Hong Kong - Dropping By At Lau Yu Fat Teashop

I was on a business trip in Hong Kong last week and I set aside half a day for Chinese tea.  I dropped by at Lau Yu Fat teashop.  This teashop is very convenient to visit as it sits on top of Lok Fu train stop (subway) in a shopping mall.  

Mr Lau Senior was in the shop and I had a wonderful tea sampling session with him.  This time he explained in detail and allowed me to sample the various traditional Hong Kong stored pu erh.  He explained that many new pu erh tea drinkers may think or assumed that such stored tea are 'old' tea due to its taste but the tea may be only less than 10 years old.  He remarked it was important to be able to distinguished such teas, as it will help a tea drinker in choosing his tea.

Hong Kong storage pu erh is pu erh tea stored in Hong Kong tea warehouses.  These warehouses would usually have higher humidity levels, as these warehouses are located in the Hong Kong countryside.  Pu erh tea stored at these places are not tempered in any way.  Its only the way that the tea is stored.  Mr Lau showed me pictures of his tea warehouse - it is very clean, and the tea are packed neatly in clean cardboard boxes on metal shelves.  

Hong Kong storage pu erh does taste like aged pu erh with an additional unique scent, something like damp wood.  This additional scent is very faint and will however dissipate within a year or two, when the tea is taken out of the warehouse and stored in the teashop.  

Lau Yu Fat Teashop is a fun place to visit; for me at least -  so many teas and tea accessories neatly arranged and labelled.  Mr Lau told me to purchase a Lin Ceramics  teapot (4th pix) and tells me that with extended use, pu erh tea brewed from this teapot would taste softer.  MasterCard time.