not popular in the market now. The fundamental reason is that they don't taste good; the liquor is hard, thin, weak, and bland. I've drunk some, and my body felt very uncomfortable. Logically, they have age, all over ten years. So what's the reason? I boldly guess it's a processing issue. From this point, Mr. Zou's view that only after ten years can raw tea be considered Pu-erh tea seems unreliable. Then does it need to be longer, 30 years, 50 years, or all at once, 100 years?

1. Immediate Drinking School.

Using some oolong and black tea techniques, fully withering the fresh leaves to remove bitterness and astringency and enhance aroma. New tea indeed tastes good with high aroma. Taking Bingdao as an example, this process, combined with the excellent quality of Bingdao fresh leaves, has indeed stolen many high-end green tea customers. If you carefully drink real Bingdao and then top-grade green tea, you'll see if they are very similar in flavor. This process is now mainstream but is heavily attacked by some industry figures, such as Wuzheng, which loudly claims this process kills the core value of Pu-erh tea's aging potential. No wonder Wuzheng only makes ripe tea; perhaps their raw tea made with this process is undrinkable.

1. Thorough Kill-Green School.

This school currently has very few followers. It is not favored by the first school and is often attacked by the second. They believe that thorough kill-green requires high temperatures on the fresh leaves—isn't that just green tea? But Houyue has promoted a tea with this process to the market, and it was actually very popular. Moreover, it's a 6-gram mini cake; I believe no one would store it; they would drink it immediately. The market responded well, but the industry criticized it. A friend of mine, Mr. Wang, privately told me it's no longer Pu-erh tea.

Thoroughly kill-green Pu-erh raw tea – Houyue crowdfunding eighth product

Returning to the topic of whether new raw tea can be drunk, let me guess Mr. Zou's viewpoint:

1. New raw tea cannot be drunk because it hasn't "ripened"; it needs time to become "ripe."
2. I guess Mr. Zou does not agree with the thorough kill-green process and also believes that raw tea made with this process is not Pu-erh tea.

So for Mr. Zou, the only way for raw tea to become Pu-erh tea is time—ten years.

Let me summarize the views of most people opposing Mr. Zou:
Raw tea is fundamental; raw tea has a long history; raw tea has a large audience; raw tea is the basis of ripe tea, etc.

But the raw tea on the market indeed hasn't "ripened," and our bodies are indeed not suitable for long-term drinking of such new raw tea.

This leads to a dead end, with both sides cursing each other. If nothing changes, I believe this chaotic state will continue for decades.

I also participated in the war of words; I clearly opposed Mr. Zou. Please refer to "Tea Talk on Paper No. 19: Raw Tea Is Absolutely Not Sun-Dried Green Tea."
My view is that thoroughly kill-green new raw tea can also be drunk long-term; the raw-ripe Pu-erh controversy is simply nonsense.

I have conducted market tests, so I have the right to speak.

Don't mind the objections of these tea authorities; some authorities must be opposed, otherwise how can the industry progress? If you agree with this view, feel free to add my WeChat 673998 to communicate. Those who want to curse, please don't add randomly.
If you haven't drunk tea made with this process, please find such tea to drink before opposing my view. Calmly and carefully brew a session, then decide whether to oppose.

Alright, the article is finished. It took over half an hour; I'm too lazy to proofread. Time to drink tea.