Interview with Master Wang
The Reclaiming of Pu-Erh
WY: Pu-Erh is the
oldest, and perhaps, one of the most mysterious teas in the world, and
most certainly, a treasure of the tea world. The history of Pu-Erh is
fraught with adventure, travel, and international intrigue. Master
Wang, you are an herbalist and traditional health care practitioner.
Tell us your background and interest with Pu-Erh.
MW: I
was born and raised in Yunnan, the origin of Pu-Erh where tea is a big
part of life for many people in Yunnan including myself. I grew
up with this tea culture. My real passion for drinking and
sharing fine Pu-Erh tea didn't start until I experienced a major health
crisis 20 years ago. As a result, I was forced to review and
change some of my life priorities and choices. This began my
journey of health cultivation which has led to my extremely sensitive
palate and olfaction (sense of smell). I have become able to discern
the healing power of clean, fine Pu-Erh tea from that of immature or
sub standard teas.
Enjoying and sharing masterfully
crafted Pu-Erh has become a transformative journey: pleasurable,
healing and invigorating. Tea, especially fine Pu-Erh has become
a way of life for me. It's beyond words.
Being an herbalist helps me
distinguish what is good Pu-Erh tea according to how the tea impacts
the human body. I drink tea with my entire body! If the energetics of
the tea warms my extremities and causes the chi to run to the bottom of
my feet, and I feel my dan tien (navel area) open, then it's good tea.
If it merely causes heat to rise to the crown of my head, it's not my
"cup of tea." Good Pu-Erh tea will tend to induce mild perspiring on
the crown of your head as well as opening up the meridians of the body.
It's one of the most medically efficacious teas from a Chinese herbal
medicine standpoint. If the tea makes my tongue numb, it is likely that
there are chemicals in the tea. If taking a deep breath of the tea –
especially dry leaves -- makes you sneeze, it may contain unwanted mold
in it. Many Pu-Erh teas in the market commonly have these types of
impure qualities.
In the
1980's, I met one of China's legendary Pu-Erh Tea Masters, Mr. Zhang
Qing Ming whose father happens to be from my same little town—Tengchong
in Yunnan. This started my mentorship and collaboration with him
and his masters. This legendary lineage of 3 generations of Pu-Erh
masters have been on the forefront of reclaiming the original Pu-Erh.
WY: The Pu-Erh
industry has seen some changes lately, with worldwide interest and much
bidding and speculating, driving prices to unknown levels.
Subsequently, that market has also somewhat crashed in China. What is
your opinion on the current state of the Pu-Erh market?
MW: Every
year I go back to Yunnan to work with my Yunnan tea team. One of
the things I notice is that more fine Pu-Erh is being produced and
consumed. However, the creation of fine Pu-Erh is still a “lost art”
practiced well by relatively few masters. Therefore, educating
and sharing of the art and craft of Pu-Erh with more tea people is
vital. As a native of Yunnan living in San Francisco, California
for the last 13 years, I clearly see the importance of bridging of the
East and West in order to fully reclaim Pu-Erh.
Over the last few years many involved
in the tea trade profited from inferior quality Pu-Erh. Some of these
teas were at best tolerable, and at worst, gave people headaches and
other unwanted health consequences. Fortunately, as consumers
began to appreciate fine Pu-Erh with greater depth and health benefits,
they stopped buying the lower grade Pu-Erh that had flooded the market.
As a result, the market
crashed. However, I see this as a positive thing because this is
the beginning of a tea renaissance in which all the fine and mature
Pu-Erh teas will emerge. The Pu-Erh industry in China is going to
continue becoming more professional and the market more mature. More
and more individual tea drinkers are trusting their own palate and
feeling when they select their teas regardless of hype or trends.
WY: Why is Yunnan trying to reclaim Pu-Erh tea, and what positive actions do you think have taken place?
MW:
1) This has been a joint effort of the last 3
generations of Pu-Erh masters, in Yunnan as well as in Hong Kong,
Taiwan etc, to reclaim the ancient Pu-Erh tradition. For them,
this journey of reclaiming and sharing Pu-Erh is their life-local commitment.
2) Historically, Pu-Erh has been the identity of the
entire Yunnan region. A supreme Pu-Erh equals a supreme Yunnan.
3) With Pu-Erh as one of the main industries in
Yunnan, there have been financial and economic motivations to reclaim Pu-Erh.
Pu-Erh tea is originally from Yunnan,
and has the taste of Yunnan. Every blade of grass, every flower speaks
of its heritage and the soil that it came from, and Pu-Erh tea is no
different. Pu-Erh teas are trees, unlike most common teas in the world
that are bushes. That means that for a 5 feet tree, the roots are 20
feet deep. Did you know that the original character 'cha' for tea,
actually speaks of these trees? The upper radical is 'plant', the
middle character is 'man', and the bottom character is 'tree'.
Because of the hiatus since the 1950s until largely the 1980s, much
Pu-Erh tea was moved to southern places like Hong Kong. There was
little Pu-Erh production in Yunnan during that period of time, and much
of what was known was lost. Many of the old masters have died. The
taste of Pu-Erh became acclimated to that of the taste of Hong Kong
Pu-Erh, an aged, fermented, character. Hong Kong is very humid and
induced the fermentation and aging processes very successfully. The
problem though, was the excessive mustiness and moldiness, and the
other smells, that a crowded city like Hong Kong could not prevent from
infiltrating the teas. Yunnan is a pristine place, full of high
mountains and deep caves. There is a lot of virgin land and clean
environment not only for the tea trees to thrive and grow, but also,
most importantly, for them to store and age successfully in. It is a
much more appropriate place for the complete processing of Pu-Erh. That
is why Yunnan wants to take what it knows and what was learned in Hong
Kong, improve on it, and raise the quality standards of Pu-Erh tea at
large.
