Happy Birthday: 生日快樂, Sheng ri kuai le

Time to catch on a few family items:
Long Feng Tai 龍 鳳 胎 Dragon and Phoenix Twins. Now 24, Andrew and Heather share their birthday on Friday 4/18
Heather in Fiji with some of the local kids.

Andrew models a Tea shirt:
Ben celebrates birthday number 2 ....
Robin (Ben's dad) celabrates making it this far ... Yes that's a cup of tea, the beers for Ben and his pals ...
Robbie picked up a Volvo a couple of weeks ago ...
A couple of weeks back, the truck rear door "blew out" .. stress from new lift shocks. $625.00 later we have a new rear door !!

Info for Annette

“Hi, We have just returned from Thailand where we experienced the tea ceremony but did not buy the cups etc for fear of breakage. Now that we are back home we cannot find a supplier. Could you let us know where you got yours from please. We love the 2 cups on a tray (1 being the sniffing cup) and the only place I have seen these since is on your website. Thank you in advance for your help.”
Regards,
annette

Being at the source of tea and related items, I tend to forget that we don't all have the same ready access.

Annette .. thank you for your e-mail .. FYI there are sources on the Internet. Just a few that I know of:
http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=index
Check under Teaware-Cups
http://funalliance.com/tea/yixing.htm
http://www.holymtn.com/teapots/tea.htm

This could be a promising site for tea: http://www.skip4tea.com/

Hope this sets you on the right path ... if not just drop a note and I'll see what I can do. I'll be in China for an other couple of weeks.
best regards
john

Taipei - Ying Ge - San Yi (Updated with Pictures etc)

Arrived Taipei Wed. afternoon .. no travel problems. NOTE there was an additional security check leaving Shenzhen before entering the immigration / customs area. Only for dual registration vehicles.

Taipei at this time of the year reminds me of Paris .. it just does, filtered sunlight, tree lined streets .. busy sky's .. a general lightness is the air, feels good.

Wed. evening, unfortunately Dawn (Tim's girlfriend) was studying for a French language examination, so just Tim and I for dinner at the Miramar Garden, great meal, a special thank you to: chefs Andy Chiang and John Hu.

Taipei 101 at the: Lower Right Pushpin .. Miramar; upper left.

Thursday, most of the morning at the factory .. afternoon: a stop at YingGe .. then off to San Yi

Ying Ge ..The Parrot, hard to miss this place..This simple, unassuming tea service is EXTREAMLY well made and esthetically pleasing. Taipei City in the north, San Yi, south east pushpin, approx 2 hr drive

The weather was just perfect with mix of clouds, strong sun, refreshing breezes and NO rain...(unlike Paris) SanYi; the epi-center of Taiwan wood carving. This table is over 15 feet long and is SOLID (hard to tell with the surrounding statues) The sheer size of some the tables must be seen to be appreciated. Yu Hwa Ceramics studio. What a great find .. hand crafted ceramics by the owner / artist . Mrs. Yeh, wraps a present (for Patrick)  Four of her friends are visiting today, from Kaohsiung. Using products made by herself, Mrs Yeh serves tea. (for 7)A nice close to a fun visit. .. Xie Xie Ni

Too much Ado about water

We encounter a plethora of articles that relate to the betterment of our tea consumption via the quality of the water.

Some times its best to just cut to the chase:

Call it a Dutch treat ...

Taipei in my sights

All being well, I will be in Taipei Wed. afternoon, spend a couple of days and back to Hong Kong/ China on Friday.

A short trip takes most of the day: Dongguan to HK 2 hr drive, 2 hrs at HKIA (international flight) 1:45min flight .. 1:30 drive to Taipei.

Matt is back on the Brisbane to Hong Kong bus, due to arrive in Dongguan late Friday evening. The next couple of weeks look to be Very Very busy.

B 4 T -- A Deck

As part of on going home projects .. It was time to finish up the deck I started 6 months ago .. sounds bad, but, about 4 1/2 of those months I spent in China. So last weekend #2 son Trevor came over and we knocked it out by Sunday noon.
The basic foundation is finished ... 365.76 centimeters, square. That's 12 feet in old money.
Trevor drives a few supports as we lay the decking..

Trim off the ends .. and I'm spent.

Some ground cover around the perimeter, and we are ready for Tea

Now comes some finish work and screens ..but that will have to wait as I'm back in DG China. But a little bird (Robin) let me know a contractor showed up when I left and a new driveway and front entry is under way ... YES !!!!!

One-Off Pu-Erh

A friend of a friend, visiting from Yunnan, passed on some tea for me to try: (Xie Xie Ni)
Da Ya, a Gold Medal Tea, from the: Ming Hai factory. Golden Needle White Lily, 2007 tea. An interesting package with the New China Food safety Stamp and Seal.
Outer box is a bit mundane, the inner wrapper is of good quality paper. The "Inner Ticket" compressed with the tea has a "gloss" finish and is easily separated from the tea (this is a first)
A well formed Shu-"Cooked" brick,(250gms) nice strong colour. The resultant tea is strong with a wake-up kick and seems to produce brew after brew. The tea delivers a strong first brew (after a single rinsing) The taste is very pleasant, simple, insomuch it maintains as it first delivers. Never having encountered this tea in any of the places I visit, (I'm thankful for the gift).. just as well as it is a tad on the "potent" side.

Up-Up and Away

Time to jump back on the Dongguan Bus. With luck I should arrive HK Friday morning and into Dongguan Saturday for lunch.

