How does Pu'er tea different from other types of tea?

There are six specialities of Pu'er：

　　Special place of origin: Pu’er is originally the name of a place and now it is the name of a tea. Pu’er tea was produced in Pu’er, Yunnan Province, a major distribution center of Pu’er tea leaves.

　　Special variety: The fresh leaf of the tree is a variety of Pu’er, i.e. the fresh leaf of the broad-leaf tea tree in Yunnan.

　　Special raw material: Pu’er tea is made from Maocha, a kind of unoxidized green tea from the broad leaves of the tree. Pu’er tea is the result of fermentations. There are two approaches of fermentation. One is natural fermentation occurred in the long storage period. Pu’er tea produced in this way is called traditional Pu’er tea; the other is artificial fermentation. After the artificial fermentation, Pu’er tea is compressed into different shapes and is called modern Pu’er tea or ripened Pu’er.

　　Special shape: Apart from loose tea, the compressed Pu’er tea has various shapes. Some looks like a small pellet, a ball, some like a Chinese chess, a bowl, and a cake. Some tea is as big as a pumpkin, a huge cake, a tree trunk, a folding screen or a big plaque etc.

　　Special quality: The longer the age of Pu’er tea, the better its quality. This is contrary to the normal marketing rule, which says the newer the tea, the better; the older the spirits, the higher the price. If stored appropriately, Pu’er tea could be kept for around one hundred years.

　　Special drinking method: If the aged Pu’er tea is made with lidded bowls or Zisha teapots, the same tea leaves could be used for 20 times. Because of the aforesaid features, Yunnan Pu’er tea has become a kind of antique and this is the unique feature of Pu’er. Therefore, Pu’er tea should be regarded as an independent tea category, i.e. Pu’er category.