Shu Puerh

The desire to speed up the maturation process of puerhs led to the discovery of the Wò Dūi (渥堆, wet pile) method, which was first used in the early 1970s in the famous Menghai and Kunming factories and has since spread throughout the region and become very popular. It is a controlled stimulation and extension of all microbial processes in the leaf. Mao Cha tea leaves are re-hydrated, stacked and covered with impermeable tarpaulins where they are aged for 40 - 60 days. They are then pressed in a similar way to Sheng Puerh or dried and sold as loose tea.