Gong Ting Ripe Pu’Erh ‘5 Legged Horse’

The term ‘gong ting’ refers to the type of teas that royals would drink. It reflects the top quality of something in a range of a products, and is generally a company’s flagship. Though Gong Ting is not exclusive to; it’s often used in reference to Pu’Erh tea. Pu’Erh is a region of China located in the South West of Yunnan province and has two distinctive categories of production — Raw and Ripe. Ripe pu’erh started being developed in the early 1970s as a way to meet the demands of aged raw tea.

As a quick lesson: tea needs to be cooked with temperature to deactivate the enzymes in the leaf that are responsible for the chemical changes that occur when you observe the color of the leaf changing from green to black (oxidation). The reason why a green tea can stay green is because it is cooked, the reason why a black tea is black is because it is not cooked until it changes color.

The rapid changes in tea processing occur because the leaf has a lot of moisture, but what if it’s removed? The enzymes that change the leaf are nearly paralyzed without moisture. The air contains moisture, more in some areas than others, and that moisture can react with the dried and finished raw puerh teas to transform them from green to black over time. Noticable differences begin to occur after 10 years, with preferences and prestige coming to teas  that are 20-30 years and older. Who has the time? Well those that do can save a lot of money — because buying famous (very good, well recognized, stored well) raw teas can cost thousands of dollars for just a few hundred grams.

This is ripe puerh, it is a tea that 2 years ago in 2022 was taken from its raw state and put onto a table with a gentle stream of warm steam pumped through it. The table top gets its surface raked around for consistency, and the tea is left to sit for a controlled fermentation. The conditions in the room are ideal for microbial and bacterial growth which breaks down the tea leaf structure and approximates a flavor that can be found in a very old ‘raw tea’. There are some distinctive differences, but as I said, an approximation.

Bacteria is not the friend in the fermentation process. It can lead to aromas in the ripened tea that are fishy and off putting. If you’ve had a ripened puerh that tasted fishy, I’m sorry, they’re not all like that.

This tea comes off as leathery, sweaty horse fur, steamed buns, and I have a strange but distinctive memory of going to a Chinese noodle restaurant and eating spicy bbq squid as an appetizer. Squid is not fishy, if anything it’s chalky and sweet? but more the rich, slightly spicy, tangy, brown sauce used in the process I felt it had so much in common with this tea.

Ripe Pu’Erh falls into the category of ‘Dark Tea’ — teas that are fermented. These dark teas are very good for your gut micro-flora and digestive health. They have a long and respected history in the countries that traded with China via the silk road, and are thus often encountered in the ‘dim sum’ setting.

I’d like to close with: the world of puerh has many parallels with the world of bordeaux wine. Maker, region, vintage, storage matter so much more with puerh than any other tea I can think of. There are big puerh collectors, and ‘name brand’ matters most to them. This tea has no name brand recognition, but I’d highly suggest it to establish a baseline of what ‘very good ripe puerh is’. Once you establish that baseline, if you have the drive and interest, you can compare this tea to the puerh regions famous teas (sold elsewhere) and their price to get an understanding of the industry.

In the south of Yunnan, you can subdivide the famous regions into 3 segments: Lincang, Simao or Puer, and Xishuangbanna. Lincang in the northern area is where one of my mentors does most of his puerh sourcing. Though perhaps its not as recognized (nor expensive) as the teas of xishuangbanna  further south. I think this is great — and for people that want a great ripe puerh, I’d be surprised if you disagreed.

Thanks!