Tea · drink
Pu'er Tea
普洱茶 · Pǔ'ěr Chá
Yunnan post-fermented tea, sold in pressed cakes that age over years. Two styles — raw and ripe.
Pu'er tea is a post-fermented dark tea from Yunnan, traditionally pressed into cakes for transport along the Silk Road. Two styles: sheng (raw) — naturally aged for years to develop complexity; shou (ripe) — accelerated fermentation, drinkable young. Aged sheng pu'er from particular tea trees can run ¥10,000+ per 357g cake. Brewed in gongfu cha style; many short brewings.
Where to try
Yunnan: tea villages around Pu'er and Xishuangbanna. Tea markets nationwide.
Dietary notes
Caffeine; aged tea.
Cities to try Pu'er Tea
Other southwest dishes
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Yunnan's daily flatbread — a thick wheat or rice-flour round cooked on a griddle and eaten plain or stuffed.
- Bang Bang Chicken棒棒鸡
Cold poached chicken shredded by hand, dressed in chilli oil, sesame paste and Sichuan peppercorn.
- Boiled Fish in Chilli Oil水煮鱼
Fish slices submerged in a deep pool of chilli oil and Sichuan peppercorns. Served bubbling.
- Chongqing Hotpot重庆火锅
The original mala hotpot — a simmering cauldron of beef tallow, Pixian doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorn for communal dipping.