五、明清时期

明清时期，普洱茶发展达到了历史顶峰，成为皇家贡茶，制作技艺逐渐趋于标准化，并在明代万历年间正式得名“普洱茶”。

明代云南布政司右参政谢肇淛所撰写的《滇略》中写道：“士庶所用，皆普茶也，蒸而成团，瀹作草气，差胜饮水耳”。此处“普茶”指的就是普洱茶，乃当时流通全省、销量最大的茶。明万历《云南通志》中也指出“车里之普耳（同“普洱”），此处产茶”。方以智则进一步在《物理小识》中记载：“普洱茶，蒸之成团，西蕃市之，最能化物，与六安同”，这是历史上首次明确提出“普洱茶”这一概念，并延续至今。

According to Chorography of Mountains and Rivers in Yunnan:“People do not know the exactly time when the Pu’er tea emerged..., Tubo in the west was found to use tea from the Tang Dynasty.”It shows that in the Tang Dynasty, the minorities in Yunnan began to use tea and trade with Tubo by tea.After entering Xizang, Princess Wencheng extensively promoted tea drinking, and the buttered tea created by her was widely accepted.Therefore, tea became an essential drink for the Tubo people to the extent that“stagflation will emerge without drinking tea for one day and illness will come without drinking tea for three days ”.

After the death of Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo deteriorated.After that, the central government decided to implement the strategy of“ruling the border with tea”and banned Pu’er tea from being introduced to Tubo.At that time, Pu’er tea has taken part in national governance as a political bargaining chip.The strategy of“ruling the border with tea”was very effective, so the west of the Tang Dynasty gradually calmed down, and the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo gradually eased.By the time of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the central government began to exchange Pu’er tea for horses of Tubo, and Pu’er tea became one of the important ties to maintain the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo.