Wednesday, September 13, 2006

New York Times & Washington Post on Chinese Teas

Here is an article published today in the New York Times on the Chinese gong fu tea preparation and ceremony. It does a nice job of connecting fine teas with fine wines for readers who are more familiar with the latter. Click here for the article.

Another article in the Washington Post reports that vintage Chinese teas dating as far back as 1949 is available at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC. I guess folks there can now shun away that $300 Krug Champagne and instead spend the money on a potful of 1985 vintage tea. Here is the article.

The above articles are as a breath of fresh air after reading the other article -- about a clueless tea businessman in Lake Tahoe -- which I mentioned in my previous post.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like the Park Hyatt was bit by the mitea bug.

~*fakefakefakefakefakefake*~

~ Phyll said...

That is a grave concern. I wonder how can someone ascertain that the tea in the pot (or the loose leaves presented) is really from 1949 or 1985 vintage?

MarshalN said...

"Of the three, our favorite was the amber-colored and smooth-as-silk 1978 brew"

Sounds like cooked puerh to me, sorry, but the people at the Park Hyatt probably got fooled

And really, at the price of $300 a pot for a 1985 tea, I can buy a whole cake of Traditional Character Zhongcha Brand, which is from around that time. That, I think, is a far better investment. I somehow suspect the 1985 cake is an original 8582, which in and of itself, for a whole cake, does not cost $300.

Nobody can date anything to 1949 so precisely (remember the Chinese civil war? Not exactly a lot of things going on in the tea making department, I suspect). Anybody claiming such thing is lying.

Anonymous said...

Hey MarshalN,

I thought you (and others pu erh lovers) would like some update on the aged pu erh market in Guang Dong, which is the biggest, by the way. there is no way you can get a dry storage real mid 80's raw cake for $300. The Shui Lam Yin mid 90's is already over $200 on the B2B market. For the beautiful 8582 1985 (first year of production - we own that beeng) you will have to count at least $500 at the collector. Let me know where you find dry storage real 1980's raw pu erh at $300, i buy them all :)

I do agree with you very much as to date a pu erh from 1949 precisely. It is impossible.

$300 a teapot! WOW
SEb

Anonymous said...

I also wonder how they brew it for you. I bet they stick it in a polka dot teapot for 3 minutes and serve you the one cup.

~ Phyll said...

Mike Petro posted on Rec.Food.Drink.Tea that the 1949 vintage pu'er offered by Park Hyatt might have a high chance of being authentic. It is being supplied by MiTea, at $400 per ounce of dry leaves.

http://tinyurl.com/pgexx

(Now I get what the Anonymous' post above meant by "bit by the mitea bug")

Caveat Emptor!