One of my most pleasant purchases during my visit to the Malaysia Cultural tea expo last month (link) was this ripe pu erh. Visitors to the expo could purchase this 1996 ripe pu erh for a price of 68RM (US$23) for a set of 3 tuos. Each tuo was 100g each so it seemed to be a good bargain. Yes, no sampling and you are buying blind.
Breaking up the tuo was a simple 1 minute procedure with a letter opener. I am happy to say that this tuo was one of the better ripe tea I had drank this year. Brewing the tea with a little bit more tea leaves resulted in a very aromatic and flavorful session. There were even an unusual hint of camphor and leather in this tea. I like. However, I discovered that a tea session of brewing this tuo could only get me 5-6 good infusions, leaving subsequent infusions very weak.
Christmas is 2 days away. To all my readers, Merry Christmas! Yes, I was a bit lazy this year and I did my Christmas shopping for my family, via the internet. Got something for myself too - from Japan and its tea related. Show you when it arrives, hopefully tomorrow.
I had just purchased a Chinese tea art scroll. I am not trained in art appreciation but I tend to buy those art pieces that appealed to me. Last year, I had purchased Japanese tea art scrolls (link) and had wanted to frame up these art pieces on my wall, something I had procrastinated. Perhaps the cost of framing such art scrolls is high enough to give me a reason to delay visiting the art framing company.
I bought this Chinese art scroll because it was 'tea' theme. As you will have observed from the pix (click the pix for a larger view), the depiction of a tea drinking session (suppose to be a tea competition) caught my eye. The seller told me that this was an old painting scroll done by Xiang Wen Yan. I had actually took this art scroll to my framers and my framing friend, told me that this scroll seem like an old woodblock print. I am totally new and have zero experience in such art pieces.......just happy its a 'tea' theme art piece. As this scroll measured more than 2 meters in length, the cost of framing this artwork was exorbitant....."%&*$#@#!!!!" (censored).....I feel better now.
This exhibition was held in Viva Home Mall from 29 Nov - 3 Dec 2013. Viva Home Mall is actually a shopping mall specializing in stores that provide furnishing needs for homes. This mall has an exhibition hall that is big enough for events like this Tea and Chinese Cultural Expo. The location of this mall is convenient and a LRT (subway) stop is located next to it making my travel to the tea expo very convenient and comfortable.
Yes, if are a regular reader of my tea blog, you will have noticed that this tea expo closely resembled previous Malaysian tea expos I had visited for the past 3 years. Most of the local tea shops and tea dealers are represented in this expo. The Xiaguan and Dayi booths were the main feature booths. I noted that there is a new Malaysian Chen Sheng Hao distributor which also had a booth there. Such tea fairs are important in Malaysia as the tea drinking population, collectors and speculators can gather and be updated on the tea scene in Malaysia. I was told that Dayi Tea Factory is taking up a bigger presence in Malaysia by opening a Dayi showroom In Malaysia. I will update my readers on this news when I get them.
There were also Chinese cultural events like a Chinese Chess competition for kids. Not very serious as you can observed from the pix, no chess clocks but the kids seem to be very absorbed in their games when the competition began. Chinese chess is slightly different from International Chess (congratulations to Magnus Carlson who became the new world chess champion last month) in that the chessmen are positioned on the chess lines on the chessboard. In Chinese Chess, the king and 2 queens can only move within a small area on the chessboard and the pawns do not get promoted when the pawns had marched to the end of the board. Chinese chess has cannon pieces where the player must hop over a chess piece to make a capture. Interesting!!!
I had managed to snagged 1996 Mengku tuos; 3 tuos for 68rm and 2 of 2006 Dayi green peacock raw pu er cakes at the tea fair and.......1.5kg of 90s liu bao packed in a pretty rattan basket.
This tea expo is well organized. I am happy to meet up with all my Malaysian friends and had a good time drinking tea with them. I managed to catch a movie, in the evening, at the mall. Girl on Fire!
