Newslinks (10.11.2008)

Delightful World of Puer Tea
By Brenda Koller
Special to The Korea Times

With countless coffee houses springing up everywhere in Seoul, you may be surprised to know that, second to water, tea is the most preferred beverage for the majority of people around the world.

But how often do you think about what type of tea you are drinking, where it was grown, how it was processed and what is the best way to drink it? I pondered those questions and more during a delightful afternoon at the ``World Tea Festival 2007'' held at COEX from June 27 to July 1.

About 200 booths from eight countries including world renowned tea companies exhibited everything you might want to know about tea culture from tea products such as pots and cups, tables, utensils, books, and most importantly, hundreds of different varieties and styles of tea.

Although tea has been popular for over 5,000 years, the market for tea is increasing. According to organizers of the event, sales of tea beverages in Korea have increased by 40 percent over last year with the Korean market valued at 40 billion won. 

Studies have shown that drinking tea has many health benefits such as reducing the risk of cancer and coronary heart disease, to name just two. And with more and more people following the well-being trend, it's no wonder that tea's popularity is on the rise.

All tea originates from the plant Camellia sinensis and there are four basic types _ black, green, oolong or white. The exception to this is puer tea (also spelled puerh, pu-erh, pu erh).

Tea was first discovered in China and the history of puer tea dates back centuries to ancient tea plants that still grow today in Yunnan.

I had the pleasure of discovering puer tea at the World Tea Festival when I sat down at the Jiyumyungcha puer tea store's booth. After the first sip I was enthralled; after the second sip I was hooked. Puer tea looks and tastes similar to black tea, but has a bold aroma and taste of its own, a taste that kept me lingering at the company's booth. 

It certainly helped that one of the company's servers, Jacqueline Park, spoke English and was more than willing to explain the many intricacies of puer tea to a novice drinker.

Park explained that there are two basic kinds of puer, one of China's most popular teas: Sheng Cha, which is raw, naturally fermented puer, and Shu Cha, which is cooked and undergoes an accelerated fermentation process. 

My taste tests revealed a preference for Sheng Cha, which is less woody or earthy tasting than Shu Cha. Puer is also categorized by shape and is available in a variety of shapes such as tea bags, loose-leaf, disc and bowl-shaped, which resembles little acorn-sized bowls.

In many ways, Puer tea can be compared to fine wine as it evolves as it ages and the value often increases with age. Park said that she has tasted puer tea that is much older than herself.

Puer tea purportedly helps with digestion and intestinal activities, not to mention the calming effect it imparts while savoring its unique flavor.

My interest piqued, the quest for additional knowledge of puer tea led me to David Kilburn, chairman of the Tea Museum, who suggested I visit his shop at Lotte Department Store in Myeong-dong. There, manager Choi Eun-sil (who is also fluent in English) introduced me to the company's eight styles of puer tea. Kilburn had suggested sampling two in particular.

Jinhong puer is a blend of puer from Yunnan and cinnamon from Sri Lanka, which is based on a traditional method used by the Jinuo tribes people in China. The blend imparts a delicate cinnamon taste that pleasantly enhances the flavor of the tea.

Of particular interest at the Tea Musuem was the orange puer, which not only tastes delectable but also looks lovely. It is made by removing all the fruit from the inside of a small, bitter orange native to China. 

The tea is then pressed inside the shell and allowed to dry and mature. Choi crumbled part of the orange in with the tea before allowing it to steep. The tea was most pleasant, imparting a refreshing touch of citrus.

I'll admit, I would be hard-pressed to give up my afternoon shot of espresso, but I simply cannot imagine a day without tea. And now my tea drinking has been greatly enhanced with delicious and mysterious puer tea.

普洱茶泡沫破了

央视国际 www.cctv.com　　2007年06月15日 20:02 来源：CCTV.com

　　6月3日，普洱茶的产地――云南普洱市宁洱县刚刚发生了里氏6.4级的地震，其实就在同时，各地的普洱茶市场也在经历一场地震，最近一个月，普洱茶的价格普遍下跌了20％－50％，有些投资者囤积的数百万、上千万元的普洱茶饼一夜之间严重贬值。我们今天就先来看看广东，广东是全国最大的普洱茶消费市场，每年的销量占到国内总产量的70%。

　　普洱茶这轮暴跌，让市场措手不及。从去年开始，普洱茶价格就一路走高，特别到了今年前四个月，市场上普洱茶的均价上涨了3至4倍，个别品种甚至上涨了几十倍，远远超过股市同期涨幅。当时，也有不少炒家从炒做普洱茶中，获得了比炒股还要丰厚的暴利。

　　广州茶叶市场，是全国最大的普洱茶集散地，也是普洱茶价格上的一个晴雨表。在芳村茶叶城记者看到，来逛茶叶市场的顾客已经非常稀少，整个大厅显得空荡荡的，因为闲来无事，茶叶店的一些员工干脆把这里当作了运动场。这与普洱茶火爆时的场面形成了鲜明的对比。

现在的茶叶都不出售大量的储存在家里记者又来到了附近的一个茶叶市场，这里也以销售普洱茶为主要业务。与芳村茶叶城一样，记者看到的同样是一个没有顾客的一座茶城，据这里的普洱茶经营者介绍，造成现在普洱茶市场萧条的原因，除了淡季影响以外，普洱茶价格的大幅度下跌和集体“跳水”，也是一个重要的原因。那么，目前在广州市场，普洱茶的销售价格到底降了多少呢？

　　销售人员：“最火的时候像7572跟7554（普洱茶规格）这个都要到两万多块钱。”

　　记者：“现在卖多少？”

　　销售人员：“九千多块钱。”

　　普洱茶从两万多元的最高价，降为现在的一万以内，价格下跌了一半，这让许多普洱茶的买家始料不及，然而让他们更没有想到是的，整个下跌的过程，仅仅用了30多天的时间。这位普洱茶的经营者，这样解释了普洱茶的萧条原因。

　　普洱茶经营者：“因为事先（普洱茶价格）炒得太高了，变成市场没有交易，没有交易就停下来了，也没有人接（买）市场上交易量不是很大。

　　据了解，这次普洱茶之所以在广州市场上价格大跌，是因为就在一个月前，广州市场上，一些人对普洱茶进行了炒作，而炒作的程度有人用“疯狂”两个字来形容。那么，炒作普洱茶究竟有多大的利润呢？

　　在广州的南方茶叶市场，记者了解到，从2006年下半年自今年的年初，普洱茶中的知名品牌大益、下关、中茶等，成为炒作的对象。

　　销售人员：“一天几百的（涨）。”

　　因为这些品牌质量稳定，知名度高，收藏升值的潜力大，因此，在普洱茶市场上，受到许多炒家的追捧。

　　商家：“一天一个价，每个月翻一倍。”

由于炒家的炒作，市场上有的品牌，一件30公斤左右的普洱茶，从不到5000元的出厂价，一下子涨到了23000元，上涨了近5倍。

　　商家：“（有的）涨了百分之二三百。”

　　如此高的利润，极大的刺激了市场对普洱茶的需求，一些对普洱茶一无所知的人也纷纷投入资金，加入到炒作普洱茶的行列，一时间，一场爆炒普洱茶的场面在广州茶叶市场展开。

　　商家：“今年的四月份是破记录的，（一天）能销售四五百件（十二吨或十五吨），凡是有店就必须摆上普洱茶，卖普洱茶甚至在通过这两年广州这边的推动，包括炒作这方面，在全国也铺开了。”

　　

普洱茶市场幕后操盘手

　　那么，在广州的普洱茶市场，厂家和经销商这只看不见的手，究竟是如何来掌控市场的呢？黄建璋，广东省文化学会茶文化研究专业委员会副会长，《茶艺》杂志主编，一直对普洱茶市场进行跟踪调研，他认为首先是经销商通过向普洱茶的生产厂家交纳押金，来取得市场上对某种产品的垄断地位，而这种押金的数目也大得惊人。

　　黄建璋：“（厂家）跟商家有一个包销的协议，（押金）据听说是从一百万到两三百万，甚至翻到去年给他们的押金，据听说达到一千万。”

　　为了证实经销商向厂家交纳巨额押金的说法，记者向这位经销商进行了询问。

　　经销商：“三五百万，有的是一千多万，有的三千万都有。”

　　经销商在取得了某种规格的经销权以后，开始放货。

　　经销商：“先放个大概20%左右投放市场，然后再找一些比较亲近的人，再把它收购回来。”

　　而经销商回收的价格，则比卖出时的价格要高出许多。

　　经销商：“我原来卖给你比如说五千块钱卖给你，现在市场涨到七千块钱。有人过来问我们要，那我们就可以把你手上的收回来嘛。你愿意这个价格卖给我们我们就收，我们再卖个别人。

　　经过控制卖出的数量，造成市场缺货的假象，叫做“捂盘”，然后经销商通过高价回收的手段，抬高自己经销品种的价格，这样，经销商就完全掌控了市场上普洱茶的价格。

　　经销商：“你控盘控到多少程度，你自己心里有数，你不卖的话你再出去收一收，价格自然就往上走了总量就这么多你在放出来收，是不是自然而然价格就抬上去了，这也是控盘嘛。”

　就此记者得到了这样的一个操作流程，以市场上一件30公斤出厂价为4800元的普洱茶为例，一级经销商用重金取得经销权以后，在市场上只放出20%的量，造成这种产品紧缺的气氛，然后又以高价进行回收，以抬高其价格，然后再将其全部抛出，经过二级三级经销商不断的重复炒作，最后将价格抬到了23000元，而这时在23000元高位上接手的许多散户，则被牢牢的套住。

　　2003年3月，云南省质量技术监督局公布了，云南省普洱茶地方标准：普洱茶是以云南省一定区域内的云南大叶种晒青毛茶为原料，经过后发酵加工而成的散茶和紧压茶。在云南的产茶区，记者看到，采摘下来的茶叶经过这样的铁锅杀青，然后进行晾晒，然后存放，让它自然发酵。制作过程并不复杂和神秘，一些医学专家也称，普洱茶的特殊功效，还没有人做出过足够可信的实验结果。实际上，从功效上，普洱茶与其他茶叶并没有多大的差别。

　　钟先生，原来做木材生意，今年3月份在朋友的劝说下将做木材的60万元钱，购买了普洱茶，希望其能够升值后抛售。

　　钟先生：“估计在半年之内，能够赚10%以上（利润）。”

　　

普洱茶囤积之苦

　　然而不断下跌的价格，不但使他没有赚到预期的利润，而且现在自己资金也被普洱茶套牢，他现在要做的只有等待。在广州，像钟先生一样，因为购买普洱茶而被套住上百万的人也不在少数。采访中记者了解到，目前市场上普洱茶真正用于消费的并不多，而多数则被放到了仓库里，让其升值。

　　记者：“这是你的？”

　　符建深：“对对。”

　　记者：“这大概有多少件？”

　　符建深：“有两三百件。”

这里所存放的各个知名厂家的普洱茶足足有6吨多。符建深，现在经营一家旅游山庄，2006年开始购买普洱茶，由于购买的数量不断增加，为此，他专门租了一个仓库。在这个仓库里记者注意到，这里所存放的各个知名厂家的普洱茶足足有6吨多。他还告诉记者，他的3个朋友在他仓库的隔壁，同样存放了普洱茶。

　　符建深：“希望越多人懂得这个茶的价值，我们大家财富也会跟着上来的。”

　　现在在广州，究竟储存有多少普洱茶，记者无法知晓，但却听到了这样的说法：“（普洱茶）只有5%在消费者的肚子里，还有95%全部在投资者收藏的仓库里。”

　　符建深：“从现在开始，一克普洱茶不进，广东这个市场。那么广东在5年甚至8年喝现在存有的普洱茶都喝不完。”

　　面对普洱茶成了疯狂炒做的对象。一些行家告诉记者，和以前不同，这轮暴炒中出现了很多反常的现象。比如说，普洱茶本来应该年代越久远，价格越昂贵，可是，前一段时间，有些新茶的价格卖的比几十年的老茶还要贵上几倍，让普洱茶的行家里手都大跌眼镜。那么，这种反常的背后到底隐藏着什么秘密呢？

新茶价格上涨内幕

　　垄断货源、虚假交易、抬高价格，看来炒茶客和股市上那些庄家操纵股价的办法如出一辙。而且这些炒家和股市庄家还有一点相似的地方，就是善于制造概念。他们在不断抬高普洱茶价格的同时，还四处传播普洱茶具有降血脂、降血压、降血糖的神效。可是，市场暴跌之后，人们才发现，原来炒家的那些概念只是夸大其词的宣传。

　　概念泡沫经过这轮暴跌，广东很多炒茶客，现在已经被深度套牢。现在他们都寄希望于年底的时候，市场行情能够有所好转，能将手中套牢的普洱茶抛出去，至少把本赚回来。然而，在这个明显供大于求的市场上，普洱茶的价格还能回到他们期盼的高位吗？

　　陈国璋，经营普洱茶多年，对现在低迷的普洱茶市场，年底是否能走出低谷，表示了担忧。

　　陈国璋：“我觉得（价格）是下的多。”

　　而黄建璋认为，除了一些品位真正好的普洱茶会升值以外，大部分的普洱茶的价格会下降。

　　黄建璋：“这里面含的水分很多，当有一天给人家发现到这里面的奥妙，也就是说泡沫一旦被吹开被吹破了，那么整个普洱茶的行情，价位就会掉下来，到那个时候掉下来那就可惨了。”

　　云南省西双版纳地区的勐海县，是普洱茶著名的产地之一，这个地区每年普洱茶的价格，直接影响云南省全省的原料价格，因为在云南许多产区普洱茶原料的定价，都要参照勐海县的价格。

　　记者：“那么现在的价格？涨得什么样的地步？”

　　茶商：“现在涨到台地茶，150（元）以上，250（元）200（元）都有，以前是一公斤毛茶台地茶25（元）30（元）35（元）都有。”

　　据了解，在勐海县班章的古树茶，由去年的每公斤320元，一下子爆涨到今年春天的每公斤1250元，上涨了近4倍。

　　茶商：“大树茶老树茶，上浮了两到三倍，台地茶一倍还要多一点，比去年的价格统统都要上浮了。”

　　迅速上涨的普洱茶的价格，让勐海县的许多人始料不及。

　　现在，每天一大早，爱伲族的康蛇，都要和家人一起到自家的茶园里采茶，她家所在的南糯山，是勐海县重要的普洱茶产地，自从今年春天茶叶上涨以后，全家人就很少休息。

康蛇：“茶叶发的很多，因为茶叶价格很好，所以不想给它发老了，所以比较忙一点，经常来摘。”

　　记者：“以前多少天摘一次？”

　　康蛇：“差不多隔半个月摘一次。”

　　记者：“现在呢？”

南糯山村的这位负责人告诉记者，虽然现在茶叶的价格涨了两倍多，但许多村民还是希望茶叶的价格能够继续再涨一些，所以现在的茶叶都不出售，而是大量的储存在家里。这不得不让他感到不安。

　　在勐海县，对于迅速膨胀的茶叶价格，担忧的还有许多人。

　　云南省茶叶商会副会长曾云荣：“从原料近期飞涨的情况来看，我表示很担忧，因为从长远看，价格的大起以后就必然会出现大落。”

　　云南省茶叶商会副会长曾云荣告诉记者，由于虚高的茶叶价格，使许多农民奇货可居，对茶叶的出售价格，有了更高的期待。

　　曾云荣：“这个茶昨天开800元，今天开1000元，明天开1200元，他就看到这个利益，所以他就观望，一观望就等待，一等待市场一变化，他就吃亏。”

　　在勐海县的一些普洱茶生产厂家，记者了解到，因为目前普洱茶的毛茶价格偏高，使得许多普洱茶的生产厂家，不愿多进原料。

　　记者：“你们预计进原料进多少？”

　　生产厂家：“大概200吨左右吧。”

　　记者：“那你现在进了多少？”

　　生产厂家：“今年大约进了二三十吨，四十吨左右。”

　　广东的普洱茶市场在人为操纵之下，短短半年间走出了暴涨暴跌的行情。一批接盘的炒家，手里囤积了大量普洱茶现在却无法出手。其实，这轮疯狂炒做不仅带动了普洱茶的价格大幅波动，就连云南当地用于加工普洱茶的毛茶，价格也跟着跌宕起伏。

　　在炒做风的推动之下，普洱茶产业陷入了一个恶性循环——原料价格虚高，造成许多厂家减少进购原料，而厂家减少进货，又使囤积毛茶的中间商难以出货。那么，现在勐海县，那些中间商手里被套住的毛茶到底有多少呢？

　　据了解，由于前些时候毛茶炒作的价格过高，目前的茶价已经开始下跌，许多中间商已经被牢牢套住。一位不愿透露姓名的中间商这样告诉记者。

　　中间商：“现在有好多在这方面出现很大的问题，有压的多的一百吨的也有

　　两三百吨的都有。他们不会出手，他们要等市场回升他们才会出手，所以说现在中间商是不动的。”

　　康蛇：“现在隔五六天，六七天就可以来摘了。”

　　康蛇告诉记者，由于现在茶叶涨价，她们家的收入也比往年有所提高。每次采茶回来，康蛇都要将茶叶倒如锅里进行杀青。

　　记者：“你这个炒出来就卖吗？”

　　康蛇：“要是要卖，但是还是要留一下，看一下这个市场，如果价钱不是我们想象的那样高，就不卖。”

　　在康蛇的家里，记者发现了许多储存的茶叶。

　　记者：“有多少斤？”

　　康蛇：“有三四百公斤。”

　　记者：“那为什么不卖呢？”

　　康蛇：“因为人家说会涨价，所以暂时先留着吧。”

　　记者：“如果以后真的跌了怎么办？”

　　康蛇：“我也不知道。”

曾经当过勐海县茶叶办公室主任的曾云荣告诉记者，目前现在勐海县每年产春茶5000吨，而现在存在中间商仓库里的，也是一个不小的数量。

　　记者：“现在据你估计中间商存的茶叶有多少？”

　　曾云荣：“估计勐海1500到2000吨左右。”

　　那么，究竟是什么原因使勐海县今年普洱茶的原料价格，涨幅如此之大呢？曾云荣：“今年（炒家）通过成品茶的炒作以后，大量获取利润效益以后转入原料收购的炒作。”

　　在勐海县，记者看到，大小的普洱茶生产厂家，遍地开花，许多地方，一家挨着一家，据了解，由于目前普洱茶价格的不断攀升，并且生产用的工艺设施，并不复杂，因此目前已有以前的10多家加工企业发展到123家。

　　岩公告诉记者，目前勐海县一年能生产毛茶1万1千吨，而实际上勐海县100多家工厂实际需要毛茶3万吨以上，近2万吨的缺口，自然加剧了企业间对原料的竞争。因此，今年的普洱茶原料的上涨，也在情理之中。调查中，记者了解到，针对目前炒作普洱茶的现象，国家要制定一个普洱茶的统一标准，防止各种良莠不齐的普洱茶进入市场，参与炒作。

　　另一方面，针对普洱茶加工企业遍地开花，抢夺原料，哄抬价格的现象，要在建厂规模，资金上，提高准入标准，关小厂，建大厂。从根本上制止炒作原料价格的现象。

News: Guang Zhou Tea Market is full of faked Pu-erh

According to recent news, a recent investigation by Yunnan Tea Business Association and Pu-erh County reveals that Guang Zhou Tea Market is full of faked Pu-erh. Yuntong Ding, vice president of Yunnan Tea Business Association, even believes that most of Pu-erh that local consumers bought in Guang Zhou is faked. According to Yuntong Ding, most Pu-erh sold in Guang Zhou is from Meng Hai and Pu-erh areas. Annual Pu-erh production of these two areas is only 3,000 tons. Given that the Southern Market sells 30,000 -40,000 tons of Pu-erh per year, it is obvious that most of Pu-erh sold there is faked. Weizhen He, vice president of Guang Zhou Tea Industry Association, admitted that there are faked Pu-erh in Guang Zhou, but disagreed with the numbers. Yunnan is applying for “Pu-erh Tea” mark similar to what Zhe Jiang did to protect Long Jing tea.

Of All the Tea in China, 'Puer' is the Hottest

Source: Dow Jones Newswires
02/10/2007

Zhuhai, Oct. 2 - In this booming economy, the latest investment fad has everything to do with the price of tea in China.

More precisely, it has to do with the price of puer.

A type of tea commonly pressed into Frisbee-shaped cakes, puer (pronounced "poo-ahr"), was long the domain of a small group of tea collectors. Earlier this year, speculators discovered the tea, driving up its value.

Puer, with a medicinal flavor and smoky aftertaste, improves with age unlike other teas that grow stale. Sellers claim it aids weight loss and lowers blood pressure.

The price of one of the hottest varieties of puer soared to nearly $35-a-cake this past April, seven times the $5-a-cake value just three years ago. Today, a cake of puer sells for nearly $16, a 60% backslide from the peak, fueling fears of a crash.

Puer's popularity reflects how China, awash in cash and slim on investment outlets, is primed for speculation of even the most ordinary -- or unexpected -- assets.

The puer boom spurred 45-year-old Yunnan native Zhang Bing to open a puer exchange in June to help traders find willing buyers and sellers. The exchange, lined with shelves of puer cakes, doubles as a meeting place for a puer club Mr. Zhang started last month.

