2005 Lau Yu Fat Red Mark Pu erh

Old man Lau of Hong Kong Lau Yu Fat teashop introduced me to a 2005 red mark pu erh cake for sale at his shop.  This is a 'Zhong Cha' brand cake produced in 2005.  

Mr Lau explained that this cake had been stored in Hong Kong (HK) for 10 years.  The unique selling point is that this tea was 'Hong Kong' stored for the 1st 4 years and later dry stored for its subsequent 6 years.  

Let me explain.  'Hong Kong' storage refers to pu erh tea being stored in warehouses or stores where the humidity of the storage area are naturally higher than the natural weather of Hong Kong.  Old warehouses are normally located near harbors (for easy import and export).  Older warehouses or shophouses may have basements as well for more storage of goods.  These warehouses and basements are normally more humid and pu erh stored in such places will age but with a humid or damp characteristic where a tea drinker can easily detect from the aroma of the tea.  The result is that, in my own opinion, is that the pu erh tea will develop a unique taste, that somewhat taste older for its age.    I would like to warn my tea readers, if you had not tried such tea, that this HK stored pu may be an acquired taste - you may like or dislike it.  

When I brewed a session of this Zhongcha pu erh, there was an added dimension of HK storage aroma and taste.  The tea does taste more aged than a normal dry stored 10 year old cake.  This is an interesting cake.  

If you like pu erh, you should try to have some HK storage tea in your pu erh collection. It will serve as an important reference point for pu erh stored under unique storage conditions.  It is interesting to note that many pu erh tea drinkers classify HK storage as traditionally stored.  Many old cakes made in the 1960s through 90s enter Hong Kong for the domestic market or were later re-exported again to other countries for consumption. It would be no surprise if some of these cakes had some 'traditional storage' characteristics in the tea.    

Let me see whether I can get more HK storage cakes to share with my readers.  

Prices Of Mooncakes and Tea

The Chinese mid autumn festival is this weekend and moon cakes which are normally eaten during this festive occasion are easily available one month prior to this fun event.

Grrr! My local favorite moon cake now cost me $10. Each! Singapore is the most expensive city in the world to live (2015 EIU reports) and my mooncake price clearly reflects this unenviable expensive title. Picture shows a green tea filling cake. Mooncakes are traditionally filled with sweetened lotus seed paste but now everywhere you go in Singapore, there are durian, chocolate mousse, ice cream and tea flavored cakes for sale. Earl grey, matcha, milk tea and green tea are examples of tea flavored cakes.

A recent local newspaper article (The New Paper, 13 Sept 2015 - Is the price right? by Khairiyah Amirah Md Ramthan) highlighted the price of gold yin zhen tea (silver needle) selling at $850 per 50g (about US$600). The reporter made a mistake when he priced a cup of tea at $178.50 based on 2.5g of tea. It should be $42.50 a cup. The article explained that the silver needle tea leaves are plated with 24k gold. Available at TWG Tea.

It is really pricey, especially to me, that a cup of tea costs above $40.

I would like to ask my readers a question - How much does it cost for you to have a tea session? Specifically, how much is your tea per tea session?

This is a fun exercise. I just want to show that prices of tea had risen over the past few years. Examining price of tea per tea session, is to me, an interesting measure of the cost of tea to a tea drinker. Do remember to allocate the freight costs to your tea if you are buying online. It would give an even more accurate figure.

If a pu erh tea cake weighs 357g and costs $50, you should be able to have about 50 tea sessions if you used 7g of tea in a brew. That will cost you about $1 per brewing session. Likewise, for a oolong tea drinker, if you are using 5g of oolong per brew, your $50 100g oolong pack would imply $2.5 per tea session.

I hoped you had reached similar conclusions about tea prices when you did this exercise:

That good tea need not necessarily be expensive. If you drink lots of Chinese tea like me, you can easily have a happy tea session costing less than $2. At $2 or higher per tea session, I would like to think that the tea drinker is buying a particular vintage, a taste or aroma, or to fill /complete a tea collection.

A penny for your thoughts.




  



  

Small Yixing Tea Trays

I bought these 2 small tea trays last month.  These tea trays are really small.  These trays come with removable lids where you can easily discard the tea waste and clean these trays without any difficulty.

I could just manage to squeeze a small teapot and 2 tiny teacups on one tray.  For those who like to brew their tea in a 'standing room' style or where real estate is scarce, and there is no room or table space to brew your tea, these tea trays would be most suitable (ideal even) for your tea brewing sessions.

While I was taking pictures of these tea trays, it crossed my mind that these tea trays could have been cricket boxes.  Keeping crickets was a hobby in China and crickets were kept as pets and taken out for 'gladiatorial battles' with other crickets.  I have seen porcelain cricket containers that were somewhat shaped like these small tea trays (early 90s), but my checks with my China tea drinker friends indicated that these yixing trays were for brewing tea.  These trays were made in the 80s or 90s and keeping of crickets was not an activity practiced during the stricter government controls of that period.  

