Tradition vs. Profit

I came across a news recently that a Wu Niu Zao grower in ZheJiang produced lightly roasted Oolong from Wu Niu Zao tea tree leaves. This definitely comes with tremendous financial benefits. Traditionally, Wu Niu Zao is only harvested in early spring to make Yong Jia Wu Niu Zao green tea. With the new development, Wu Niu Zao can be harvested again in late spring to make Oolong, a tea that is gaining popularity now.

While we support the effort of new tea R&D, I am concerned about the trend of chasing popular teas for profits. Wu Niu Zao is both a tea tree name and a tea name. Although Wu Niu Zao is a wonderful green tea, its name is quite often associated with faked West Lake Long Jing made from Wu Niu Zao leaves. During the Pu-erh heydays, almost every tea producer in Yunnan was making Pu-erh. Green and black tea raw materials were all put into making Pu-erh. People later realized that not all of them were suitable for making Pu-erh, and not all the producers were skillful at making Pu-erh.

I will be thrilled to celebrate and promote the birth of a new tea if the grower gives his new tea a new name, instead of calling his tea Oolong. Otherwise, I’ll remain skeptical when I see a green tea producer making Oolong or an Oolong tea producer making Pu-erh.

What’s your view on this? I would like to hear from you.

Linda

CCTV2 – Pu-erh Bubble Burst

After reaching its peak in April, Pu-erh price fell sharply in May. CCTV recently featured a 30 minute program on the Pu-erh bubble and its burst. It documented the sharp rise and fall of Pu-erh price since last year. In large markets like Guangdong, Beijing, and Shanghai, Pu-erh price dropped as much as 40%.

Thinking back, I still could not believe what happened this spring. Heated market kept pushing raw material prices to new highs. As the CCTV program stated, local farmers raised their price expectations in the wake of this extreme Pu-erh heat. Concerns over this year’s new production prices prompted people into collecting past years’ productions. It was quite common to see that the same Pu-erh demanded twice of March’s price in April. Now, less than two months later, it is like game over…

I am happy to see the bubble burst. My affection for Pu-erh remains the same. Pu-erh is still the same Pu-erh. Let’s weed out those commercial plays, and enjoy and appreciate a good cup of Pu-erh.

Linda
www.teahub.com

Palace Museum Tribute Pu-erh is back to its hometown and Pu-erh Price keeps rising

The famous Palace Museum Golden Melon Tribute Pu-erh ended its 20 day journey and arrived at Pu-erh County on April 6. Along with arrival of the century old Pu-erh, here comes another heat wave of Pu-erh. This year’s mao cha prices have raised to 3 to 5 times of last year’s prices.

Although local tea farmers are enjoying another prosperous year, the skyrocketing costs and concerns over overheating have kept some Pu-erh producers and vendors staying on sidelines this year. How high can Pu-erh prices go? Some people have started to propose a Pu-erh future market. Humm… a Pu-erh future market, how do you like this idea?

Linda
www.teahub.com

Si Mao City Will Change Name to Pu-erh City

The Pu-erh rush is getting even hotter. Recent news reported that Si Mao City, which enjoyed RMB 80 million sales from Pu-erh trade in 2006, will change name to Pu-erh City. The new name will take effect on April 8, 2007.

Si Mao City is happily riding the Pu-erh heat wave in recent years. Half of the city’s populations are working in Pu-erh industry. The city have many future investment projects aiming at boosting Pu-erh and related industries, which the city hope to ring in RMB 5 billion in combined sales by year 2010.

Linda
http://www.teahub.com/

Tags: Pu-erh, Si Mao

Venture Capital Eyes Pu-erh

If you are wondering where the Pu-erh heat is heading, up is the only direction. The RMB 55 million investments from two venture capital companies to a Pu-eh factory caused quite a stir in Pu-erh industry in Kunming. The appearance of Morgan Stanley partner Paul Hill (translated based on pronunciation) even raised people’s expectation in the future of Pu-erh industry. Mr. Hill even expressed their investment interest.

Linda

www.teahub.com

Tags: Pu-erh, Investment, Venture Capital

2006 BanZhang Pu-erh

There is no doubt that BanZhang Mountain is this year's new Pu-erh favorite. However, the vast amount of so-called BanZhang Pu-erh on the market raised a question about their authenticity. According to local people, annual productions of BanZhang tea leaves are only 6,000 to 8,000 kg. This means that at 400g each, only 15,000 to 20,000 cakes can be made of real BanZhang leaves. The major characteristic of BanZhang Pu-erh is its strength. BanZhang Pu-erh is the strongest among those popular tea mountains. Unless you know what you are doing, maybe this is not a year to ride the BanZhang heat wave?

Linda
www.teahub.com

Findings on A.niger’s role in ripe Pu-erh post fermentation process

Researches on Aspergillus flora during ripe Pu-erh post fermentation process can be dated back to 1998, when Zongdao Chen and team reported around 80% of all Aspergillus found in ripe Pu-erh Wo-Dui process was A.niger. Hongjie Zhou and team echoed Chen and team’s finding on A.niger in ripe Pu-erh Wo-Dui process in 2004. Zhou and team’s found that A.niger was a dominant Aspergillus in ripe Pu-erh Wo-Dui process. A research conducted by Keke Chen and team in 2005, however, had a different finding.

K. Chen and team analyzed four ripe Pu-erh Wo-Dui samples from four different Pu-erh manufactures in four areas of Yunnan, and found no A.niger in either of the samples. Their research showed significant regional differences among the types of Aspergillus found in the four samples. The two samples from similar high heat and high humidity areas shared the most similarity. They also had the most Aspergillus varieties.

Linda
www.teahub.com

Tags: Tea, Pu-erh

Pu-erh Mao Cha Price Heading Higher

According to National Statistic Bureau, Pu-erh Mao Cha price jumped up 19.37% in the first half year of 2006 in comparison to the same period last year. Ancient tea tree Mao Cha price experienced even higher increase. These translate into higher prices of this year’s Pu-erh productions. With the current Pu-erh heat wiping out the nation, there is no sign of slowing down in Pu-erh price increases.

Linda
www.teahub.com

Tags: Tea, Pu-erh