"It's just like stocks," said Mr. Zhang, eyeing the latest puer price fluctuations on a flat-screen TV mounted by the doorway of the new exchange.

Such efforts are frowned upon by collector Bai Shuiqing, 52, who is so well-known in the industry that his autograph appears on commemorative cakes of puer. Mr. Bai says he already has the "guanxi," or connections, to sell his tea.

Mr. Bai is reluctant to talk about the value of his puer, saying he collects it for its taste, not its monetary value. Still, he estimates his 56 cakes of 100-year-old puer are worth about $640,000. He has two 150-year-old cakes whose value he declines to discuss. Last year, Mr. Bai started selling hand-selected cakes of puer marketed under his name.

At his vast tea warehouse in Hong Kong, Mr. Bai picked up a small piece of the tea, broken from its original cake, and placed it in an earthen teapot engraved with his name. He poured hot water in to rinse the leaves, discarding the first infusion, in what is called "awakening" the tea, and poured the second into a small, clear serving pot.

"Smell this," he said, beaming, and held out the steaming pitcher of clear brandy-colored liquid, a hue indicative of well-aged puer. "This is the best tea in the world."

Mr. Bai says he can divine the age of his puer by taste alone. Still, he keeps the authentication papers for aged cakes carefully sealed in plastic.

Like wine, puer is judged by vintage. At the top of the scale are 150-year-old cakes that can fetch more than $13,000. Newly minted cakes -- which taste bitter and strong compared with aged ones -- range from $13 to $25. Ideally, puer should be stored in airy, humidity-controlled rooms, away from sun and pungent odors that might penetrate the leaves.

Puer, once a gift for emperors, was long relatively unknown in mainland China. Even in Yunnan, where the tea is cultivated, locals preferred plain old green and black tea.

But puer's popularity in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Guangzhou trickled to the mainland around 2004, stirring interest among consumers. Sensing a tourism peg, the local Yunnan government in 2005 sponsored an unusual publicity campaign for the tea in a modern-day version of the caravans that once plied trade routes to Beijing.

The caravans were stocked with puer from Yunnan tea companies that co-sponsored the event. The procession made promotional stops in major cities along the route to the capital. The voyage was broadcast on TV, anchored by Zhang Guoli, a famous actor best known for his role as Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the era from which puer dates.

Puer's popularity skyrocketed, and the elite crowd of puer connoisseurs was joined by newcomers who possess neither their expertise nor their devotion to it. A 150-year-old cake of puer went on a promotional tour of the country in March, starting from the Forbidden City in Beijing. It arrived in Yunnan province later that month in the city of Simao, which had changed its name to Puer to help promote tea sales. The tour was sponsored by the city's government, which billed it as a homecoming for the tea.

The Yunnan government recently named puer one of the region's 10 prized cultural resources. In Beijing, puer cakes were marketed as a replacement for traditional moon cakes during the recent mid-autumn festival. Puer is cropping up in restaurants, which display prized vintages like a wine list. Exclusive clubs are opening in Beijing and Guangdong, where the rich gather to drink the tea and learn about its history.

Businessmen armed with cash were elbowing for puer by the case (each case contains 84 cakes). Tea leaves are being hoarded. It used to take weeks for the first batch of puer to sell out, according to Scott Wilson, a tea seller based in Kunming. This year, by the time it arrived in town, the entire stock was sold out.

Mainland Chinese tourists, toting magazines that chart the value of name-brand puers, visited Hong Kong tea shops to buy out entire stocks of recommended tea, says Henry Yeung, managing director of Sunsing Tea House in Hong Kong.

"They don't know anything about tea," sniffs Mr. Yeung, 30. Like others in the old-school puer crowd, he says novices, clueless about how to select and store quality puer, are likely to be duped by fakes.

Counterfeiters have printed knockoffs of popular labels, prompting one maker, Menghai Tea Factory, to employ Chinese money-printing technology to make its wrappers hard to duplicate. The company also set up a hotline for tipsters and established an investigative team to track suspects.

Other factories have cut production of regular green and black tea. Farmers are mixing in lower-quality leaves to puer harvests to artificially boost production. Long-time puer drinkers such as Mr. Yeung turn up their noses at the 2007 vintage, which they say is poor quality.

The boom has set off a wave of conspiracy theories on how it began. Some distributors whisper it started after one company withheld supplies to create the illusion of demand. Others posit that greedy businessmen hired imposters to bid up prices on their stocks of puer.

Tea industry officials fret about a crash. Still, current values are more than double what they were a year ago.

Farmers could be among the hardest-hit from a bust. Industry watchers say that thanks to puer, this year marks the first time tea farmers -- many of whom are ethnic minorities living on the southern Chinese border -- have made a livable wage. The broad-leaf trees that produce puer take three years to mature, meaning farmers who have invested in tea trees are gambling that prices will stay high.

Collectors like Barry Tam aren't worried. This year, the 33-year-old who lives in Hong Kong bought a 100-year-old puer cake for about $13,000 and says he sold it six months later for double that. If the bottom should fall out of the puer market, reasons Mr. Tam, "even if I cannot sell it, I'll drink it."

马来西亚商人与云南普洱茶的亲密接触

专题报道　　加入时间：2007-3-20 16:25:50

2006年元月，在云南省贸促会的帮助和努力下，在马来西亚以经营中国商品而闻名的企业海鸥集团对云南进行了为期四天的商务考察。

据本次考察团团长，海鸥集团董事经理陈凯希介绍，海鸥集团此次共邀请了130多家马来西亚的经销商来昆明。考察团除旅游考察外，还有一个重要目的：认识和了解普洱茶。可以说，普洱茶在海外华人心目中已占据重要位置，但马来西亚主流社会对其了解还不多。 

据悉，此次访滇的马来西亚商团，是近年来规模最大的一个。该商团于元月15日到达昆明，于18日离开，除到石林、大观楼等景区景点参观外，还重点到云南农业大学参加了普洱茶说明会。陈凯希说，此次来滇的马来西亚经销商，绝大部分是马来族。如果他们能认可普洱茶，当地主流社会乃至整个南洋就容易接受这种云南名牌产品。

　 事实上，陈凯希的海鸥集团所做的生意，就是在马来西亚以及整个东盟地区销售中国货。“海鸥是马来西亚最大的中国产品贸易企业。”随团采访的马来西亚星洲日报记者陈城周说。而目前，海鸥集团在马来西亚经营的云南产品主要有云南白药、云南红酒、云南普洱茶和云南螺旋藻。 

云南省对此次马来商人的考察非常重视，元月17日晚，云南省省长助理汤黎路在昆明会见了马来西亚海欧集团董事经理陈凯希率领的马来西亚企业界考察团一行。汤黎路代表云南省政府对马来西亚客人表示欢迎。汤黎路说，中国与马来西亚经贸关系源远流长，海欧集团30年来致力于在马来西亚推销中国商品，尤其是名、特、优、精产品，希望你们通过考察，增强在马来西亚拓展云南产品的信心，推动双方在经贸领域的合作。陈凯希表示，希望通过此次考察进一步增进了解、扩大交往，促进合作。

Newslinks (07.09.2006)

Ignored ants ruin man's assets
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-07 08:51

A Shenzhen resident surnamed Chen recently regretted refusing to spend a little money to get rid of white ants, after they seriously damaged more than 100 cake-shaped teas that had been preserved for more than 20 years.

