Pu'er Tea
Historical and Tribute Tea
Zhou Dynasty
The history of Pu'er tea is very long; as early as over 3,000 years ago during the period of King Wu's campaign against the state of Shang, the ancient tea-growing people, the Pu people, had already presented tea to King Wu of Zhou. At that time, however, it was not yet known as Pu'er tea. The Bangwei transitional ancient tea tree is a living fossil left behind by the ancient Pu people's cultivation and domestication of tea plants.
Han Dynasty
According to “The Records of the Grand Historian: The Western Regions,” “The Kunming tribes have no leaders and are good at raiding and robbing, often killing and plundering Han envoys, making communication impossible. However, it is heard that to the west, some thousand miles away, there is an elephant-riding country called Dianyue, which traders from Shu sometimes reach.”
According to “The Annals of Xishuangbanna Prefecture,” “In the 12th year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (69 AD), Yongchang Commandery was established, and the region of Xishuangbanna fell under its jurisdiction.”
Jin Dynasty
According to “The Records of Huayang Kingdom: Southern Regions,” written by Chang Qum of the Jin dynasty, “Within Yongchang Commandery live the people of the Chest Piercing Tribe, the Ear Piercing Tribe, the Minyue Pu, the Jiuliao, the Min Pu, the Piao Yue, the Naked Pu, and the Yandu people.”
Tang Dynasty
The earliest record of people growing Pu'er tea is by Tang official Fan Chuo, who wrote in Volume Seven of his work “The Book of the Savages” that “Tea grows on the mountains within the borders of Yinzhang City. It is scattered and collected without any specific processing method. The Mengshe savages mix it with pepper, ginger, and cassia and cook it to Drink.” Based on historical research, the tea of Yinzhang City should be the large-leaf variety of Yunnan, i.e., the Pu'er tea variety. Historical records show that over 1,100 years ago, within the territory of Sipu, which belonged to the “mountains of Yinzhang City” of the Nanzhao kingdom, tea was already being produced in abundance.
Song Dynasty
In his book “Continuation of the Museum of Natural History,” Li Shi also recorded: “Tea grows on the mountains of Yinzhang, and can be harvested at any time. It is mixed with beans and ginger and cooked to drink.” From the perspective of the history of Tea culture, tea flourished in the Tang Dynasty and became widespread in the Song Dynasty.
Yuan Dynasty
In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a place called “Buridu,” which later, when written in Chinese characters, became “Puer” (at that time, “er” did not have three dots of water). This is the first appearance of the term “Puer” in historical records. Without a fixed name, the teas of Yunnan were called “Pu tea” and gradually became a necessary commodity in market trade in regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang. The term “Pu tea” thus gained fame both domestically and internationally and remained so until the late Ming Dynasty, when it was changed to Pu'er tea.
Ming Dynasty
In the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Xie Zhaozhe mentioned the term “Putea” (i.e., Pu'er tea) in his work “Records of Yunnan,” stating, “What scholars and commoners use is all Putea, steamed into cakes.” This is the first time the term “Putea” appears in writing. In the “Compendium of Materia Medica” written by Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty, there is also a record that “Pu'er tea comes from Pu'er in Yunnan.”
Qing Dynasty
Ruan Fu's “Record of Pu'er Tea”: “Pu'er was anciently part of Yinzhang Commandery. Thus, the use of Pu'er tea by the Tibetans dates back to the Tang Dynasty.” The “Six Tea Mountain Relics” in the Daoguang era “Annals of Pu'er Prefecture” records that tea had been cultivated within the borders of Pu'er Prefecture for more than 1,700 years since the Three Kingdoms period.
The tea produced in Menghai Prefecture was already being sold far into Tibet in the Tang Dynasty. According to Ruan Fu's “Record of Pu'er Tea” in the Qing Dynasty: “Pu'er tea once belonged to Yinzhang Commandery. Thus, the use of Pu'er tea by the Tibetans dates back to the Tang Dynasty.” “Pu'er tea is famous throughout the world, with a strong flavor, especially favored in the capital.” By the Qing Dynasty, Pu'er tea had become tribute tea. The Qing imperial court specifically set up a “tribute tea register” for Pu'er tea, receiving over a thousand baskets annually, considering it a precious item.