The varieties of Pu’er Tea are divided into bulk tea and pressed tea. Bulk tea is divided into top grade, the 1st -10th grade and off-grade. The pressed tea is usually in the form of cake, brick, prism, pillar, melon, human head, etc. No matter what kind of tea, as long as it is up to the four specifications above mentioned. It is real Pu’er Tea. Currently, the quality of Pu’er Tea was rather spotty on the market, the good with the bad. So consumers should know the identifying methods of Pu’er Tea and then purchase after carefully learning the true or false. So, how to identify the good or the bad of the Pu’er tea? Generally there are following methods:
普洱茶从品种上分为散茶和紧压茶，散茶分特级和一到十级及级外茶，紧压茶有饼、砖、砣、柱、金瓜、人头等形状，不管是什么类型的茶，只要它符合上文所述四条标准，它就是真正的普洱茶。目前，市面上出售的普洱茶品质参差不齐，良莠不分，因此广大消费者应掌握普洱茶的鉴别方法，认真识别、辨清真伪后再行购买。那么，如何鉴定普洱茶的好坏呢？一般有以下几种方法：
Perceive by Naked Eyes
肉眼识茶
The good Pu’er Tea is red-brown(the color of pig liver), fat and tight leaves, with light smell of laurel, rose, camphor, dates and lotus combined with the special aged-aroma, etc.
好的普洱茶外形色泽褐红（猪肝色），条索肥嫩、紧结，闻其味有淡淡的桂圆、玫瑰、樟、枣、藕等香味并伴有特殊的陈香。
According to the tenderness, bulk Pu’er Tea is divided from off-grade, the 10th grade to 1st grade, up to the top grade, generally, the more tender the leaf, the higher the quality. To measure the tenderness depends on mainly 4 points: Firstly, how many buds, the more buds and apparent leaf hair, the tenderer; Secondly, the tightness and thickness of leaves, the tighter and thicker the leaves, the tenderer; Thirdly: color and luster, the more lustrous, the tenderer; Fourthly: purity and evenness, no stems and miscellaneous, the good, on the contrary, the bad.
普洱散茶以嫩度划分级别，从级外、十级到一级、特级嫩度越来越高，一般来说，嫩度越高品质越好。衡量嫩度的高低主要看四点：一看芽头多少，芽头毫显多，嫩度高；二看条索紧结、厚实程度，紧结、厚实的嫩度好；三是色泽光润程度，色泽光滑、润泽的嫩度好；四是看净度，匀净、梗少无杂质者为好，反之则差。
The pressed Pu’er Tea requests consistence in the shape of thickness, thinness, tightness and looseness and the normal color of green-brown, brown and red-brown. Take green cakes as an example, generally, in 3-5 years, a tight cake, a complete round edge and the stalk suffused with lavender; In 5-7 years, a complete cake, the stalk completely lavender; In 7-10 years, the tea cake light, an incomplete edge and the stalk deeply lavender; Above 10 years, the tea cake becomes loose and leaf edge blurred.
普洱紧压茶外形要求厚薄一致，松紧适度，色泽以青褐、棕褐、褐红色为正常。以青饼为例，一般3－5年，茶饼紧结，圆边完整，茶梗泛淡紫色；5－7年，茶饼完整，茶梗全紫；7－10年，茶饼变轻，边缘掉粒，茶梗深紫；10年以上，茶饼变松，叶际边缘模糊。

Watch Soup Color
开汤鉴茶
As a saying: Smell aroma to Oolong; watch color to Pu’er Tea. After watching the shape, the second step is to make tea soup and watch its color. Take 3-5 grams of Pu’er tea and put into the pot, pouring with the boiling water, put the made-up tea soup into the crystal glass cup and watch its soup color. The color of Pu’er Tea soup requests bright and thick red. In Pu’er Tea process, 80% TF and TR are oxidized, and polymerized into TB, with the higher content of indissoluble sugar and extracts finally into material foundation of the robust tasty and the red-brown soup color. TR is main composition that the soup color presents “red”. In fermenting process, the activity of peroxides enzyme is enforced, urging TF to oxidize into indissoluble TR compound. With extension of Pu’er Tea aged time and the increment of fermenting time, the indissoluble TR compound of Pu’er Tea increases gradually. The color of the tea soup also becomes redder and redder. Because of the relation of positive sequence of the production and deposition time of dissolvable TR compound, in certain years, the “red” of Pu’er Tea is an important index to identify the aged period of Pu’er Tea. According to the quality, the “red” of Pu’er Tea is divided into rubine red, carnelian red, amber red, etc. Among them, it is the most difficult to get rubine red, which is the ultimate in tea, the second, carnelian red, and then the camber red followed. The tea soup with whitish green or whitish yellow is lack of aged time, with black brown mostly artificial ferment, with turbid or suspend has then gone bad.
