Previously, I often saw mentions of the term “uniform material inside and out” in Puer Tea reviews. I thought that was what “pure material” meant. Later, I learned that “uniform material” and “pure material” are not the same thing.
The term “uniform material” refers to using the same quality of material inside and outside a tea product. This is typically used to describe compressed Puer teas such as cakes, bricks, and tuos. In contrast to “uniform material,” there is “top-dressing,” where many merchants sprinkle a higher-grade tea on the surface of cakes or bricks to make them look better. The inner part of the tea may use a slightly lower grade of material. Of course, a top-dressed Puer tea doesn't necessarily mean it's of inferior quality; however, a “uniform material” tea will generally have a more consistent taste.
As for the concept of “pure material,” opinions vary widely within the industry, and there is no definitive definition yet. If we were to categorize the different schools of thought, they might fall into the following categories:
1. **Ancient Tree Tea School**. Any Raw material sourced from ancient Puer tea trees, regardless of origin, batch, or season, is considered pure material.
2. **Village School**. Here, “village” refers to the mountains and villages of Puer tea. If the tea comes from the same mountain and village, it's only divided by season (spring, summer, and autumn teas) and not by batch or tree age. That is, if it's from the same mountain and village and harvested during the same season, whether the tree is 100, 200, 300, or 500 years old, it's considered pure material.
3. **Tea Garden School**. There are three scenarios within this school:
a) Regardless of batch and tree age, as long as the raw material is from the same tea garden, it can be called pure material. However, based on tea enthusiasts' experience, even within the same tea garden, differences in batches and tree ages can result in noticeable differences in the tea's taste.
b) From the same tea garden, ancient tree teas are divided by batch but not by tree age. For example, ancient tree teas aged between 100 and 300 years are mixed together without regard for their specific age. Spring teas form one batch, while second flush teas form another, both labeled as “pure material.”
c) From the same tea garden, ancient tree teas are divided by both batch and tree age. This type of pure material is harvested according to tree age. As long as the tree is 300 years old, regardless of whether it's first flush or second flush tea, the leaves are mixed together and pressed into cakes for sale, also labeled as “pure material.”
4. **Fully Uniform School**. So-called pure material should come from the same tea garden, be harvested in the same batch, and be of the same tree age. Furthermore, this tea is usually only picked from the first three batches of Spring Tea. This includes single-tree selections, which generally involve picking older trees or a few select trees within the garden, and only the first flush of spring tea. There's also tea from the King Tree, picked from the King Tree itself, usually from the first two batches. The Fully Uniform School could be considered a more reasonable definition of “pure material.” Moreover, this type of “pure material” tea tends to be more expensive.
With this understanding, you won't be easily misled by the term “pure material” when buying Puer tea next time!