2008 International Malaysian Tea Culture Expo *By Aaron Fisher
A quick stroll through one of Asia’s coolest trade fairs.
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August 19th, 2008 at 3:22 am
Why Malysian love Pu-erh so much? I’ve heard most of the booth were Pu-erh booth in this year’s Expo, is that true?
How Malaysian brew Pu-erh tea? Like Chinese?
jazzi
August 19th, 2008 at 4:08 am
I think the reasons why Malaysians love Puerh are as varied as there are Malaysian tea drinkers. If you asked any tea drinker, anywhere, why they love a particular kind of tea you would get as many answers as people you asked, though they might fall into categories, like: “it’s complexity and richness”; “the profound culture of enjoyment and connoisseur-ship that surrounds the world of Puerh”; “the way it ages and transforms over time”; “The Cha Qi and its spiritual effects”; etc., etc., etc…. Many booths were about Puerh, but not all. Wuyi yancha was also represented, oolong tea, and of course lots of teaware, books and tea culture.
As for brewing, that also was as varied as there were booths, though you could say that in general Malaysians do brew tea in the “Chinese” tradition.
I hope this helped.
Your brothers in Cha Dao
August 20th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Hello Brothers,
I’ve a question about tea, could you kindly tell me what’s Specialty tea?
Thanks
August 20th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Puerh tea is well known among Malaysian Chinese. Apart from green and oolong teas, puerh has also gained popularity among other races due to its benefits to health. Malaysians are beginning to love puerh.
However, puerh is most popular among the Chinese. Besides its benefits to health, puerh is also a tool of investment among Chinese collectors in Malaysia. Therefore, you are right to say that most of the booths at the tea fair are puer booths.
In fact, puerh trading in Malaysia is getting bigger and bigger as people are aware of its appreciative value. More tea shops are mushroom-ing in the city of Kuala Lumpur alone, not considering other states in Malaysia.
And of course, with the touch of our home made Master Ling Ping Xiang who brews like a Chinese, it certainly adds some oommphh to puerh’s popularity.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:58 am
I think “specialty tea” is often just a term that vendors use to distinguish that their teas, or some of their teas, are high-quality. Perhaps there is a strict definition in the marketing world, but myself I am always careful of such sales techniques. Often teas grown on plantations, rather than gardens, and sold quite readily in Asia are marketed as being “exotic” or “rare” in the West, for example. As the article suggests, so many vendors also use the “we just love tea” marketing ploy, suggesting they sell tea only for its own sake rather than money; or that they pure-heartedly share tea information (which coincidentally is all about their own products that they just happen to be selling you). Kong Fu teachers, for example, were traditionally forbidden to accept money, ever. The idea was that the Dao was polluted once any financial interest became involved.
August 21st, 2008 at 6:00 am
I noticed that nowadays, tea shops owners are beginning to develop their own tea. Even for a brand new raw puerh, the price can fetch about RM100 a piece or more, which I think its too expensive. For the same price, I would rather buy the puerh produced by a reputable tea company. If I am lucky enough, I may even get a good bargain in a few years aged puerh. Its a price war out there!
As I always tell my friends, only buy the tea which you like after tasting it and NOT buying it after listening to what people say without tasting it first. The idea of sharing of info no doubt still exist, but its dying. People are now more selfishly into making quick bucks as opposed to sharing of ideas. I was one of the victims.
I must congratulate the team of THE LEAF for making this website a successful forum for tea discussion. No doubt the comments are still few but its a good start.
Keep up the good work!