Gongfu tea is a method of brewing tea with a relatively high leaf-to-water ratio, small vessels, and multiple short infusions, while a Gongfu tea ceremony is a broader cultural and social practice that may incorporate etiquette, presentation, hospitality, and ritual. The brewing method and the ceremony are related but should not be treated as identical.
The six traditional categories of Chinese tea are green, white, yellow, oolong, black, and dark tea, classified primarily according to processing rather than simply leaf color. Pu-erh is generally associated with dark tea, while Longjing belongs to green tea, Tieguanyin to oolong, and Dianhong to black tea.
Chinese tea refers to tea produced throughout China, while Yunnan tea refers specifically to tea originating from Yunnan Province. Yunnan is one of China's most important tea-producing regions, but not all Yunnan tea is Pu-erh, and Pu-erh represents only one part of China's enormous tea tradition.
Sheng and shou are the two major styles of Pu-erh tea: sheng means raw Pu-erh, while shou means ripe Pu-erh. The difference is primarily how the tea is processed and fermented, and this leads to major differences in flavor, appearance, aging behavior, and buying considerations.
The fundamental difference between raw and ripe Pu-erh is the processing method: raw Pu-erh develops primarily through natural aging after production, while ripe Pu-erh undergoes controlled wet-pile fermentation to accelerate transformation before sale.
Pu-erh tea is a traditionally processed tea from Yunnan, China, made primarily from large-leaf Camellia sinensis var. assamica and distinguished by its ability—especially in raw Pu-erh—to transform substantially during storage. Unlike most green teas, which are valued for freshness, Pu-erh can be deliberately produced and stored for years or decades, with flavor evolving through oxidation, microbial activity, moisture exchange, and other forms of post-processing change.
