The Bana Guide to Pu-erh Tea

Pu-erh is a tea with unusual depth and complexity. Its character is shaped not only by cultivar, terroir, harvest, and processing, but also by time and storage. A young raw Pu-erh can express the character of the mountain and season in which it was made, while decades of aging can transform a tea in remarkable and sometimes unexpected ways.

Bana Tea Company has specialized in Pu-erh since 2008. This guide brings together what we have learned through years of tasting, sourcing, selecting, aging, and studying Pu-erh, including the writings of Bana's founder, Linda Louie, and knowledge shared by the farmers, producers, collectors, and tea experts with whom we have worked.

Whether you are encountering Pu-erh for the first time or have been drinking it for years, explore the topics below to learn how Pu-erh is made, how to evaluate it, how origin and old-tree material influence its character, and how storage and time transform the tea.