Basic China Pu’er Tea and Heicha Shopping Vocabulary

Pu’er is a famous type of tea in Yunnan, China. Here are some basic Pu’er and Heicha shopping vocabulary.

Pu’er Genres Shopping Vocabulary:

pu’er cha [the generic term]

sheng pu’er cha [raw/green pu'er tea]

jin ya cha [compressed tea]

san cha ['loose tea,' i.e. uncompressed pu'er or hei cha]

tai di cha ['table land tea,' i.e. flat-land or plantation tea as opposed to mountain-grown or tall-tree tea]

shu pu’er cha [ripe/cooked/black pu'er tea]

Various Pu’er Shapes Shopping Vocabulary:

bing cha [flat cake-shaped compressed pu'er]

gu cha ['old tea,' as e.g. of aged pu'er, or tea from an ancient tree]

jin cha ['tight tea,' mushroom-shaped compressed pu'er (or lu cha)]

jin gua cha ['golden melon' pu'er]

fang cha [square brick-shaped compressed pu'er]

lao cha tou ['old tea head(s),' i.e. the nuggets left over at the bottom of a wo dui pile of pu'er]

tuo cha [bowl-shaped compressed pu'er; note: there are several characters pronounced 'tuo2'; the original meaning of 'tuo cha' is disputed]

xiao tuo cha [mini tuo cha]

tuan cha ['round tea,' i.e. ball-shaped compressed pu'er]

zhuan cha [oblong brick-shaped compressed pu'er]

Some Hei Cha Types:

guang xi liu bao cha [basket-compressed hei cha produced in Liu Bao, Guangxi province]

liu an cha [hei cha produced in Liu An county, Anhui province]

qian lang cha ['thousand tael tea,' a hei cha produced in Hunan province, compressed into a 40-kg cylindrical shape]

xiang liu an cha ['fragrant Liu An' tea]

zhu qiao cha [= zhu ke cha, 'bamboo shell/crust tea,' a hei cha produced in Guangdong province]

Other Useful Terms:

da ye ['big leaf,' a type of pu'er processed from large-leaf tea plants]

chen nian pu’er cha [lit. 'old year pu'er tea,' i.e. aged pu'er tea]

gan cang ['dry storage']

ji zhi qing ['machine dried,' lit. 'machine-made blue/green,' said of mao cha that is mechanically dried rather than sun-dried]

mian zhi ['cotton paper,' the paper wrapper for pu'er cakes]

nei fei [lit 'inside quick,' the identifying label embedded in a pu'er cake]

nei piao [an 'inner ticket,' wrapped with but not embedded in the cake]

mao cha ['rough/unprocessed tea,' the loose dried leaf ready to be compressed into pu'er]

shai qing ['sun dried,' lit. 'sun blue/green,' said e.g. of mao cha that has first undergone sha qing, and is then spread out to dry in the sun]

shi cang ['wet storage']

tong ['tube,' a qi zi stack of seven bing cha]

wo dui ['wet pile,' a storage process for making shu pu'er]

qi zi ['seven sons,' i.e. a stack of seven bing cha]

sha qing ['kill green,' the heating process whereby oxidation is halted]