Chen, a tea businessman, purchased the special cake-shaped Pu'er teas from Southwest China's Yunnan Province two decades ago and stored them at home to wait for better prices.

But this week, he found that all the teas had been seriously damaged by the ants. Chen said the direct economic loss was more than 1 million yuan (US$125,000).

Southern Metropolis News

Newslinks (20.02.2008)

Wednesday February 20, 2008

Liquid asset
Like wine, pu-er tea ages well and the more mature the tea, the higher its price..

AT THE Pek Sin Choon tea company in Singapore’s Chinatown, a golden gift box with floral motifs is brought out.

The round, burnt-looking object inside is carefully taken out for a closer look.

The untrained eye can’t tell what it is. But show it to a tea collector and his heart will beat faster.

That is because the undistinguished looking thing is a valuable disc of pu-er tea from the 1930s. It has been in the family of Peh Ching Her, 39, the shop’s marketing manager, for many decades.

Chinese tea is not just a beverage to sip along with dim sumand bak kut teh. Pu-er tea, in particular, can be an investment.

He has more than 10 years’ experience dealing with tea and says he is not sure how his family got hold of it.

The pu-er is considered a rarity and is worth a fortune – about S$150,000 (RM345,000) he estimates – although he also adds that “it is definitely not for sale”.

The fragile disc is carefully returned to the box. If broken, it loses its value.

If you think Chinese tea is just a beverage to sip along with dim sum, think again. Pu-er tea, in particular, is seen as an investment.

Named after the Pu-er county in Yunnan province, China, the tea has a woody taste and is dark golden red in colour. It comes in various forms: disc-shaped cha bing or tea cakes, hump-shaped lumps or brick-like blocks. It is usually wrapped with paper and the name of the tea and date of manufacture stamped on it.

Because it is fermented, pu-er ages well, unlike other teas such as jasmine which lose their fragrance with time.

Carrie Chen, 38, owner of Tea Bone Zen Mind, a 14-year-old tea house in Seah Street, says the taste of pu-er gets milder with age, and the colour of the tea becomes more “shiny”.

Another tea master, Chen Lian Wei, 24, from Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant in Beach Road, adds that the taste and aroma of the tea improves as it matures, contributing to its value.

On the health front, aged pu-er is said to help lower high blood pressure and cholesterol, and some believe it can help with weight loss.

It’s no wonder then that pu-er is a collectible, and people can make a tidy sum from collecting discs of the tea.

In 2002, Peh was selling a disc of pu-er for S$6. He says that same disc is worth S$60 (RM138) today, as the tea has aged.

Similarly, Chen says a 20-year-old pu-er can be worth three times more than 10-year-old pu-er, which is selling for about S$80 (RM184) for a 250g disc.

Pu-er tea can last a long time, a century or more. The oldest pu-er is supposedly 200 years old and is considered an artefact.

Peh says whether or not collectors drink their aged pu-er depends on two factors.

“If they have more than a piece, and if they can afford it, they will drink it,” he says. Otherwise, most collectors tend to keep their pieces.

There are more than 10 grades of pu-er tea and the ones usually drunk now are those made during the 1980s.

As a rough guide, Si Chuan Dou Hua’s Chen says pu-er aged 30 years and above are stored and not drunk as they are expensive.

He says people began investing in the tea about 20 years ago in Taiwan. Then, goods could not be directly imported from China to Taiwan for political reasons.

“As such, traders could only bring in small quantities of pu-er from China to Taiwan through Hong Kong, making it more valuable,” he says.

In Singapore, pu-er collecting began in the mid-1990s. The tea experts say collectors here are mostly businessmen who prefer to keep a low profile, and collect only tea that is at least 30 years old.

But younger people are catching onto the trend, buying younger teas, he says.

The good news is you don’t have to be filthy rich to invest in pu-er. The younger teas cost between S$12 (RM27.60) and S$100 (RM230) a disc, depending on their quality.

Collectors should store them in a dark, dry and cool place, and be patient.

“You can buy pu-er when it is young and inexpensive, and sell it for a high price when it matures over time,” says Chen. – The Straits Times, Singapore / Asia News Network

Newslinks (24.08.2007)

The price spiral of Pu'er tea

2007-08-24 China Economic Net

By Yang Qingxin, Zhou Bin

In the first half of 2007, the dealers and producers of Pu'er tea once experienced the "switchback."

The Yunnan spring tea continuously increased from about RMB20 or 30 yuan per kilogram at the beginning of 2007 to RMB60 to 70 yuan universally. The "Pu'er Seven Cake Tea" costing around RMB30 yuan was priced at RMB300 yuan to RMB500 yuan. From this May, the price began to drop, now the "Pu'er Seven Cake Tea" priced at RMB500 yuan can hardly be sold out.

Since 2000, Yunnan Pu'er tea gradually became popular in China, together with the price increased successively. Is the Pu'er Tea price empty high?

From 2005, some people worried that the Pu'er Tea price was abnormally high; some tea plants thought the price was too high, and did not dare to purchase. Unexpectedly, the tea price remained high in 2006. In the spring tea-picking period of 2007, the tea price did not drop, but rapidly increased by one time instead in comparison with that of 2006. The purchase price of famous spring teas of the six major tea mountains in Yunnan even astoundingly increased to about one thousand of RMB per kilogram.

In the harvest season of spring tea in 2007, the reporter visited Lincang -- one of the producing areas of big-leaf teas in Yunnan. At the time, Lincang was holding the 2007 Lincang Tea Culture Fair; the trading market was crowded with people conducting business busily.

But after May, the Pu'er Tea price began to drop. The "wind vane" of Pu'er Tea -- Pu'er Seven Cake Tea 7542 (Item No.) of Menghai Tea Plant continuously declined from RMB 22,000 yuan per piece in the middle March to around RMB8, 500 yuan in July 25th. It is learned that the varieties suffered serious decline in price recently were mainly the famous brands taking 70 percent market share, e.g. Dayi, Xiaguan and Zhongcha, the second-class brands were not influenced too much.

Mr. Liu Qun, the General Manager of Yunnan Mingzhong Tea Co., Ltd., told us that the market price exerted little influence to second-line enterprises. Under the precondition of ensured quality, the enterprise may reduce cost by blending technology and produce products accepted by the market. In addition, tea production and sales are of seasonal characteristics, the high season lasts from each October to the next April, it is normal that the spring tea (from the Spring Festival to April 25th) is more expensive than the rain water tea (after May).

Pu'er Tea is old crude tea or processed tea made from big-leaf sundried green tea after pile-fermentation, aging, drying and molding processes. The processed tea after artificial pile-fermentation, aging, drying and molding usually is about 40 percent higher than the crude tea in the year in terms of cost.

Professor Shao Wanfang, the President of the Tea School of Yunnan University of Agriculture introduced the three main characteristics of Pu'er Tea: First is its unique producing area -- the drainage area of Lancangjiang River in Yunnan; Second is the unique raw material -- the big-leaf sundried green tea in Yunnan, which generates large amount of beneficial bio-enzyme in fermentation; Third is the unique processing technology. Usually mature Pu'er Tea should undergo several processes as de-enzyming, twisting, drying and pile-fermentation. Across China, only the Yunnan processed Pu'er Tea adopts such producing technology.

