Andrew S wrote: ↑Fri Dec 17, 2021 8:09 pm
yinyautong (and anyone else): something I've been wondering about is whether there is much of a market in Hong Kong or other places for modern puer (post-1990s) that has gone through traditional storage (a bit of wet storage, and then more naturally-humid storage), or whether modern puer is mostly stored in fairly dry conditions these days.
Sometimes it seems like puer from the 1990s will be the last of its kind, but perhaps I just can't see the local demand for traditional storage of new puer.
Andrew
Hi Andrew, I always want to try the tea before 2000. I envy you with the 1990s Menghai Green Label, which looks great ! I just started drinking tea a few years ago so the tea before 2000 are so expensive for me.
Frankly, I'm just a beginner in Pu Erh tea world so my answer may not be accurate. As far as I know, the "Dry Storage" is relatively a new concept and not a norm in Hong Kong before 2000 (I don't know the exact time). Before 2000, Pu Erh tea was much much cheaper than its value today. Most of the vendor would not spear many years to store their Pu Erh in dry place to age their Pu Erh tea as it was not cost effective. At that time, "wet storage" was seen as a technique to tame the new Pu Erh. According to a Hong Kong vendor who started selling Pu Erh tea in 1960s explained in their YouTube channel, basically no one would buy their Pu Erh tea if their tea cakes did not go through the "Technique" as the new raw tea cake were deemed to be dry, bitter and irritating in their first few years by their customers. That's why most vendors and Chinese restaurant (茶樓) in Hong Kong at that time would use their "technique" to accelerate the ageing process.
In addition, Hong Kong, where the land has always been precious, the storage environment of Pu erh has changed from above ground to underground, where the costs were lower but the environment were more humid. Also, the climate in Hong Kong is already humid and rainy enough. The unique climate and the storage environment make Pu'er tea mainly stored in a "wet" environment, and "wet storage" might come from this.
However, the trend has changed after 2000, I guess it might due to the very successful vendor who found the "dry stored 88 Qingbing" in Yunnan which had been dry stored for a long time. And later the 88 Qungbin were delivered and sold in early 2000s. Since then, people started to realise that dry stored Pu Erh with ages would simply more delicious. And dry stored Pu Erh has become the mainstream.
I may be wrong, someone please correct me if I gave a not accurate answer. Thank you .
