Taiwan

The price of a ten-year-old Pu'er tea cake generally ranges from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan. Among them, the more affordable Pu'er tea cakes are usually those that are over ten years old, made from old tea trees, and priced in the range of several thousand yuan. A Ten-Year-Old Tea Cake Is Valuable A ten-year-old tea cake is valuable. Long-term aging gives the tea a more unique flavor, making it more valuable for both collection and investment. Especially with a tea cake aged for over ten years, which has undergone longer maturation, its quality improves, and prices typically range between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan. Of course, the price may fluctuate depending on the scarcity of the tea and other factors. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, the price of Pu'er tea cakes is relatively higher, around 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, while in mainland China, ten-year-old Pu'er tea cakes are priced between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan. A Ten-Year-Old Tea Cake Is Not Valuable It's not valuable. If Pu'er tea is not sold as a complete set, its price isn't high, and a conclusion can only be reached after tasting. With an increase in brand recognition, the value of tea…

In the "world" of Pu'er tea, 8582 is like a reclusive master with unparalleled skills—his name is well-known, yet few have seen his true form. But whenever he appears, he commands attention, and those in the know can recognize him at first glance, thanks to his unique mark—the "Purple Heaven." Both 8582 and its sibling 8592 were born in 1985. Among Yunnan Seven Sons cakes, they stand out. While both hail from Menghai Tea Factory, they are exclusively custom-made for a Hong Kong-based trader—Nantian Trading Company. Because the purple "Heaven" character was stamped on their wrapping paper, a practice unprecedented at the time, these teas are commonly known as "Purple Heaven Cakes." The Purple Heaven Cakes now sell for over 100,000 RMB per cake, and various accounts related to them abound, often leaving people unsure of what to believe. Recently, our editorial team interviewed Chang Jinqiang, the former manager of the Specialized Tea Department at Yunnan Provincial Tea Import and Export Corporation, who witnessed the birth and export of 8582 and 8592 to Hong Kong. He shared stories about the legendary history of these Purple Heaven Cakes. The Beginnings and Endings of 8582/8592 Image The birth of the Purple Heaven…

Every time I passed by the Merlion Park and looked up at the world-famous statue of the Merlion spouting water, something always felt amiss. One day, while idly watching the flow of passersby at an Orchard Road MRT station entrance, it struck me like a bolt of lightning: the Merlion statue has a stern expression without a hint of a smile. Just like the endless stream of pedestrians before my eyes, colorful as they were, their expressions were uniform: hurried, with serious faces. The constant spray of water, day and night, seemed to represent the relentless pressure that Singaporeans carry throughout their lives, unceasing and inexhaustible. I knew before arriving in Singapore that Singaporeans weren't particularly happy. On the world map, this tiny country is sandwiched between two large nations, Malaysia and Indonesia, with whom relations aren't entirely friendly. Lacking internal resources and facing external pressures, the nation struggles to find room to maneuver, constantly pushing itself to strive for excellence and work hard. During my stay in Singapore, I felt that the words "leisure" and "ease" were luxuries that were hard to come by. Even primary school students were competing over academic achievements, university professors were working tirelessly under…

Puer Tea · Storage If starting to drink Puer tea and incorporating it as an essential part of daily drinking habits marks the beginning of understanding Puer tea, then with the deepening of our affection for Puer tea, we cannot avoid facing the issue of Puer tea storage. This is because the concept of "the older, the more fragrant" always tantalizes the hearts of tea enthusiasts, and the allure of aged teas in the legends of the Puer tea world is mysteriously enchanting. In the eyes of experienced tea expert Mr. Huang Gang, "Puer tea storage is the key to understanding Puer tea." This detailed long article aims to answer questions such as "What is the 'storage' of Puer tea? What is good 'storage'? For Puer tea enthusiasts, solving this problem can save them from taking many detours in their journey to understand Puer tea. How do we understand the "storage" of Puer tea? Puer tea is a post-fermented tea, and both raw and ripe teas go through a process of storage and aging after being pressed into shape (even if they are loose). Therefore, we can say that the "storage" of Puer tea is produced during the later stages…

Let's start with a chart of the Longjing family relationships. The head of the family is Hang Jiahe, who has a daughter named Hang Pan with his former wife Fang Xiling. In the previous article, we mentioned the love at first sight between Hang Pan and Nationalist pilot Cao Jiayuan. Hang Pan is in charge of overseeing hundreds of acres of tea garden, including the famous Lion Peak Hu Gong Temple area. By "overseeing," it mainly means managing the garden rather than preventing others from stealing tea leaves. During the month or so when Longjing tea is picked and processed, there are many people bustling about on the mountain, making it difficult to steal tea. If it's not the picking and processing season, stealing tea would be pointless because the resulting tea would taste terrible and couldn't even be sold as vegetables. Hang Pan's oversight is essentially garden management. The People's Liberation Army took over ten days to capture Hangzhou, officially announcing its liberation on May 3, 1949. The first third of "Looking South of the River" describes the winter and spring before the liberation of Hangzhou. In her diary, Hang Pan wrote: "The fighting has started again, and everywhere…

The mystery of the raw materials for 99 Yichanghao. 99 Yichanghao is often positioned in the market as: the first large-scale production of Yiwu wild arbor tea by a private tea factory, and it is considered the ancestor of today's pure single-origin teas. (The concept of "wild tea" was popularized by Taiwanese people in earlier years, now we generally call it "ancient tree tea" or "arbor tea.") Prior to this, in the era dominated by the China Tea trademark, state-owned tea factories produced blended products. It's not to say that blending is bad, but after decades, the market remained unchanged, with packaging and raw materials remaining the same, which inevitably became monotonous. In contrast, 99 Yichanghao, with its orange packaging, still appears rustic yet fashionable even today. Regarding the raw materials, it can be definitively stated that the raw materials for 99 Yichanghao were indeed arbor teas. Why? Zou Shouyuan, an eyewitness, told me an unknown story. There was originally a town enterprise called "Yiwu Tea Factory" in Yiwu Township, which mainly produced baked green tea, under the management of the Yiwu Township Enterprise Office. In 1999, due to owing bank loans, the tea factory was unable to pay its…

Home Tea Storage and Warehouse Storage Evaluation 1. Home tea storage originated in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In the mid-20th century, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Pu'er tea consumption (except in Tibet) largely ceased on the Chinese mainland. Only Hong Kong retained a partial market for Pu'er tea. Hong Kong introduced Pu'er tea to Taiwan and some Southeast Asian countries. As such, due to its unique trading position, Hong Kong naturally became a distribution center for Pu'er tea. In fact, the concept of tea storage and even post-fermentation of Pu'er tea was born out of trade. In other words, although there has been a saying in Yunnan since ancient times that "grandfathers make tea, grandsons sell it" (another version is "grandsons drink it"), the initial concept of tea storage in Hong Kong was simply about stockpiling goods. However, over time, this gradually evolved into a more conscious approach to tea storage, with various methods being explored and moving towards professional tea storage. Due to Hong Kong's high population density and limited land, as well as limited warehouse conditions, along with the relatively small proportion of tea in overall trade, the capital and economic strength of those…