What is the reasonable price interval of Pu'er Tea?

Mr. Liu Qun said the Pu'er Tea price differentiated because of different producing area, the key factor was the quality, for example, the first spring tea was priced at RMB120 yuan per kilogram on Bulang Mountain, Xishuangbanna in the fastigium this year, now it had dropped to RMB100 yuan per kilogram, but the relevant costs of tea production kept increasing.

Pu'er Tea is an excellent variety among all kinds of teas. The successively increased price is attributed to its unique functions. Mr. Gu Hangqi, the General Manager of Kunming Pulan Hexiang Tea Co., Ltd., believed that there were some rationalities for Pu'er Tea to increase price, but the increase should be within a reasonable scope. From another perspective, the price increase of Pu'er Tea in recent years is attributed to the long-term underestimation of its actual value. By 2000, the famous teas as West Lake dragon well, Anxi Tiekwan-yin, Dongting Lake Biluochun have broken RMB 1,000 per kilogram, but the Pu'er Tea was priced at RMB10 yuan to RMB20 yuan per kilogram only. Its special producing area and unique processing technology determined its difference from other teas; its incomparable health care function, the character of more time more spicy and profound historical and cultural connotation determined its investment value. Green tea can only embody its maximum value in the first year, in the next year things will be different, but Pu'er Tea is totally the contrary. Therefore, Mr. Gu Hangqi believed that top-quality Pu'er Tea could continue to increase in terms of price from long-term perspective, but this increase should be stable. Considering the storage and other factors, the increase rate better remained around 20 percent each year in a period.

The idea of stable price increase was accepted by some tea businessman and tea sippers from Kunming Kangle Tea House. During the interview, some relevant personnel said that it was very astonishing that the price of new tea increased by several times in 2007 in comparison with the sales in previous years, but vicious publication of Pu'er Tea was desirable.

Mr. Yang Shanxi, the Director of Yunnan Provincial Tea Office said that the price fluctuation in the first half of 2007 could be attributed to the factor of season, but mainly the deliberate publication by the dealers. At present, the value return is a necessity of market adjustment. Mr. Yang said, "Pu'er Tea is a kind of popular drink, which cannot be promoted as a kind of investment." He revealed that Pu'er Tea was not scarce commodity, and the yield of Yunnan had reached around 80,000 tons in 2006. From now on, Yunnan Province would give priority to support the 36 counties with annual tea output above 500 tons, accelerate the planning and construction of modern tea garden and promote organic and pollution-free production technology, as well as strictly restrict the use of fertilizer and pesticide. By 2010, the pollution-free tea gardens will reach 3.5 million mu.

Newslinks (27.06.2007)

The bubble bursts for Pu'er tea

By Olivia Chung, 27 June 2007, Online Asia Times

HONG KONG - Because of "excessive liquidity", or too much cash in circulation and in people's hands, not only stocks and housing but some unusual commodities can easily become items for speculation in today's China. 

Pu'er tea, a fully fermented variety made from sun-dried leaves, has taken a roller-coaster ride since the beginning of this year. 

Pu'er tea is reputed to help people lose weight. Some people believe it can even prevent and cure cancer. 

Many kinds of Chinese tea are best for consumption when they are fresh. Pu'er tea is different. The longer is it properly stored, the better its quality and taste (and supposedly its curative properties). Hence the price of older Pu'er is higher than the fresh ones. Such features make Pu'er a potential item for speculation. 

The popularity in Pu'er tea has been on the rise in China since 2004, and the prices grew steadily until last year, with annual increases of 30%. 

"Since the beginning of this year, the price of Pu'er has soared, reaching its peak in May at 20 times higher than last year's price. In terms of returns, Pu'er is a better investment than stocks or gold, isn't it?" a tea collector in Guangzhou said. 

"In the first four months of this year, the price of Pu'er rose three- to fourfold. That included fresh Pu'er that was marketed only last October; its price grew by 80%, to 1,600 yuan per kilogram from 900 yuan," the man said. "So although the prices of the Pu'er tea dropped suddenly early this month, many still believe it's only a matter of time before interest in the tea becomes stronger again." 

Wu Xirui, secretary general of the Chinese Tea Circulation Association, said the soaring prices of Pu'er tea, with a focus on such brands as Dayi, Haihe and Xiaguan, are a result of rampant speculation. 

"The main speculators are dealers from Guangzhou and Beijing. Neither are tea production areas but they have large tea wholesale markets," he said. 

Huang Jianzhang, secretary general of the tea culture research committee of the Guangdong Culture Study Group, said the average price of Pu'er soared to 800 yuan (US$105) per kilogram now from 8 yuan in 2004, as tea producers and merchants have bought up large stocks and are hoarding them, giving a false impression of a shortage to push up the prices. 

"Some speculators inflate prices by placing dummy bids and organizing promotional events like the selection of a 'tea king' to bang the drum for the potential high value of Pu'er tea. Immediately after real buyers arrive, the sellers will sell out," he said. "Just like the market manipulators on the stock market, tea speculators 'stir-fry' the tea by buying and selling it in a very short period." 

Industry experts also attributed the skyrocketing price to excessive liquidity, one of the key factors that have supported a bull run in China's stock and housing markets. 

When people have too much money with too few few investment channels and are feeling the pressure of rising living costs, people hope to make quick profits by speculating on Pu'er. 

Meanwhile, the skyrocketing price has caused people chasing short-term profits to produce more and more Pu'er, most of which is of low quality. 

In Yunnan province, the major producer of Pu'er tea, more than 3,000 enterprises are producing the tea, but only 59 have quality safety certificates issued by the government. Some small individually owned enterprises producing low-quality tea sell fake brands. 

The Pu'er craze is cause for concern in the tea industry. Wang Qing, vice chairman of the Chinese Tea Circulation Association, said a bubble has formed in the Pu'er market. The tea industry will formulate a code of self-discipline for the industry to guide the market by the end of this month, he said. 

Meanwhile, the soaring prices benefit the tea industrial chain, in which farmers can make a gross profit of 20%, tea factories can make 15% and dealers 100-200%, said Xi Zixiang, vice chairman of International Pu'er Tea Association. 

But he said tea shops might be the biggest potential victims of the rampant speculation. 

"Tea shops are like small investors who usually face the biggest investment risks in the speculative boom since their customers are tea drinkers, most of whom are price-sensitive, and there are a variety of choices for them to choose," he said. 

What goes up must come down, and this truism applies to tea. The Pu'er market saw its price drop 10-50% this month. 

A shop owner named Gao on Boyuan Road in Guangzhou complained that after her shop bought a carton of Pu'er tea for 3,000 yuan last month, its price dropped by several hundred yuan in slightly more than 30 days. 

Among the victims was a middle-aged man surnamed Zhang, who spent 400,000 yuan on Pu'er tea early last month. "The price went up a bit after a brief fall in mid-May. Then the prices kept going down. Now the stock is worth only 288,000 yuan," he said. 

"Never, ever believe any of the so-called insiders. One has to equip himself with knowledge about the tea before making an investment. Otherwise, someone like me is forced to be a collector," he said. 

In this tea-market mini-crash, the hardest-hit area is Guangzhou, where speculation on Pu'er tea outstripped stocks and property in the past four months. 