I would recommend using these small tea trays just to stand your teapot during tea brewing sessions.  I personally would use bigger tea trays for my tea brewing session.  Bigger trays are more practical for me, and the bigger space is visually more appealing, more calming when I sit down for my cup of tea.  

British Tea News

Thomas K Grose wrote a very interesting article on the British tea scene.  Article appeared on 7 Aug 2015 on USnews 

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/08/07/brits-no-longer-steamed-about-a-hot-cuppa-tea

Brits no longer steamed about a hot cuppa tea

LONDON -- You would be hard-pressed to come up with a beverage more British than tea. Well, okay, possibly a pint of beer. But still, a hot cuppa tea is a quintessential British thirst-quencher.

So it came as a bit of shock this week when Mintel, a consumer research company, reported that tea sales in the U.K. had fallen 22 percent between 2010 and 2015, to 76 million kilograms. What’s more, it said, the trend is continuing, and predicted that tea sales would dip to 68 million kilograms by 2020. A big problem for British tea companies is that 86 percent of tea in the U.K. is consumed at home, almost all of it made with tea bags. And between 2012 and 2014, Mintel says, tea bag sales sank by 13 percent to a value of £425 million ($660 million).

“Standard black tea is struggling to maintain consumers’ interest amid growing competition from other drinks -- held back by a rather uninspiring image,” Emma Clifford, the report’s author, says in a statement. And demography is a factor, too. Younger consumers, she says, are less loyal to tea than their elders.

Bill Gorman, chairman of the U.K. Tea & Infusions Association, doesn’t argue the point: “Black tea has been in modest decline for a number of years.”

Britain’s love of tea began brewing in the 1660s, when a Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, became the wife and queen of Charles II. She had grown up drinking the stuff, and her love of tea eventually made it the fashionable hot drink of choice among the aristocracy. And its popularity quickly spread to the hoi polloi. The East India Company, which had a monopoly on trade with the Far East, placed the first order for tea -- 100 pounds of it -- in 1664. By 1685, annual tea imports totaled more than 12,000 pounds, and by 1750, yearly imports hit 4.7 million pounds. By then, the association notes, tea had become more popular than ale and gin with the masses. Essentially, as Britain built its empire, the effort was well-oiled with countless cups of tea.

The drink also played a pivotal role in the American Revolution. It was Parliament giving the East India Company monopoly rights on exporting tea -- and taxing it -- to the American colonies that lead to the Boston Tea Party in 1773. That’s when anti-British patriots, dressed like Native Americans, boarded three British merchant ships and dumped 46 tons of tea into Boston Harbor. The protest proved to be one of the seminal events leading to the War of Independence, even though it had more to do with protecting the interests of American tea importers than with protesting British taxes.

So does the Mintel report signal the eventual end of yet one more British tradition at a time when pubs are closing at a rate of 31 a week and red phone boxes are disappearing from roadsides? Perhaps not, because the British have hardly lost their taste for tea -- they’re just drinking less of traditional black tea. Mintel points out that 54 percent of Britons still drink at least one cup a day, and three-quarters drink one to three cups a month.

Meanwhile sales of specialty teas, including herbal and fruit teas, are booming. Between 2012 and 2014, Mintel says, sales of those teas jumped 31 percent to a market value of £76 million ($118 million). One thing the British are not doing is replacing tea with coffee. They still drink around 165 million cups of tea daily, compared to just 70 million cups of coffee. A report last year by investment bank Barclays found that coffee consumption in the U.K. is lower now than it was in 2006.

And not all tea companies are feeling the squeeze. Twinings -- which has 19 percent of the U.K. market, second only to PG Tips’ 25 percent market share -- has experienced strong growth, Clifford says. It’s benefited from anticipating a recent surge of interest in loose, specialty teas, and has brought out a wider range of non-traditional teas than its rivals.

Other than Twinings, Gorman says, “the tea industry has been slow to innovate. It’s way behind the coffee boys, but it is catching up.”

One thing that is missing from the High Street landscape in Britain is a successful chain of tea houses -- mainly because it’s still a drink that most folks prefer to make for themselves.

And that’s where coffee purveyors have an edge.

If coffee consumption has plateaued in Britain, the market for coffee houses is nevertheless hotter than a steaming mug of joe -- it’s expanding at a rate of 5 percent a year. Costa, the leading U.K. coffee chain with more than 1,800 outlets across the country, last month announced it was spending £36 million ($56 million) on a new roastery to help meet growing demand.

And Gorman thinks that it will be the coffee houses that will help expand the market for tea outside the home. As the coffee house market grows, he says, the big chains are expanding their offerings, and are increasingly adding teas to their menus. That is bringing British tea-drinking full circle, given that tea was originally consumed in the 17th century mainly in coffee houses. And, Gorman says, afternoon teas at posh hotels like the Ritz and Claridge’s -- with pots of tea served with a huge variety of cakes, cookies and scones slathered with strawberry jam and clotted cream -- are more popular than ever.

