Does sheng mean unfermented?

[marvell]

I saw the word "sheng" in many topics for times, does that means unfermented pu erh leaf?

And what's the English name of fermented pu erh leaf? Thanks!

[AdamMY]

Sheng is the term for the Raw/Uncooked/ Green variety of puerh, I hesitate to say unfermented as you can have aged sheng which has fermented naturally.

Shou/Shu is the term for Cooked puerh, which goes through a process to flash-ferment the leaves so to speak.

[marvell]

Sheng is the term for the Raw/Uncooked/ Green variety of puerh, I hesitate to say unfermented as you can have aged sheng which has fermented naturally.

Shou/Shu is the term for Cooked puerh, which goes through a process to flash-ferment the leaves so to speak.

Thanks Adam. As I am going to start a pu erh business online, I need to make certain if these Chinese characters like sheng/shu are commonly understood by pu erh fans outside of China(I am in China). That will help me to decide which to choose when describing the tea on my online store ;P

[Seeker]

My understanding is that shu/shou means that fermentation was forced/applied/hastened. And it is "finished", tho it can continue, but it is created to be more "ready" to drink in the shorter term.
Sheng - the fermentation is natural. Depending on the tea, conditions, etc, the tea can be unfermented, undergoing fermentation, or quite fermented if old enough. So young sheng is undergoing fermentation, is in-process, and is "not finished".
I will also say that I am but a puerh-padawan, and I'll be curious if some of the "masters" will chime in.
What say you, masters, is my training complete?
(I think there should be a mr. brown for puerh. )

[Jedi]

The training is never complete...

[Seeker]

Of course you are right master, I meant no disrespect.
I'll keep aware of my impatience.
Lesson assimilated.
... back to my training.

[zhi zheng]

I'm not sure that many people understand the difference between sheng and shou inside China.

One of our tea shop neighbours told me a while ago that the most common question asked by Chinese tourists to 'banna' was "What's the difference between sheng and shou?"

[aKnightWhoSaysNi]

Ah, I don't think that most Chinese drink or are familiar with pu'ehr though are they? A Fujianese woman once told me that "pu'ehr tea is for Cantonese people." A bit of an oversimplification, but although said in jest, I think there is some truth to her statement. I think pu'ehr tea is probably a bit of an enigma to most Chinese people outside of Yunnan, Guangdong, and perhaps Tibet.

[gingkoseto]

Ah, I don't think that most Chinese drink or are familiar with pu'ehr though are they? A Fujianese woman once told me that "pu'ehr tea is for Cantonese people." A bit of an oversimplification, but although said in jest, I think there is some truth to her statement. I think pu'ehr tea is probably a bit of an enigma to most Chinese people outside of Yunnan, Guangdong, and perhaps Tibet.

That's true to certain extent. When I went to Yunnan in 1995, I didn't have any idea about puerh and I was never served puerh - except once in a native doctor's home, he gave me some "tea with medical power", which I later guessed might be puerh + some herbs. Some of my friends said they were never served puerh when they went to Yunnan even after 2000. Most of them were served Tie Guan Yin (in urban areas) though - obviously local people thought TGY was "good" tea while puerh was not good enough to treat guests. Things may have changes a lot now since puerh prices changed a lot

[aKnightWhoSaysNi]

I think a person's general idea of "tea" varies by region. When a Fujianese person thinks of tea, oolong might be the first thing that comes to mind, when a person from HK thinks of tea, it would probably be pu'ehr, and when a person from Alabama thinks of tea, they probably immediately think of liquid diabetes.