看完外形后，第二步是开汤鉴茶。取3－5克普洱茶放入壶中，用沸水冲泡，把泡好的茶汤倒入水晶玻璃杯内观赏汤色。普洱茶的汤色要求红浓通透明亮，在普洱茶的加工过程中，80%左右的茶黄素（TF）和茶红素（TR）氧化、聚合，形成茶褐素（TB），再加上较高的可溶性糖和水浸出物含量，形成了普洱茶滋味浓厚、汤色红褐的物质基础。茶红素是汤色呈“红”的主要成分，在发酵过程中，过氧化物酶活性增强，促使茶黄素氧化成不溶性茶红素复合物，随着普洱茶陈期延长，发酵时间的增加，普洱茶中不溶性茶红素复合物逐渐增多，茶的汤色也就变得越来越红。由于不溶性茶红素复合物的产生与存放时间的正相关关系，在一定的年限内，普洱茶的“红”是鉴别普洱茶陈期的重要指标。普洱茶的红又根据品质不同分为宝石红、玛瑙红、琥珀红等，其中以宝石红最为难得，为茶中极品，其次是玛瑙红，再其次是琥珀红。茶汤泛青、泛黄为陈期不足，茶汤褐黑大多是人工后发酵茶，汤色混浊不清、有悬浮物的则是变质的普洱茶。

 

Watch Leaves in Hot Water
叶底观茶
Watch the Leaves in hot water, mainly the softness, color and evenness. The leaves soft, fat and elastic, the good; hard and inelastic, not good; The color red-brown and even, the good; uneven, black, carbonized, and putrefied such as mud and leaves not opening, not good quality.
开汤后看冲泡后的叶底（茶渣），主要看柔软度、色泽、匀度。叶质柔软、肥嫩、有弹性的好，叶底硬、无弹性的品质不好；色泽褐红、均匀一致的好，色泽花杂不匀，或发黑、碳化、或腐烂如泥，叶张不开展属品质不好。

Taste to learn
品味识茶
Mainly taste the soup of Pu’er Tea, and smell its aroma, which requires melon, smooth, dense and aged aroma. This is because in the late fermenting of Pu’er Tea, the microorganism aspergillus niger, penicillium, rhizopus and saccharomyces have effects to tea, especially aspergillus niger and saccharomyces. Moreover, aspergillus in Pu’er Tea also has an important effect to the special quality. Melon is that the tea soup in the mouth has an obvious sweet returning, which stimulates the tongue surface, two cheeks and the tongue bottom to promote the body fluid continuously. This is because in ferment process, the macromolecule carbohydrate is dissolved into micromolecule sugar and indissoluble sugar. The protein is dissolved into various amino acid to form sweet tasty of Pu’er Tea. Smooth is that the tea soup is soft, slippery, tasty, pure, mild, not strongly simulated, no retardarce from mouth to throat and then stomach, no feeling of being stringed, stabbed, hitched and numbed. In the fermenting of Pu’er Tea, polyphenol substances and catechin decrease greatly, but indissoluble polyphenol increases 70%－80% , which make Pu’er Tea pure and smooth, the stimulation and astringency obviously decreased, the stronger affinity to the larynx and the feeling of the whole integration of the nature and mankind. Dense means the tea soup is thick, but not light, the taste of entering mouth is strong aromatic but not tasteless. The extracts of Pu’er Tea increase with the years, producing a great deal of dissoluble sugar and pectin and its hydrolysates, the more extracts, the stronger tasty. Aged aroma refers to the special and pure aroma of Pu’er Tea. It must be discriminated with mold, with which is a tea of fermenting failure and can’t be drunk. Aged aroma is that Pu’er Tea in late fermenting process, various chemical compositions, mainly tea polyphenol under effect of micro-organism and enzyme form some new substances and produce comprehensive aroma. The characteristic of Pu’er Tea is the prominent aged aroma. The aroma is decided by the aromatic substances of tea. In the fresh tea leaves, the aromatic content is 0.03%-0. 05%. But in special process of Pu’er Tea, under the effect of enzyme, the deoxidization of catechin and polyphenol, the heat and acidity, etc all cause or promote the producing of aroma substances. The aroma substances of the fermented Pu’er Tea not only increase content, causing the quality “the more aged, the more fragrant”, but also vary in the categories. Because of manufacturer’ slight difference in process techniques, Pu’er tea produces aged aroma with various fruit fragrance with aged aroma, such as longan, betel nut, date, lotus, camphor, etc. The aged aroma of Pu’er Tea reveals the charm of lingering history and shows the true nature of going back to the simple and original. The fruit aroma displays special features of honesty and sincerity close to benignity, bringing human being’s a kind of endless lure.
