A tea tree, hundreds of years old, in Mount Yiwu of Southwest China's Yunnan Province

With a cup of Pu'er tea in hand, you may find it easier to unwind in the relaxed atmosphere of your home or favourite teahouse, especially after a hard day's work.

The brewing Pu'er tea is a pleasure to the eyes.

At first, wide tea leaves keep leaping up, bright and cheerful, as boiling water is poured on them, and then they stretch out slowly and tenderly as if dancing in the water.

Finally they retreat to the bottom of the cup placidly and you have a cup of glossy maroon tea, with the pleasant scents of orchid, lotus, fresh leaves and camphor, individually or in concert.

All this may seem like a reminder of the ups and downs of life. After the turbulence of youth, experiences sink in and life becomes a mature brew.

The taste of Pu'er is unique among teas. With a sip of the tea, a dry delicate sweet taste lingers on, after the original slight bitterness.

The subsequent subtle taste perceived after the fade-out of the tea's bitterness comes as a surprise, and the longer the tea is kept, the mellower the flavour is.

As part of traditional Chinese culture, tea is more than a drink. It is seen as an art, a philosophy and a lifestyle, focusing on harmony and placidity.

According to legends, the history of Pu'er tea can be traced back to the East Han Dynasty (AD 25-220), originating in Southwest China's Yunnan Province where the Nu, Jinsha and Lancang rivers flow.

It was named after Pu'er County, in the west of the province, where a major market for such tea was to be found.

In the past, transportation in the region used to be inconvenient, due to tough geographic conditions.

Delivery of goods including the local specialty, Pu'er tea, to other areas heavily relied on teams of horses laden with merchandise.

Besides, the caravans had to spend days carrying goods through meandering mountain paths before arriving at their destinations.

On the way, the tea would get oxidized and, hence, acquired a unique taste.

Health-friendly drinking

A traditionally key step in the process of making Pu'er tea, "Wodui', also had a substantive impact on the tea quality.

At this stage, a series of sophisticated biological transformation reactions and oxidation reactions take place, caused by active microbes.

The microbes were not inherent in the tea, but came from the surrounding environment at the processing step.

Nowadays Pu'er tea producers have modernized the tea processing and can make the tea without the traditional "Wodui" step,

Taking advantage of modern technology, they deliberately add the beneficial microbes to the processed tea.

Scientific research shows that major microbes in Pu'er tea include Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus clauatus, Aspergillus, Rhizopus chinehsis, Loctobacillus thermophilus and yeast.

Studies also report that the tea is rich in a variety of anti-cancer vitamins, such as -carotene, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin C and Vitamin E, all of which are highly beneficial to health.

Thanks to these health-friendly microbes, Pu'er tea can play a distinct role in helping improve the immune system.

Experts have found that tea has an outstandingly positive effect on the prevention and treatment of cancers.

A study by Jiangsu Cancer Research Institute reported that tea is capable of scaling back the damage resulting from heavy drinking and smoking.

Locals in Shizuoka, a county in Japan well known for tea mass plantation, are in the habit of drinking tea and have a lower cancer rate than those in other areas.

According to a clinical test by Kunming Medical College, Pu'er tea is effective in treating hyperlipemia (HP), a major contributing factor to heart diseases and hardening of the arteries,.

Also, beneficial bacteria in the tea are helpful in reducing excessive cholesterin (TC). Therefore the tea can help you lose weight.

A research conducted by Doctor Ameilcarodi of the medicine department of Paris Saint Antony Institute found that more than 40 per cent of the participants lost weight after drinking Pu'er tea.

These benefits have made Pu'er tea increasingly popular in today's fitness-conscious age.

To see the world in a cup of tea

Hooked by the richness of tea culture, Leah Zhou, president of the US-based Liya Group Co and member of the Global Tea Cultural Exchange Institute, is busy advocating the medical and cultural values of Pu'er tea.

Rather than worrying about the commercial aspect, Zhou focuses more on enlightenment by tea culture. According to her, tea plays a significant role in spiritual purification.

She feels that Pu'er tea, like computer hardware, has enormous capabilities, travelling with the changing times and reflecting the colours of the world.

Through the centuries, the tea has been sculpted by time, and each sip takes the drinker back to a different era.

Moreover, this drinkable antique with a nearly 2,000-year history provides a combination between traditional culture and modern spirit.

In traditional Chinese culture, drinking tea is the spice of daily life.

Scholars regarded it as a source of great enjoyment to read books over flavourful tea in a fine study, surrounded by the faint odour of old books and quiet musical melody.

In today's times, the simple, natural and healthy lifestyle has gained more and more acceptance. Pu'er tea, a natural and healthy beverage, conforms to this trend.

Now, she is stepping up efforts to promote the use of high-tech means in the processing, and the spread of tea industry, hoping to help more people improve their quality of life.

Pu'er is becoming more and more popular in China. In Guangdong, where people have a more critical taste for the tea than most other areas in China, many customers have narrowed their interest in the past few years down to Pu'er.

Tens of thousands of people in Guangdong collect Pu'er tea, seeing it as an investment, something that will appreciate in value.

"Pu'er tea has probably overtaken green tea in Guangdong in terms of sales," said a representative of the Guangdong Tea Society.

The tea, traditionally dubbed "grandpa's tea" in Guangdong for being gentle on the stomach, is increasingly believed to help people lose weight as well as having other merits.

There is also the prevailing belief that unlike other tea, the older the Pu'er the higher its value.

In an auction in Yunnan in March, a 20 gram and century-old Pu'er tea cake was sold for 7,000 yuan (US$840), and followed a number of other eyebrow-raising Pu'er auctions. Pu'er has also been nicknamed "drinkable antique."

Raw Pu'er, which does not go through the artificial fermentation process, is what people are collecting. It has a better taste and quality after some degree of natural fermentation.

Some traders in Guangdong are hoarding as much as tens of tons of Pu'er each.

(China Daily 11/07/2005 page11)