In terms of positive actions now taking place, we can see the following:
1) The Yunnan government and tea industry are working for higher standards.
2) Tea
professionals are actively supporting dialog and collaboration amongst
different tea professionals locally and internationally.
As an example, I along with other tea
professionals were recently invited to an international tea conference
and competition. A few key points were established and standardized.
WY: What are some of these new quality standards?
MW: Simplicity,
Cleanliness and Purity are the number one standards. Begin with good
raw materials. That means the leaves are from trees from Yunnan
(Camellia Sinensis Pu-Erh), not bushes from elsewhere. Most tea bushes
elsewhere were grafted with shallow root systems, supported by
fertilizer. True Pu-Erh trees found in Yunnan are grown from seed, and
have deep root systems, and require no chemical fertilizers. That means
the raw material starts out to be high quality. From harvesting to
transporting to the factory for processing to final storage, no foreign
smells may be introduced. That means that every receptacle for these
teas are kept clean and free from usage for other means, and no foreign
matters are placed close by. That is the most basic definition of
Purity and Cleanliness. No impurities, no chemical fertilizers, no
pesticides. You see, tea trees are all good, it's the people that
sometimes make it bad. Simplicity means that the character of the tea
has deep substance, appreciated more and more over time. No scenting or
perfuming is needed when it is good, simple tea.
WY: What about the processing of the teas? Any new standards pertaining to those?
MW: After good raw
materials are harvested, the best Pu-Erhs must be sun-dried. You see,
if there wasn't adequate sun that day, the wet leaves can become moldy
quickly. The natives will try to cover this fact by quickly
pan-firing or even roasting to dry the leaves. The real
professional knows this while many purported 'experts' cannot tell the
difference.
Next, the fermentation of Pu-Erh and
its aging process is still mostly a mystery of nature. The starting
points may be the same for many teas but the ending results may vary
quite a bit. Did it end up an excellent piece after 10 years? 20 years?
It cannot be known until then. That's why in the new quality standard,
the re-combining of the best aged teas are now promoted. Firstly, some
teas are aged loose, but most are compressed. The best aged Pu-Erhs are
a recombination effort of the best aged compressed Pu-Erhs unraveled,
and then recombined with other high quality ones, and then
re-compressed. In the past, good quality aged Pu-Erhs tend to be
combined with poor quality ones for sales purposes. The consumer
may get a mix of good and bad for the price of the good. In the new
quality standard, only the best Pu-Erhs may be recombined together.
WY: You mentioned
that the preferred taste of Pu-Erh is now known as 'Hong Kong style',
and promoted and favored by the largest consumer base of Pu-Erh lovers,
the people who go to dim sum parlors. How does the taste of Pu-Erh in
Yunnan differ?
MW: The taste
preference of Hong Kong is great, and we tried to learn and elicit the
best, and leave out the rest. For example, we like the aged character
of the teas, but not the moldiness of it. We now have three standard
production styles: uncooked green Pu-Erh to be post-fermented and
aged naturally, cooked Pu-Erh that can be consumed immediately, and
cooked Pu-Erh aged extensively to resemble the preferred taste of Hong
Kong, and we call that one the 'Hong Kong Style' Pu-Erh. Our next
step is to have this fine “Hong Kong Pu-Erh” made in Yunnan.
WY: Any other criteria for quality?
MW: Heritage. The
knowledge that is handed down from generation to generation is
invaluable. In the recent years of Pu-Erh speculation, many outsiders
have set up factories in Yunnan to make Pu-Erh tea without the proper
foundation and knowledge, and certainly, no lineage to speak of. So the
direct lineage from the old masters is very important.
WY: Finally, since
Master Wang, you are a master herbalist, what are some traditional
Chinese medicine perspectives on Pu-Erh that deem it beneficial to the
tea drinker?
MW: Good Pu-Erhs
have many beneficial health benefits. The green uncooked Pu-Erhs have
cooling and calming effects if consumed very diluted, as it is very
potent. Over dosage can lead to adverse health consequences. This
is in the spirit of the homeopathic principle of “less is more.”
In addition, Pu-Erh tea is rich in
vitamins and minerals. According to Chinese medicine Pu-Erh is
most effective for reducing stress and eliminating toxins from the
body. The cooked Pu-Erhs are great for lowering cholesterol and uric
acid reduction, improving sleep, moving one's chi to the extremities,
opening meridians, preventing blockage and aids digestion. Aged teas
both from cooked or uncooked Pu-Erhs are effective for reducing
headaches, lowering high blood pressure, and are all good
anti-oxidants. There is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol.
Similarly, there is good caffeine and bad caffeine. Fine Pu-Erh teas
have good caffeine. It stimulates the nervous system and opens all
channels, but you can sleep well after drinking it!
Pu-Erh tea is art expressed as
medicine, and also medicine expressed as art. It's a drinkable antique,
and it’s value is priceless even beyond speculation. I look
forward to having other tea masters and tea professionals add to the
growing international dialog, collaboration and sharing of the powerful
living art and living medicine known as Pu-Erh tea.
For years, as a health practitioner
and tea educator I have worked enthusiastically to verbally share the
spirit of “Chan Cha Yi Wei” -- Zen and Tea is One Taste. Yet, each time
I am blessed with a cup of fine Pu-Erh I find myself speechless,
because as the old Zen saying goes, “Tea Talks.”
In closing, I want to thank you for this opportunity of sharing this fine cup of tea and invite you for many more cups to come.
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