主要是品尝普洱茶汤，闻其香气，尝其滋味，要求甘甜、滑润、厚重、陈香。这是因为普洱茶在后发酵过程中有黑曲霉、青霉素、根霉素、灰绿曲霉、酵母素等微生物特别是黑曲霉和酵母素对茶叶发生作用，另外，普洱茶中的麴菌对最终形成普洱茶独特的品质也发挥了重要作用。甘甜就是茶汤入口要有明显的回甜味，刺激舌面、两颊、舌底不断的生津，这是因为在发酵过程中，大分子碳水化合物被分解成小分子的糖及可溶性糖，蛋白质分解为多种氨基酸，形成了普洱茶的甘甜滋味。滑润是茶汤要柔顺滑润、滋味醇正、清爽平和，刺激性不强，毫不阻滞地从口腔流向喉咙和胃部，不要有叮、刺、挂、麻的感觉。因为在普洱茶的发酵过程中，多酚类物质和儿茶素大量减少，而水不溶性茶多酚却增加了70%－80%，使普洱茶变得醇和滑润，剌激性和收敛性明显降低，对喉部有较强的亲和力，达到天人一体的感觉。厚重是指茶汤浓稠而不淡薄，入口味觉香浓而不寡淡。普洱茶的水浸出物随着年代的增加而增加，在发酵过程中产生了大量的可溶性糖与可溶性果胶及其水解物，水浸出物越多，茶味越厚重、浓稠。陈香是指普洱茶特有的醇香味，特别要区别于霉杂味，有霉杂味的茶是发酵失败的茶，是不能喝的普洱茶。陈香味是普洱茶在后发酵过程中，以茶多酚为主的多种化学成份在微生物和酶的作用下，形成了一些新的物质所产生的综合香气，普洱茶的香气特点就是陈香显著，茶的香气是由茶叶中的芳香物质决定的，鲜茶叶中芳香物质含量为0.03%－0.05%，但经过普洱茶特殊工艺中酶的作用，儿茶素多酚类物质氧化还原，以及水热和酸性等条件，都能引起或促进芳香物质的产生，发酵后的普洱茶的芳香物质不但含量上有了较多增加，造就“越陈越香”的品质，而且种类上也有很多变化，由于各个厂家加工工艺的轻微差异，就有了伴随陈香的各种果香，如桂圆香、槟榔香、枣香、藕香、樟香等。普洱茶的陈香透露出深厚的历史韵味，彰显出返朴归真的自然真性，其果香又展示出各自敦厚亲和的特色，给人以一种无穷的诱惑。

Making Pu’er Tea
普洱茶的冲泡
Making Pu’er Tea includes five links: choose tea, prepare tools, select water and brew in hot water.
普洱茶的冲泡包括选茶、备具、择水、投茶、冲泡五个环节。
n Choosing tea is to choose the bulk tea or pressed tea that one offers.