A senior manager surnamed Chen at a Guangzhou tea-trading company said there is a price but no buyers in the Pu'er tea market now. 

"The crash was caused by tea shops that began buying up large stocks estimated to reach more than 100,000 tonnes and hoarding them. That put part of them out in the market due to cash-flow problems," she said. 

"Besides, the stock market has recouped the losses during the sharp correction starting late May after the central government tripled the tax on shares transactions. Thus liquidity is flowing back into the stock market, so the price of Pu'er started to fall," she said. 

Others said some dealers who have faced the increasing costs put their stocks back on the market to protest the unreasonable price rise. 

Newslinks (24.06.2007)

Tea in China costs six times as much as gold

By David Eimer in Beijing

Last Updated: 12:30AM BST 24/06/2007

China's stock market may be booming and its house prices soaring, but the hottest investment in the country today comes in the shape of a small, compressed cake that smells vaguely earthy and is wrapped in paper.

Pu'er tea, a strong, aromatic brew from the remote south-western province of Yunnan, has long been prized in China for its medicinal qualities. Now, instead of drinking it, millions of Chinese are hoarding it after the price jumped 50 per cent last year.

Like fine wine, Pu'er tea is considered to improve as it ages. In 2005, 500g of 64-year-old Pu'er tea sold at auction for one million yuan (£66,300) - making it six times more expensive than gold.

The price has been rising since 2003, when investors in southern China and Hong Kong realised that, with a limited amount of tea grown each year, they could drive up its price by storing the tea rather than selling it.

Three weeks ago, an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale hit the Pu'er tea-growing region, prompting fears of a shortage and causing a sharp increase in the price of the most recently produced tea - which, because of the lengthy fermentation process, might have been harvested up to two years ago.

At the Maliandao Tea Market in south-west Beijing, Pu'er is sold in 350g cakes which the vendors handle as gingerly as if they were rare antiques.

"The price of new tea has gone up 30 to 50 per cent since the earthquake," said Liu Na of the Che Yun Shan Tea Company.

A cake of two-year-old Ye Sheng Gucha tea costs 260 yuan (about £18), while the 13-year-old tea sells for 1,800 yuan. "It'll double in price in two years," said Mrs Liu.

Such returns are irresistible to a people in the grip of a speculating frenzy. Traditionally, the Chinese are savers, not spenders. But in April and May savings declined for the first time in four years, according to the People's Bank of China, as people sought to cash in on the stock and property markets.

Pu'er tea is seen by some as an even more attractive option.

"You don't have to pay tax when you sell your Pu'er tea," said Mrs Liu.

The red-coloured tea has a distinctive taste, much stronger than green tea. In the Huangshan Feng Tea Shop, the owner, Zhang Sheng Qin, held up a glass and swirled it around. "Good Pu'er tea should be transparent," she said.

"It's good for people who want to lose weight," she added. "Are there a lot of fat people in England? Maybe we can do some business."

Newslinks (12.09.2006)

The rewards of a 'drinkable antique'

By Ann Mah Published: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2006, International Herald Tribune

BEIJING: Five years ago, Yang Chunyan had never tasted pu'er tea. But after just one sip of the smooth, dark brew, the Beijing native was hooked. Now, Yang has opened the Aromatic Pu'er Tea House, a tiny shop located on Gulou Dong Dajie, a busy street in the center of town. "Lots of people are interested," she said. "In Beijing, pu'er tea is starting to become a trend."

Although tea drinking has been part of Chinese culture for 3,000 years, the capital's connoisseurs have only recently developed a craze for pu'er, a special aged tea indigenous to Yunnan Province in the southwest. Like vintage wine, pu'er, which is stored in compressed cakes, mellows over time, and its value appreciates. In China's supercharged economy, where no investment opportunity goes unnoticed, pu'er's popularity has sparked a wave of collectors, many of whom see the tea as a worthy speculation.

"Tea never goes bad, so it's a good investment," said Ji Xiaofeng, who manages a stall at Maliandao, Beijing's wholesale tea market. Last year, 500 grams of tea, or about 17 ½ ounces, preserved since the 1940s sold at auction for 1 million yuan, or about $125,000, he said. More modest investors can expect new tea, which sells for about 2,000 yuan per kilo, to double in value in five years.

"If you invest in the stock market, you might lose every penny. But if you invest in pu'er, it will only go up," Yang Chang, a pu'er tea collector based in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, said in a telephone interview. "This is a good, low-risk way to earn money."

Prized for its earthy, rich flavor, pu'er is a large-leafed tea gathered from centuries-old trees that thrive in Yunnan Province's changeable climate and acidic soil. After the leaves are harvested, they undergo a traditional process of compression and fermentation, which brings out the tea's particular qualities. "It has a special mildewy scent," said Shi Zongkai, a Tsinghua University professor and pu'er tea enthusiast. Some believe this mildew, which accumulates as the tea ferments, has unique health benefits, including weight loss, he added.

Chang, who has collected pu'er for more than 30 years, has spent two decades researching the tea's purported medicinal properties at the Yunnan Kunming Miao Xiang Research Center.

His studies examine the effects pu'er may have on lowering cholesterol and preventing cancer. "This is my life's work," he said. Yang said these perceived medicinal qualities have contributed to pu'er's recent increased popularity. Pu'er has long been celebrated as a folk remedy, he said, adding, "Now, people care more about their health than ever before."

Though pu'er tea collectors abound in southern China, particularly Hong Kong, Taiwan and Yunnan, tea companies have only recently started to promote their product to northern Chinese consumers. Four years ago, the Yunnan provincial government sponsored a pu'er advertising campaign in the capital to promote the brew's health benefits.

Last year, Zhang Guoli, a popular Chinese actor and director, arranged for a horse caravan to travel a historic route from Yunnan to Beijing, while carrying a precious load of tea. The arduous six-month journey, which gave the tea time to ferment in the traditional manner, was widely covered in the local media. "It really introduced pu'er tea to most Beijingers," said Yang Chunyan, the tea house owner.

Pu'er's new popularity has had an impact at Beijing's Maliandao tea street market, where a two-story building filled with stalls dedicated solely to pu'er opened last year.

In another neighborhood, Yang Chunyan's pu'er tea shop has seen a small but steady flow of customers since it opened in April, and she is confident that people are becoming more interested in her product. "Southerners have collected pu'er for 20, 30 years, but many northerners still don't understand it," she said. She offers tea tastings to novice enthusiasts, educating them on the characteristics of fine leaves. "Pu'er is a drinkable antique," she said. "I love the culture of this tea, and I am thrilled to introduce it to others."

Shi, who discovered pu'er during a two-year stint working in Yunnan Province, enjoys comparing tea from different years of production. "Pu'er from the '70s, '80s, '90s, they all taste different," he said. "It's like comparing wines from France, California, Australia."

Yang Chunyan is one connoisseur who does not collect the tea, despite her passion for it. "I just like the taste," she said. "Collecting it is too expensive."

From his stall at the wholesale tea market, Ji Xiaofeng said that pu'er prices have skyrocketed in recent years. "If you have money, you can participate in the auctions," he said. "But recently, it's been more difficult to find aged tea, and there have been fewer pu'er auctions."

