Hong Kong Storage Pu erh

 

What is Hong storage pu erh tea?

This refers to puerh tea that were stored in Hong Kong where the storage conditions were slightly more humid than current storage pu erh techniques. 

Let me explain. Today we store our pu erh tea in boxes or bags and hope that our pu erh tea will age to a taste and aroma many tea drinkers enjoy in drinking old pu erh tea. This aging is actually decomposing but under controlled conditions. Don't be in shock; we eat many food that goes through 'controlled decomposition'.  Cheese, soy sauce, tofu and yogurt are some common examples. 

Chinese tea drinkers don't call this process decomposition but rather 'fermentation'. It a less harsher and kinder term. 

Older Chinese tea shops, used to store their pu erh tea in storerooms that has slightly  higher humidity. One must remember that pu erh tea only found favour with the Hong Kong locals there in the 80s to the early 90s. My guess was that pu erh was just stored in rooms without any control to the humidity. Most of the 'Hong Kong storage' teas sold now were from the late 90s to around early 2006.

Hong Kong storage pu erh taste really older than its age. There is a musty, lightly perfumed aroma and a lightly spicy aftertaste in the tea. The tea when brewed is very dark amber.  This is an acquired taste. I enjoy this tea and will buy some whenever I am in Hong Kong. These tea are getting very expensive. 

I would like to warn you that there are some Chinese tea shops that had stored the tea badly (I had seen some mouldy cakes) and try to pass them off as Hong Kong storage tea.  It is important that you try to sample the tea or buy them from reliable teashops there. I stress again that this tea is an acquired taste. It is not for everyone.   

Wu Dong Dan Chong

 

I got my Wu Dong dan chong from Ho Chi Minh Vietnam. The Chinese teashop was operated by Mr Kuek who hailed from Wu Dong China. His family members owned a tea farm in Wudong and he managed to get some Dan Chong shipped to him every year. 

Dan Chong from Wu Dong China are highly regarded by Chinese tea drinkers.  I managed to buy and bring home three grades sold by Mr Kuek. His family had named the 3 grades of dan chong as narcissus, eight fairies and silver bud. 

Readers would know I like my regular Fujuan oolongs strong. I would fill my teapot wth more than of the tea leaves before I commence my tea session. Not so with dan chong,   I have to use less leaves when I brew. Too much tea leaves would result in a strong bitter taste. My Malaysian tea master told me that I should use 1g for every 20ml capacity. (if a teapot is 100ml size, I should use 5g of tea). 

Dan chong oolong tea is so different from my usual fujian oolongs. The taste and aroma is so different.....almost like Taiwan high mountain tea. There is a nice bouquet of flowers and perfume. Long and oily mouthfeel. Aftertaste is very pleasant with a light sensation of nuts (like roasted chestnuts).  Easily good for 6 infusions from a tea session. 

An interesting tea. Worth a purchase.  

Sea Dyke Shui Jin Gui

 

Shui Jin Gui, aka water gold tortoise, oolong is one of the main oolongs produced in China. The 4 main oolongs, otherwise known as xi da ming cong, are Da Hong Pao, Tie Lo Han, Bai Ji Guan and Shui Jin Gui. Other well known oolongs you would be familiar would be Rougui and Shui Hsien. Yes there are many oolong varietal names and tea producing villages in Fujian, China might name their oolong with unique names to differentiate their tea. 

This tea is produced by Sea Dyke brand and came packed in a metal tin. This tin of Shui Jin Gui was produced in 2016.  Already with 10 years of storage, this tea is aromatic and fragrant. The tea is quite high roasted and has a decent mineral taste as well.  A value for money purchase. 

But I digress.  Many oolong tea drinkers had asked me how much  oolong I used for a tea session. There is no correct answer as during my tea travels, I noticed an extremely generous use of tea leaves filling the entire teapot for a tea session (in Ipoh, Malaysia) and while at a Hong Kong teashop, the owner filled half a teapot with tea leaves before he commenced the tea session.  I like my oolong strong and I will fill my teapot with leaves (more than half the teapot) for my tea session. 

Happy New Year

 

It is Chinese New Year tomorrow. I would like to wish my readers and all my tea buddies "Kong xi Fa Cai". Live long and prosper. 

Ho Chi Minh - Di Phat Teashop

 I am in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam this week.  I looked up the internet hoping to find a Chinese tea shop. My search yielded this shop, Di Phat teashop.  The images suggested that this tea shop looked very old and I decide to make my way to the tea shop. 

The shop is located at 122, Phu Tho, Phuong 1. Quan 11 HO Chi Minh.  This shop has been in business for almost 70 years. The shop had that old antique shop feel, like it was frozen in time.  I really enjoyed my visit there. I actually visited this shop twice while I was in Vietnam. 

The proprietor, Mr Kuek came from Chaozhou China. His family produced dan chong tea under the Wu Tong brand.  Mr Kuek was patient and allowed me to sample his tea. 

I found Wu Dong tea to be good. Their higher grade tea which were named 8 fairies and narcissus was good. There was no bitterness and the tea had a long aromatic mouthfeel.  I will write more on the tea in my later post.

I would strongly recommend a visit to this very old tea shop and sample their tea.  A must visit for a Chinese tea drinker. 

Pek Sin Choon Theet Lo Han

 

It's already 2026 and I got myself a tin of Theet Lo Han.  The tin has 50 hand wrapped paper packets of tea.   Theet Lo Han is how you pronounced this tea in Fujian dialect while Tie Lo Han is the mandarin pronunciation.  Kenny the CEO of Pek Sin Choon was at the shop and he treated me to a hot bowl of Chinese dessert as well as a session of tea. 

I happened to have a few packets of Theet Lo Han that I had kept for more than 10 years and proceeded to have a tea session at home. 

This is not a top shelf tea. I considered that this tea would be a mid range grade. In Singapore this tea is normally drank in restaurants or shops that serve pork ribs tea (a popular Chinese meal eaten with a bowl of rice). 

The older packet which I brewed has some aged taste. Overall this is an inexpensive tea and I would recommend this tea for its traditional packing...... and it's a tea from a Singapore teashop as well. 

2007 Xiaguan Jinsi Tuo Gold Ribbon

Readers would know that I am a big fan of Xiaguan pu erh tea.  My collection of Xiaguan tea are mainly from the years 2003-2009.  It is a fairly large collection of Xiaguan as I tend to buy them in bulk more than 12 years ago. 

Xiaguan pu erh tea is not expensive. With time in storage, the tea produced an aroma and taste that I considered high quality compared to other pu erh brands of the same age.  I particularly enjoy the smoky offerings by Xiaguan.  Some of these tea age to a camphor like aroma finish which I enjoyed tremendously. 

I am also intrigued by the various traditional compressed pu erh tea shapes from Xiaguan; from the iron cakes, nest tuos, melon and mushroom shaped tea. 

I just opened a 2007 gold ribbon tuo. This tea is not smoky but it has nice honey and floral notes in the tea. A sweet aftertaste. The 19 year old tea now brews to a dark amber colour.  I call this tea the 'honey tuo'.  I recommend.