■选茶就是选择自己喜欢的散茶或紧压茶。
n Preparation of the tools is to prepare the tea set for making tea, namely, drinking set, boiling set, washing set and the other supplements, etc. To make Pu’er tea, it is better to choose the special use of thin porcelain containers from Jingdezhen and Liling, etc., which can well keep Pu’er Tea’s origin aroma and taste. It is better to choose special porcelain cup for drinking set, which is 1-2 times as big as the usual one of Gongfu Tea. It is better to prepare special elegant crystal enjoying glass for drinking Pu’er Tea. After smelling the dry tea, mix the second and third times of Pu’er Tea into the public cup, and then pour into enjoying cup for watching soup color. Let the guests identify the grade and quality. The appreciation tea cup was put on the left of the tea bed for appreciating until whole enjoying tea the process was over.
■备具即准备泡茶用的茶具，包括饮具、煮具、贮具、洁具、辅具等，冲泡普洱茶最好选用景德镇、澧陵等地生产专用薄胎瓷器皿为上乘，陶瓷器皿泡茶不走味，能较好保持普洱茶的香气和滋味，饮具最好选用专用瓷杯，专用瓷杯比平常饮用功夫茶杯子大一至二倍，饮用普洱茶要配备专门的制作精美小巧玲珑的水晶玻璃观赏杯，在嗅闻完干茶后，把二道、三道冲泡的普洱茶在公道杯中混合后，倒入观赏杯中鉴赏汤色，让佳宾观赏鉴别茶的等级和品质，观赏杯里的茶不喝，一直摆放在茶床的左边供人观赏直到整个品茗过程结束。
n Selecting water is to choose the water for making tea. The ancients said: “The tea quality rises from water. If good tea meets better water, the tea became better as well; if good water tries better tea, the tea is only good as well”. To make Pu’er Tea should choose soft water principally, such as the purified water, mineral spring water, etc. It can also choose the water matched the drinking standard. If the good spring water of local mountains, it is better. The good mountain spring water must measure up with six main factors “Clear, light, pure, sweet, alive, clean and cold”. Pure is limpid and transparent; light is that the aqueous surface tension is strong; sweet is melon and tasty; alive is a flowing water rather than stagnant water; clean is no pollution; cold is cool. To make tea must control the water temperature, which greatly effect the aroma and tasty of the tea soup. Pu’er Tea requests the boiled water of the 100℃.
■择水就是选择泡茶的水    古人云：“茶性必发于水，八分之茶，遇十分之水，茶亦十分矣；八分之水，试十分之茶，茶只八分耳”。冲泡普洱茶原则上应选择软水，如纯净水、矿泉水等，也可用符合饮用水标准的自来水。如本地能找到上佳山泉水，那就更好，好的山泉必须符合“清、轻、甘、活、洁、洌”六个要素，清是清澈而透明，轻是水的表面张力大，甘是甘甜可口，活是活水而非死水，洁是清洁无污染，洌是冷洌。泡茶时要掌握好水温，水温对茶汤的香气、滋味都有很大的影响，普洱茶要求用100℃的沸水冲泡。
n How much tea can depend on personal taste, generally, 3-5 grams tea properly with 150 milliliters water, and the proportion of tea to water between 1:50-1:30.
■投茶量的多少可依个人口味而定，一般以3－5克茶叶，150毫升的水为宜，茶与水的比例在1:50至1:30之间。
n For the tea purer aroma, it is necessary to warm tea, i.e., pour out the boiled water immediately for the first time, which can have 1－2 times. The speed must be quick so that the taste of the tea soup can be prevented from influence. While really starting, about a minute the tea soup can be poured into the public cup, and then continue the second. With more times, the time can be prolonged slowly, from 1 minute to a few minutes gradually, which can keep the even density of tea soup.
■为使茶香更加纯正，有必要进行温茶，即第一次冲下的沸水立即倒出，温茶可进行1－2次，速度要快，以免影响茶汤的滋味。正式冲泡时，1分钟左右即可将茶汤倒入公道杯中，叶底继续冲泡，随着冲泡次数增加，冲泡时间可慢慢延长，从1分钟逐渐增加至数分钟，这样泡出的茶汤才比较均匀。