So Americans heading for England this summer needn’t worry they’ll have a hard time finding someplace to enjoy a traditional cuppa -- just as long as they don’t expect to order iced tea. “That’s never caught on,” Gorman says. “Tea is a hot drink here.” Just not quite as hot as it used to be.

Bamboo Herbal Tea - Zhu Ke Cha

Zhu Ke Cha - literally translated as bamboo wrapped tea is actually a black tea compressed to small balls and wrapped with the outer cover of a bamboo stem.  One 'tube' get you five balls of this tea, and one of these balls weighing about 3.5g is sufficient to brew up a litre of strong herbal tea.  

Zhu Ke tea comes from Guangdong, China and it had been around for many years.  A very inexpensive tea, these tubes are commonly sold in Chinese medicinal shops, tea shops and even Chinese grocery shops.  Though this tea is a black tea, many Chinese regarded this tea as a herbal tea due to its medicinal aroma.  Many Chinese today brew this tea to drink when one feels 'heaty' or is down with a flu.  I was told that during the major bird-flu crises that affect South East Asia and Hong Kong from Nov 2002 to July 2003, there was a high demand for Zhu Ke tea that it became a hard-to-find item during that period.  

You will have noticed, from the above pix, that this tea is hand wrapped and looked really 'artisanal'.  The compression of the tea balls are not high, and you can break up the ball without much effort.  

I used a porcelain teapot to brew this tea.  Porcelain teapots are good to brew all types of tea as a good  detergent washing of this teapot would remove all the aroma and residue, leaving the teapot ready for brewing another tea.  I presently reserved my clay teapots for pu erh and oolongs.  

I could make 3 good teapots of zhu ke tea from one ball. I estimated that I got about 1 litre of tea from this tea session.  This tea has strong aromas of wood.  I thought there was a pinewood scent in the tea as well.  Tea absorbs scents easily and this zhu ke cha had 'absorbed' the scent of the bamboo husk wrapper.  The combination of black tea together with the scent of woody bamboo makes for a nice 'herbal' drink.  I particularly like to drink this tea hot than letting it cool down to room temperature.  

2010 Taetea Ripe Pu erh Red Tin Edition

I purchased this Taetea (aka Dayi) ripe pu erh in a KL tea expo back in 2011 (link).   One of this red tin hold 5 individually wrapped pu erh cakes.  One cake is 150g so you are getting 750g of ripe pu erh tea in a tin.   

Information about the tea can be found on the tin.  The tea is composed of ripe pu erh tea that was already 3 years old.  This would imply that that this tea had 'aged' for 3 years and the tea would be very drinkable and not have the wodui taste of newly made pu erh that need to mellow out in a couple of years.  Opening this tea today would mean I am drinking a 8 year old Dayi ripe tea.   I had noticed big brands like Dayi and Haiwan are now selling their new ripe pu erh that are made or mixed with 'older' ripe tea.  It does make business sense as new tea collectors and drinkers can actually enjoy drinking (immediately) when they buy these new tea.       

It is uncommon that pu erh is manufactured and packaged in tins.  Tins are more expensive when compared to bamboo or paper wrappers.  Selling pu erh in tins could mean the tea is a special or limited edition production.  Haiwan had also produced premium tinned versions of pu erh tea for sale as well.  These Haiwan tins hold a single 600g brick, with small holes punched on the sides of the tin to allow air circulation.  I will write a blog on this Haiwan tea soon.  

This cake, as you would have observed from the pix, is made up of smaller pu erh leaves.  The tea leaves are really small.  I am not fond of brewing with small tea leaves as they tend to 'clog up' my teapot.  Tea tends to pour out much slower after being 'clogged' and the result may be a much stronger brew than expected. 

Dayi ripe tea, based on my experience, brews fast and strong.  This tea is no different and I would recommend, when you are brewing this tea, to reduce your tea leaves by 30-40%.  Even with this reduction, the tea brews strong and could get me 10 very good infusions from one tea session.  The tea exhibited nice aroma and taste with a very smooth, creamy-like finish.   An excellent after dinner tea.  

Bao Ding Brand - Ti Kuan Yin Tea

A few friends from overseas visited me last week and I decided to brew up this tea for that occasion. Ti Kuan Yin (sometimes spelled as Tie Guan Yin) or TGY for short is a very popular oolong tea produced in Fujian, China. Bao Ding brand sells their 250g tgy in a tin. You will observed that this tgy is medium roasted and the tea leaves are rolled as seen.


I decided to brew this tea 'dim sum restaurant' style. I used a 90s deep red 'wan shou' porcelain teapot for this tea session. I scooped out 3 tablespoons of tgy, then pour hot water filling 3/4 of the teapot, and refilling the teapot with hot water when the tea had poured out. No rinsing of tea and the steeping times of the tea were more prolonged and leisurely…….and I could get 3 teapots of tea.


I normally prefer my tgy to be heavy roasted but this Bao Ding version was pleasant. It had a delightful floral character, with subtle hints of a Taiwanese high mountain tea. An inexpensive tea. This tea, by the way also makes a very nice chilled oolong as well.