Pu-erh Tea Paste | 普洱茶膏

While the pu-erh tea paste may look like a relatively new convenience item, it is actually an age-old way of drinking tea. Pu-erh tea paste is produced by using tea leaves that have already been processed and fermented,  and separating the elixir from the fibers of the leaves. Afterwards, the elixir goes through another step which results in an ultra-concentrated form of the tea in a solid form. It first came about in the Tang Dynasty, when Lu Yu (the author of The Classic of Tea) discovered that pu-erh tea forms a paste when dried. Though it was discovered in the Tang Dynasty, tea paste was not widely used until the Song Dynasty, when production methods were perfected and tea makers were able to figure out how to extract the full flavor of the tea from the leaf. In terms of its properties, pu-erh tea paste has the same effects as regular pu-erh tea (detox and protects the liver, helps with digestion, breaks down grease). The biggest difference--and biggest advantage, is that pu-erh t