Puerh Tea
Pu-erh tea and cultivation
Plantation bushes: These plants are created from breeding or from cuttings. They are planted densely in relatively low altitudes and always kept small. Most require fertilizers and pesticides. Plantation bushes can yield large quantities of tea, and are thus able to meet the demand of mass production. This is the most common type of Pu-erh tea in today's market.
Old-growth trees from ecological arbor tea gardens: These trees were planted through seed selection and grown in higher altitudes. Planted via traditional methods, these trees are grown organically, utilizing resources provided by nature and maintaining the ecological balance. Most of the trees in these tea gardens are hundreds of years old. The old-growth tea trees are limited in their yearly production, but quality of tea harvested from these trees is far superior than that of the small bushes.
Tea is harvested during spring, summer and autumn. New buds break between March and May. After the buds are picked in the early spring, new growth appears every several weeks for the duration of the growing season. The spring harvest, known as the "first flush" or "early spring tea," is the finest crop of the year's production. Leaves harvested in autumn are generally second to the first flush but superior to the summer harvest in quality.
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