Chunyan agreed. "Auctions are very scarce these days," she said. "And the people who participate are rarely pu'er experts. I don't even know if they drink the tea."

For some, however, aged pu'er is not the best. Yang Chang, who is known as a pu'er expert, prefers young tea - about two or three years old - as it is "the best for your health," he said. "Tea that is 20, 30, 40 years old has lost all of its valuable elements," he added. "Besides, it's becoming too hard to find."

In fact, the recent demand for aged pu'er has led to an increase in fake tea - pirated pu'er - that some purveyors try to pass off as vintage. Tea producers have developed a way to accelerate the fermentation process, which results in a weak-flavored brew, Shi said. "Most people prefer naturally fermented tea, and the prices reflect this,' he said.

It is a combination of flavor and culture that keeps pu'er lovers brewing fresh pots of tea. "I like the taste, the health benefits, the cultural experience of drinking it," Shi said. "When I make a cup of pu'er, it reminds me of my time in Yunnan Province. I can taste the history of the tea, the age of it. This experience is not possible with any other kind of tea."

Newslinks (21.04.2008)

A Tea From the Jungle Enriches a Placid Village

by Thomas Fuller 

published April 21, 2008 The New York Times

PU’ER, China — The sky is nearly cloudless, the breeze is bracing, and the tea plantation where Yao Kunxue works resembles a giant green amphitheater absorbing the last rays of a setting sun.

The tea itself? No thanks, he says. He grows it — what he calls industrial tea — but he does not drink it.

The rolling hills of China’s southern Yunnan Province are the birthplace of tea, anthropologists say, the first area where humans figured out that eating tea leaves or brewing a cup could be pleasant. Today tea farmers preside over large plantations, but they want their tea the way their forebears consumed it: brewed from wild leaves, and preferably from ancient trees in the jungle.

“It has a fragrant smell,” Mr. Yao said of his favorite, harvested from trees at least a century old. “And when you swallow there’s a sweet aftertaste.”

From relative obscurity a few decades ago, tea from Yunnan, especially Pu’er, has become a fashionable, must-have variety in the tea shops of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. Surging demand for Pu’er — often advertised as wild tea even if it is from the plantations — has made farmers here rich and encouraged entrepreneurs to carve out more plantations from jungle-covered hillsides.

Ninety percent of the 23,000 tons of Pu’er tea produced last year was grown on plantations, officials say. Local residents seem more than happy to send it to distant locales. They complain about its hard edges — too bitter — and the chemicals that are regularly sprayed on the plants to repel bugs, viruses and fungus.

“The pesticides come through in the taste,” Mr. Yao said.

Here, tea has never been something bought at the market; it grows in the backyard, like blueberries in the woods of Maine.

Domesticated tea plants are trimmed into hedges to make harvesting easier. In the wild, they grow to resemble the old and gnarled olive trees of the Mediterranean but with bigger and more abundant leaves.

Peng Zhe, deputy secretary general of the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, a tea-growing district here, compares the wild tea to fine vintages of Bordeaux or Burgundy.

“To appreciate Pu’er tea is similar to enjoying wine,” said Mr. Peng, who also leads the local tea promotion board. “You need to understand the different areas where tea grows. The fragrance is different from one mountain to the next.”

Jungle tea, as some here call the harvest from wild tea trees in more remote areas, has been picked by villagers for centuries, and in imperial times it was sent to the emperor. But only recently have the profits started rolling in for the wild-tea pickers, who have divided forests of tea trees along ancestral lines and are increasingly selling to larger concerns.

“Twenty years ago no one had the idea that tea could become so valuable,” said Chen Jinqiang, an official in Xishuangbanna.

A compressed disc of Pu’er tea that sold for 3 yuan, or about 40 cents, two decades ago now can easily go for 200 yuan, about $25, today, Mr. Chen said.

“People here always had enough to eat,” he said. “Now they have a lot of cash.”

In Manmai, a hilltop village a few dozen miles from China’s border with Myanmar, the wealth from the Pu’er tea boom is trickling down. The village headman, Zha Pagu, has never traveled more than 30 miles from his house during his 60-plus years (he said he could not remember his exact age), but his home now has a solar water heater, and his neighbors are upgrading their wood and thatch homes with modern building materials like tiles and concrete.

Until recently the village was accessible only by foot. A dirt road that winds up the mountain is now under construction, but the village remains relatively isolated.

Zha Ge, 19, a tea picker who like the other villagers is Lahu, a small ethnic minority here, said he had never met a foreigner before. But he understands the value of outsiders’ keen interest in his tea trees. Picking tea has generated enough cash to buy a 20-inch television, a motorcycle and a copy of his favorite foreign film, “First Blood,” the first in the Rambo series.

In March and April, the peak tea-plucking season, Mr. Zha Ge can make up to $1,000 a month, far more than what the factory workers in eastern Chinese cities make stitching blue jeans and assembling iPods.

Unlike those workers, who live in smog-choked cities with blackened, polluted waterways, the tea pickers here work among trees that overlook a pristine mountain range that would not look out of place in a Chinese scroll painting. In October, when the tea trees flower, the air is filled with the sweet aroma of tea blossoms. “It smells just like honey,” Mr. Zha Ge said.

Teenage girls are the most sought-after tea pickers — their fingers move more quickly, local residents say — and they can harvest as much as 110 pounds of tea leaves a day.

Yet for many families in the remote reaches of Yunnan, tea-picking remains outside the realm of commerce. It is so tightly intertwined with their daily lives that it is a routine household chore, like putting the laundry out to dry.

Yue Ye, 38, the mother of two teenagers in Chui Hao, a village inhabited by members of the Dai ethnic group, says children begin drinking tea when they are 3 to 5 years old. Families consume it first thing in the morning, after lunch, after dinner and late in the evening.

They pick the tea from ancient trees atop a hill near the village. “The people who planted them are long dead,” Ms. Yue said.

She cooks the leaves in a wok, “massages” them by hand and leaves them in the sun for a day.

Tea from Pu’er was popular around the region in ancient times: historians describe “horse tea trails” that radiated from Pu’er, the main trading center for the tea, into northern and eastern China, Tibet and beyond.

The recent surge in popularity is attributed to newly affluent, health-conscious Chinese who believe that Pu’er tea lowers cholesterol, cures hangovers, helps fortify teeth and trims away fat.

Shops in Beijing or Shanghai advertise that their Pu’er tea has been aged for several decades, which is said to give the tea a more mellow taste. But as with many things in China it is hard to tell the real from the counterfeit.

Mr. Chen, the government official, said he would be very wary of claims that tea has been aged more than 10 years. “Most of it is fake, I think,” he said.

Nopporn Phasaphong, a tea trader in Bangkok whose family has been in the business for three generations and who travels regularly to Pu’er, says she, too, is skeptical about the authenticity of much of what is labeled jungle tea from Pu’er. Very little genuine jungle tea is on the market, she says. “Everyone who sells it will tell you it comes from old trees,” she said. “But it’s like buying rubies. You have to know something about it.”

Mr. Yao says he can taste the difference between teas grown on plantations and those from wild trees. But in what may be a metaphor for freewheeling China today, he acknowledges that nonconnoisseurs often get hoodwinked.

“If you don’t know Pu’er tea,” he said, “people will cheat you.”