Distinguishing of Pu Erh Tea：From narrow sense, The whole life process of Pu Her Tea means the long time-consuming process of fermentation after it possesses the initial shape. The differences between Pu Her Tea and many other kinds of tea lie in the fact Pu Her Tea needs a storage history process (except Pu Her Green Tea). The real characters of this tea could be only observed through natural process that passed by. Then how to identify raw Pu Her Tea and ripe Pu Her Tea?

1、According to flavor
　　As Pu Her Tea needs a process of stacking, thus a kind ripe flavor would come out. For those ripe tea stored in dry warehouse with a history of just 10 years (according to tradition, tea product that has no mildew is called dry warehouse tea), the ripe flavor could be felt from the surface. For those tea with a history of 10 years to 20 years, the ripe flavor on the surface would disappear, however, it could still be felt from tea soup. The first lot of ripe brick tea that is made from tight tea material in 1973 is called “73 thick brick tea” and by far, has a history of more than 20 years. The ripe flavor cannot be felt either through leaf surface or tea soup. However, indeed it possesses a kind of “fragrance that is accumulated through long time”. This kind of fragrance is the best ripe tea flavor. Thus, ripe tea flavor, ripe flavor and fragrance that is accumulated through long time are one of the most effective ways to identify raw tea and ripe tea.

2、According to the color of tea soup
　　The color of tea soup of raw Pu Her Tea that stored in dry warehouse is chestnut red, which is very near to the color of that of Wulong Tea brewed with big fire. The color of Pu Her Tea with a history of 80 or 90 years is just a little darker than the tea with a history of 50 years. The color of tea soup of ripe tea is dark chestnut brown, and very near to black. Thus in modern classification of tea species, Pu Her Tea is put into the category of dark tea due to the color of its tea soup.

3、According to the tea leaf
　　The leaf of raw Pu Her Tea stored in dry warehouse has a color of chestnut brown or dark chestnut brown, which is very similar to the color of the “Beauty Tea” leaf that grows in Taiwan. The characters of this kind of tea leaf are plump, soft and fresh. You could even feel the fresh vitality of the tea that possesses a history of a hundred year. The ripe Pu Her Tea’s leaf is dark chestnut brown or black with the slim and hard characters. If the fermentation process is overdone, then the obvious carbonization could be found, just like being burning by fire. There are some cracks on the surface of some old tea leaves, the vein is separated one by one, very similar to that of leaf soaked and become putrid in water. If the fermentation process is proper and the stacking period is not so long, then the color of tea leaf could be very near to that of raw tea leaf. If the raw tea is not properly dried after rolling and is settled for a long time, then the tea leaf could also become dark brown while the tea soup become thick and dark, which, is very similar to that of ripe tea.