It's All About Tea — pu-erh

Pu-erh wasn't invented by accident on a caravan route, and it hasn't stayed the same tea for six hundred years. From Qing tribute cakes to Hong Kong warehouses, the 1970s invention of Shou, and today's obsession with ancient trees and mountain terroir, pu-erh has been reinvented again and again, and it's still happening. (Read more)

Ever since pu-erh tea became popular, pu-erh aficionados ask the same question again and again: How to age pu-erh at home? What are the best storage conditions? 

You don’t need a fancy cabinet or tropical weather. You need clean storage, stable humidity and temperature, protection from smells and light, and patience. – That’s the practical side. The other side is understanding what’s happening inside the leaf, so your choices are not guesswork. 

Sheng Pu-erh (aka Raw Pu-erh, 生普洱) continues to change over the years because its chemistry and microecology remain active enough to evolve. Shou Pu-erh (aka Ripe or Cooked Pu-erh, 熟普洱) has already undergone a fast fermentation (渥堆, Wo Dui – Wet Pilling), but it continues to settle over a long period of time. In both cases, the pace and direction of change depend on moisture and temperature. Below, we’ll dig into the transformations to see why dry, cool rooms slow aging to a crawl, how relative humidity and temperature control the tea’s moisture and reaction rates, and how to set up simple home storage that works. (Read more)

During our last visit to China, while in Shenzhen, we visited Tiffany Lau. Tiffany is a Liu Bao tea collector, editor-in-chief of "Liubao Tea Microjournal", national tea evaluator, and identification expert of Liu Bao Tea. She served as a judge for the Liu Bao Tea Battle Competition sessions. Over the years, Tiffany has promoted Liubao Tea Culture to tea enthusiasts both domestically and internationally through numerous articles, videos, and in-person tea gatherings. We had many teas and a long conversation about all things tea. This blog post is a compilation of our friendly talk over numerous cups of Hei Cha, presented of an interview for ease of reading. We hope you'll find it insightful. (Read More)

No visit to China would be complete without tea! And tea tasting at a local tea market is a must for all tea lovers. A visit to a Chinese tea market is a delightful experience beyond just sipping and savoring; you become part of a tradition that shaped the history of an entire civilization – and one of the world’s oldest ones! It is at the tea market that you will get to know loose-leaf tea or aged tea like never before.

While visiting the 22-million-megapolis of Shenzhen, we couldn’t miss the chance to do a tea tasting at one of the local tea markets. We picked the Nanshan area. Bordering the city’s business district and the High-tech park, it has the lively, just a bit worn-out atmosphere of a decades-old neighborhood, where modernity meets tradition and the authenticity of everyday people’s lives. (Read More)