A pleasant combination of: Fishing village, Seaside resort, Special Economic business and industrial Zone.
Long story short, 2 hr drive, 1hr. business meeting and a very pleasant working lunch.
We stop at a Dongguan style restaurant, typical we ordered more food than 10 could have consumed, there was 5 of us.
Tea of choice was Pu-erh (surprise surprise) a 3 yr. old shupu (cooked) no other info was available. Seems, this is pre-packaged for restaurant distribution, one pack-one pot.
We all agreed that this was a good compliment to our lunch and the kind folks gave me a sample. Most restaurants hereabouts, list Pu-erh by “age” eldest being the highest cost.
With sample in hand I head over to a friends shop, lets see if we can match the sample to something in her on-hand stock.
Bottom Line ... It was FAKE .. doctored to emulate Pu-erh.Don't I feel stupid .. drinking Pu-erh for 20+ years and still you can get faked out.
Check the dry tea BEFORE you drink it. .. As soon as I opened the package it looked bad.
2 comments:
Is nothing sacred in China? I love Pu'er tea. Drink it all the time. I am always concerned about food safety in China -- but it never occurred to me that evil vendors would ALSO try to doctor tea. Sigh...
The high cost of Pu-erh makes it worth faking. The sad part is I often eat at this place. I'll let them know about the Pu-erh, but only if the owner is arround. john
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