Shou is a type of pu-erh which was artificially fermented up to almost 100% before selling, at the production stage. The technology of rapid fermentation by moisturizing the heap of the material (wet piling) was not introduced in an industrial scale until 1973. It aimed to ripen the tea in the shortest time to approach the qualities of expensive aged pu-erh. But before this farmers used wetting the tea processing has been used for a long time. Lubao tea production or the traditional Hong Kong storing are based on similar principal.
Nowadays, these teas are no longer perceived as a cheap replacement for the old shengs. Ripe pu-erhs have become interesting on their own and, by their variety, can compete with raws.
Shou or ripe pu-erh infuses into a dense, deep black, oily liquor. The taste is dominated by thick nutty and earthy flavors, sometimes complemented by milky undertones. In high-quality shous one can find melodies of prunes and dried cherries. If your black pu-erh tastes fishy with rough dirt notes, try more expensive and higher quality tea.
Here you’ve come to the right shop. We offer a wide variety of organic shou pu-erhs from old tea trees. Among them are cakes of legendary Hong Tai Chang brand, aged Lui Bao tea, and our unique craft ripe pu-erhs made by self-developed technology.
It is not an easy thing to make good shu pu-erh. You have to consider many technological parameters. Each type of material behaves differently and the technologist always carries risks to spoil the entire batch of tea. Moreover, tea always looses 18-20% of its weight after post-fermentation, which significantly increases the final cost of the tea.
So why is Chinese ripe pu-erh usually cheaper than raw? This is due to the fact that for the production of shou in China they mostly use cheap material from plantations which they have in a huge amount there. These plantations are often manured with inorganic fertilizers, treated with pesticides and harvested with machines. At the same time, the Chinese do not spare expensive material for the production of good shengs.
Here in Thailand there are no plantations of Assam, we have only old endemic trees to make both kinds of pu-erhs, shou and sheng. That is why they cost the same price - ripe puer cannot be cheaper than raw when they are made from the same material.
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Honest taste of pure tea. Rare regions: Thailand, Myanmar. Unique craft shou pu-erh from old trees.
A vast assortment of organic tea from plantations and live forest tea from wild trees.
