Guwahati: Black tea, Green tea, Oolong tea, White tea… all have been sold at
tea auctions in India. But interestingly, Pu’er tea – a variety in the form of cake that’s new to India – was sold by MJunction at the International Tea Day Special Auction in Guwahati for the first time earlier this week.
Produced at the Gauripur Tea Plantation in Golaghat district, the Pu’er tea was sold at Rs 9000 a kg, a record price in its category. One needs to break off a small portion of the cake and brew it like traditional teas. It can be steeped multiple times, with each infusion offering a unique flavour.
“We have been producing Pu’er tea for our personal consumption since the last 4 years and started doing it commercially this year,” Aparaj Saikia, managing partner of Gauripur Tea Plantation, told EastMojo.
The Gauripur Tea Plantation produces 25 kg of Pu’er tea every month.
Pu’er, also known as Pu-erh tea, originates from the Yunnan province of China and is named after the market town in which it was first developed. Pu-erh teas are sold in compressed brick form or in loose leaf form, and can be made from both green and black tea leaves.
Pu-erh tea is post-fermented, which means that the tea leaves go through a microbial fermentation process after they have been dried and rolled, causing the leaves to darken and change flavour. This process allows the flavour of the tea to develop, just like older wines. Many pu-erhs are able to retain their freshness for up to 50 years.
“Pu’er Tea Cake, a compressed form of Pu’er tea, is created by pressing loose tea leaves into a dense cake shape. This process allows the tea to undergo fermentation, resulting in a distinct flavour profile. Assam Pu’er Tea cakes are carefully crafted, representing the artistry and mastery of tea production,” Saikia said.
Connoisseurs cherish aged Pu’er Tea cakes for their refined taste and captivating aroma, making them a prized possession in the world of tea.
Top tea-taster Krishan Katyal said, “Pu’er is a ‘pure’ Chinese tea. Matching the complexities of good Pu’er is a Herculean task. The more aged it is, the more nuances it develops. I’ve had the great fortune of tasting a series of Pu’ers upto 40 years old. We don’t even have the vocabulary to describe the range of flavours an old Pu’er can have.”
The tea offers a harmonious blend of flavours, with subtle smoky notes reminiscent of wood-smoke. Each sip takes you on a journey through layers of earthy delight, leaving a lingering, complex taste on your palate.
China has a system in place to judge what becomes eligible to be termed ‘Pu’er’, he added.
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Nilesh Divekar of Shangrila Enterprise, a buyer of Pu’er tea told EastMojo, “We bought this Pu’er for Tea Gardenia, a Bangalore-based tea company promoting the Indian specialty abroad.”
In 2020, Mjunction launched its e-marketplace for tea in Jorhat district of Assam. The brand, with sellers from across the northeast India, has a buyer base spread across India. Divekar thanked Mjunction and assured continued support to quality teas, especially innovatively created artisan teas.
“I have been learning from small tea growers and helping them get a good price and a market. There is a need to diversify and go beyond black and green tea,” he said.
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