Glow Dayi Glow

Our Malaysian tea celebrity, Auhckw, bought an UV lamp and shone the light over his Menghai Dayi collection. Pix courtesy of auhckw; who had generously consented to share his findings with us.  The 1st 2 pix are '2010 pu erh while the 3rd pix is a '07.  The last 4 pix are '07, '08, '09 and '11 Dayi pu erh.  

This security sticker is a big deal for the Dayi tea collector.  There are, sadly, a high number of fake pu erh teas that are sold in the tea markets.  This is compounded that a majority of the fakes are Dayi brand of pu erh.  I myself, look at the security sticker, when I buy Dayi tea.  For me, I will examine the silver strips on the sticker and look out for the Chinese "大益" on the silver strip as a guide when I buy the tea.

Dayi in order to protect the customers from buying fakes decided a few years ago to affix security stickers.  Dayi, informed their dealers and customers the various features of these stickers like the silver strips, die-cut stickers and the stickers having glowing characteristics under a UV light.

So, are we to conclude, if the Dayi sticker does not glow.....its fake?  I do not know the answer.  Maybe I might write to Dayi for a clarification.

I would like to thank Auhckw for this interesting finding.  He had indicated that he will shed more light on this controversy soon.

One thing for sure, sales of UV lamps will surge a little.  You will see strange lights coming out from the Dayi tea collector's home in the next few weeks.  Glow Dayi Glow.