The Price Of Tea

 

I thought we would emerged into a better place after more than 2 years of covid pandemic.   However, as of today, I do not think we are in a better or happier place.  There is a war in Europe and there are people worldwide who are still waiting to be vaccinated.  

Things are getting expensive and may be even more expensive for the rest of the year.  Call it whatever you want; inflation, stagflation or recession. If you are spending $2000 a month, you will continue to spend $2000 a month except that this money now will get you less things.  You  have to provide  a bigger allocation to essentials like food and gas. I was told by my American tea buddy that gas is now 5 bucks a gallon. I am not laughing, it is expensive over here in Singapore as well. Everything is expensive. 

How about Chinese tea?  Yes, Chinese tea is getting expensive too. Labour and production costs have gone up. My tea distributor friends in Guangzhou had confirmed that new tea this year will be more expensive than tea last year.  Not surprising.  Yes, a 1-2 year old pu erh tea cake may be cheaper than a current year tea cake.  Older pu erh tea is more desirable to many tea drinker and collectors. Now it is technically cheaper. But......the costs of freight is getting astronomically high due to the high cost of fuel. So. Chinese tea overall will be expensive.  Time to drink more from our tea stash. This is the 'rainy day' for us. 

Pray for peace.     

2003 Langhe Raw Pu erh Tuo

 

This is an almost 20 year year old raw pu erh tuo.  This tea is a Singapore stored tea. 

In spite of the hot and humid climate this tea has only shown only some mellowness.  This tea is an extremely strong tea. I had thoughts that this tea would be mellow and smooth after almost 20 years of storage but No!.  This tea still has bitterness with an astringent bite in the aftertaste.  I have drank many old pu erh of this age.  Most of the tea would had demonstrated a nice mellowness; reduced smokiness like a wisp of smoke, less harshness and quite easy to drink......but this tea is strong and bold after 20 years.  Hair curling experience. I like.

But I digress.....I had blogged about newer pu erh tea.  Many of these tea are ready to drink or 'can drink now'. I suspect this is due to a change of pu erh tea processing that made the new pu erh tea less harsh or less astringent. The newer tea now almost taste like a fresh green tea.  Yes, even with a sweet and pleasant aftertaste. It is quite enjoyable. Like the famous saying 'same same but different'. I had stated that I am unsure how this new tea will age but I dare say that it cannot be stronger in taste and aroma than it it is now. A tea cannot be stronger taste after storage. There will be some mellowing out of flavours after storage. I can Imagine that the 2003 Langhe was very difficult to drink when new.  Just my 2 cents of thoughts. 

Back to my hair curling 2003 Langhe tea.