At least as early as the Tang dynasty (619-907 CE), tea was becoming a cultural foodstuff of considerable social cache. The Chinese character cha, from which half of the world derives its word for tea (see Arabic شاي and most other ‘Easter’ languages), did not exist before the Tang period, and tea as we know it today may also have originated in this era of tea sophistication. The term ming referred to a medicinal precursor to modern strained tea, but resembled a soupy bowl of boiled greens. The publication of Classic of Tea in 780 by Lu Yu, inaugurated a now 1400 year old tradition of tea connoisseurship with stress on how the tea was brewed and poured. This is the start of the tea most of the world drinks today. 

Tea originated in what is today southern China in the neighboring provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan. At first, it was consumed locally, but by the Tang dynasty the tree leaves had become a cash crop due to the ease with which it could be transported and the fact that it was cultivated on mountains and did not use valuable lowland areas which were required for rice. As tea was farmed and dried in the mountains of Southern China, it was shipped out on long, difficult journeys to the west towards India and the east towards Beijing. It would arrive in large cities in the teapots of sophisticated and influential households at the end of its journey, but on the way, exposure to time, the elements, and perhaps the sweat of pack animals transformed the tea. When a long leaf variety from the Camellia sinensis var. assamica plant was subjected to these conditions, the buyers found the flavor to be exquisite. Pu erh was born.

Pu erh is simply long leaf tea from Yunnan that had been aged and transformed by a litany of bacterias and yeasts. The green tea is moistened and left to age as it undergoes oxidation, condensation, degradation, and polymerization. The end result looks different, with a deep black color, and tastes different with a less astringent, mushroomy finish. The longer the tea is aged, the better it tastes and the more expensive it becomes. On top of this, the tea is believed to have special medicinal properties. The extravagance of Pu erh originates in its age, specificity of origin, and acclaimed medicinal properties.