“Color, fragrance, taste, and appearance” are the four key quality factors of tea, with fragrance accounting for the largest proportion and the widest variety. In addition to the common floral and fruity aromas found in many types of tea, Pu'er tea also has unique aromas such as ginseng and aged fragrances.
For beginners, identifying and distinguishing these aromas can be relatively difficult. For seasoned tea enthusiasts, however, the aroma of tea can be divided into five levels: “fragrance on water,” “aroma entering water,” “water containing fragrance,” “water giving birth to fragrance,” and “water is fragrance.”
In this article about tea fragrances, Lu Li will introduce several unique aromas specific to Pu'er tea and share some personal insights into the fragrance of Pu'er tea.
Jujube and Caramel Aromas: Pyrazines, Pyrroles, and Furans
Caramel aroma is a characteristic scent of Pu'er tea, especially in those made from coarser, older leaves that contain abundant pectin and sugars, which can produce more soluble sugars during fermentation.
Many sugars have a naturally sweet aroma, and after caramelization, their fragrance becomes even richer, with a strong enhancing effect. When mixed with woody aromas, it can create an aroma similar to dried jujubes, which is a common jujube aroma in ripe Pu'er teas.
The formation of caramel and jujube aromas cannot occur without “heat.” During post-aging, amino compounds combine with sugars to form large quantities of pyrazines, pyrroles, and furans, producing an aroma reminiscent of baking. Some production processes also utilize this, such as the “intense fire aroma enhancement” during the drying of green tea.
Aged Fragrances: Palmitic Acid, etc.
Aged fragrances are not as specific as the above-mentioned aromas but rather a general term that includes medicinal, camphor, and woody aromas, as well as the lower-pitched aromas like jujube. Although the specific meaning of aged fragrance may vary depending on the context, it is certainly a positive evaluation of a Pu'er tea that has been stored properly.
In addition, aged fragrances are at the core of Pu'er tea's value, closely related to its ability to improve with age. Its essence is “the blend of fragrances presented by Pu'er tea capable of improving with age, as it undergoes continuous change.”
The aroma of Pu'er tea is complex, with simpler aromas being more volatile and thus smelling livelier, while more complex aromas are less volatile and therefore linger longer.
For example, the grassy aroma comes from hexanol, which has a simple structure and is easily volatile, dissipating over time. On the other hand, the source of the medicinal aroma, palmitic acid, has a more complex structure and is less volatile, so it remains later on.
This is similar to the top, middle, and base notes of perfume. The top note of Pu'er tea is the fresh, floral aroma, followed by the lively fruit aroma, and what lingers longer are woody, medicinal, and sandalwood aromas—these stable, aged fragrances. As time passes, the aromas that remain later become more stable. The complex, stable blended scents left in Pu'er tea are known as “aged fragrances.”
Ginseng Aroma: Residues of Ginseng Volatile Oils
Lastly, Lu Li introduces a special type of aroma—”ginseng fragrance”—which is a unique scent in aged Pu'er tea. Some even believe that for a tea to be considered “aged,” it must possess four characteristics:
Crystal clear, gemstone-red liquor; thick, smooth mouthfeel; brown-black, glossy, elastic, semi-transparent leaf base (an indication of the full extraction of internal substances); and special aromas such as ginseng or herbal medicine (with ginseng aroma being superior).
Strangely, ginseng aroma only appears in aged Pu'er teas from Hong Kong and Taiwan, while some original storage locations in Yunnan Province do not produce “ginseng fragrance.” To address this, industry experts collected samples of various “grade-level” and “mark-level” teas, initiating a chemical analysis.
The results showed that there was little difference in the molecular structure and content of saponins between new and aged Pu'er teas, but there were significant differences compared to the molecular structure and molecular weight of saponins in ginseng, proving that Pu'er tea cannot produce a ginseng aroma during aging.
A key piece of evidence supporting this is the “88 Qing.” Researchers compared the “88 Qing” that had circulated back from Hong Kong and Taiwan with the same batch and year of 7542 stored in Yunnan, finding that the “88 Qing” had a ginseng aroma, whereas the tea stored in Yunnan did not.
This aligns with historical records. Hong Kong was once the most important export market and distribution center for Pu'er tea. Since wholesale tea profits were low, many Hong Kong merchants engaged in both Pu'er tea and Chinese herbal medicine trade, with ginseng making up a significant portion.
Hong Kong's high real estate costs meant that many rented out space in Chinese herbal medicine warehouses for storing tea. Pu'er tea is highly absorbent, and ginseng releases volatile oils, leading to the development of a unique “ginseng aroma” over time.
This method of storing tea to protect ginseng from insect damage and mold has been used since ancient times. Ancient medical texts like “The Herbal Medicine Encyclopaedia” record: “Place tea and ginseng alternately in a clay jar to prevent moths and maintain freshness, repeatedly tested and proven effective without any need for other methods.” In “Ginseng Studies” by Tang Bingjun of the Qing Dynasty, he recommends: “Today, in Suzhou, all raw ginseng is wrapped in tea, the most convenient method.”
It is rumored that in the 1990s, there was a method of storing Pu'er tea in Hong Kong where whole or sliced fresh ginseng was placed with the tea, sealed for 20-30 days, to give the “aged Pu'er tea” a special “ginseng fragrance mark.”
Fortunately, this external “ginseng fragrance” does not disrupt the original flavor of Pu'er tea. Firstly, the amount of ginseng absorbed by the tea is minimal, having little impact, and the medicinal properties of ginseng are not significantly reflected in the tea. Secondly, ginseng is a precious herb known as the “king of herbs,” and even a small amount absorbed by Pu'er tea can serve as a functional supplement, such as the alcohols in ginseng volatile oil, which have anti-inflammatory, cough-suppressing, and fatigue-reducing effects.
The Realms of Pu'er Tea Aroma
In addition to the above aromas, Pu'er tea has other types of aromas, such as the downy aroma specific to high-grade teas, honey aroma from Yiwu, nutty aroma in some raw and lightly fermented ripe teas, as well as fruit, wood, and plum aromas. Due to space limitations, we won't cover them all here.
Pu'er tea aromas not only vary in type but also in level, commonly referred to by seasoned enthusiasts as “fragrance on water,” “aroma entering water,” “water containing fragrance,” “water giving birth to fragrance,” and “water is fragrance.”
The first level is “fragrance on water,” where some teas have an aroma that floats in the air when brewed, but the aroma significantly diminishes upon tasting, often described as “the fragrance can be smelled but not tasted.”
The second level is “aroma entering water,” where only a portion of the aroma blends into the tea, with the majority still diffusing into