Malaysia Tea Expo 2015

This year's Malaysia tea expo was held from 12-16 Nov 2105 in the exhibition hall at Viva Mall, Kuala Lumpur.  I was on a business trip in Malaysia and I managed to squeezed out a few hours visiting the tea expo on the 1st day.  

Noticed the large bamboo baskets in pix 2.  These are the basket sizes that was used to shipped liu bao tea from China to Malaysia.  Tea in these baskets would weigh up to 30kg or more.  Some of these baskets were stored for many years (up to 40 years) in Malaysia.  The liu bao tea had naturally fermented over time and today these Liu Bao tea had became a famous Malaysian tea that is sought by tea drinkers around the world.

The last 2 pix was taken by my good tea buddy friend, Mr James Ong.  James is my 'turn to' contact for tea in Malaysia.  His in depth knowledge of Malaysian tea and his willingness to share his findings makes him an invaluable friend to have. Pix 4 shows James, having a personalized tuo cha made for him at the Xiaguan booth.  The last pix shows some of my tea drinking buddies in Malaysia.

But I digress…..My Ipoh tea expert friend in Ipoh Malaysia pointed out some errors in my previous Liu Bao tea blog.  She mentioned that traditionally made Liu Bao tea is actually black tea, normally  pressed into baskets and left to ferment naturally.  I had written in my previous blog that that was a forced fermentation during production before the tea is exported.  Thank you Su, for the clarification.