Sorry for the lack of updates but business and personal commitments have dominated these past few weeks.

Duck Soup

Coming to a restaurant near you....

Day in the Park

Lazy day in Guangzhou park (in the old embassy district) before I headed home.

 

State-side for a few

I get the chance to be home for a few weeks, what with one thing and another. This weekend I'll dig into my stash of new tea and related stuff.
In the meantime check out some of the: Non-polluting recycling efforts in Dongguan China.
And where do all those plastic bags go ? Road bed ...
This is what you see when roads are opened up for sewer repair.

Tuesday and Out of China...

As others set out on new adventures .. I head home .. lucky me.

As a NOTE to travelers:
I've bounced around SE Asia / China for 20+ years. Today was the FIRST time ever, I had had bags inspected at Customs ! The recent terrorist activity in XiAn, Tibetan unrest/riots and the upcoming Olympics have all added to heightened security at China's / HK's points of entry/exit.

On the lighter side, the Customs inspector, commenting on the X-Ray image, .. "That's a lot of tea" with a smile .. Tea does make life better.

Too Much Stuff ???

Last minute changes add a certain amount of spice to ones life on the road.    A change, long in the planning, only came to light as of yesterday. Now I will return to So. Cal ahead of schedule and attend to a few things in person.

My corner of: So.Cal

Good timing in a way, as I need a new travel authorization document issued by HRH diplomatic corps in DC.
 It only took 18 months to fill my current passport!!!

My corner of: So China

So all that said here is my latest collection of "bits and bobs" Yes THREE cases full of Tea stuff.     Not to worry  only two are coming back home. One stays in hotel.  As you can see one of my purchases is a tad longer than a 32" case ..
No problem;  I "engineered" a fit .. the old adage: "If it doesn't fit, get a bigger hammer." I finally picked up a beautiful; Black Granite Table. Ok! so that just one case, "What's in the other?"  "Surprise."

Big plans for Saturday ..Then ! the bell tolls ???

Picture of my weekend plan ...just need a red hatPhone rings, very early Sat am .. this does not sound good ..
It's the sound of: deification intersecting the rotary oscillator .. now its back to the "Salt Mines"

Details on Arbor Pu'er tea

Upfront- disclaimer, copied verbatim from printed text.
An interesting read, but requires an attentive mind. (with an interest in Pu'er)
Original Chinese text and link included (fortunately a cut and paste)

Analysis on the Quality & Characteristics of Arbor Pu’er Tea.
By: Cao Fanrong, department of Tea Sciences of South China Agriculture University.

Currently we often see “arbor” and “hundred year-old arbor” Pu-er Tea on the market, but what is arbor Pu-er Tea? What is its advantage of its qualitative characteristics? Aiming at these issues, we hereby make a brief analysis in the following.
According to the branch habit of tea trees we usually divide them into three types, namely arbor, semi-arbor (subarbor) and shrub.
The arbor te tree is usually high plant with straight posture, monopodial branches, clear trunk, main and side branches, as well as long distance from branch to the ground: The big wild tea trees discovered in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan are usually over 10m in height with the diameter of the main trunk wich can be closed up by two people.
In recent decades, may ancient big wild tea trees were continuously discovered in southwest China. In 1961, a big wild tea tree with a height of 32.12m and a tree round of 2.9m in the dense forests on Dahei Mountain in Yunnan Province (at 1,500m above sea level), which exists individually and ages at around 1,700 years old. In 1996, a wild tea tree with a height of 25.5m, bottom diameter of 1.20m and an age of around 2,700 years was discovered in virgin forests of Qianjiazhai, Jiujia Village, Zhenyuan County, Simao Region, Tunnan Province, which is the oldest wild tee tree in the world. Also there are the thousand-year-old wild tea tree in Lancan County, Yunnan Province, the two wild tea trees on Kunlu Mountain and Banshan Mountain in Pu-er County, wild tea trees with diameters above 30cm dotted everywhere in forests, more than 10 tea trees with diameters above 1m in Yunnan, and some wild tea tree groups in certain areas.
According to the incomplete statistics, wild tea tree have been found in 198 places across 10 provinces. In the world, China is the country where wild trees were first found, whose tree bodies are the biggest, quantity is the largest, distribution is the widest.
According to the evolutive rules of tea trees, the arbor tee tree with high crown belongs to original type. Subarbor tea tree has medium plant with clear main caulis and short distance from branch to the ground: shrub tea tree has short plant without no clear main trunk and with branches from the position near to the ground and from the root.
According to the evolutive law of the trees, shrub tea trees with small crowns belong to relatively evolved type. Therefore, in northern tea production area, most tea trees belong to subarbor and shrub types, which are most cultivated at present.
Poly-phenol substances are closely related to the color, taste and scent of tea, its strong stimulation and convergence play a decisive role to the thickness and intensity of the tea taste, amino acid is the main substance ensbling refreshing and smooth taste of tea; Sugar is the important substance enabling the sweet taste of tea: Theine tastes bitter and water soluble pectin is of viscosity.
The key process creating the unique qualitative characteristics of Pu’er tea is pile-fermentation, which substantially fulfills a series of reactions, in the actions of enzyme, heat and humidity, namely oxidation and contraction of tea polyphenol, decomposition and degradation of protein and amino acid, decomposition of carbonhydrate, as well as aggregation and contraction of all productions, then generate more complicated biochemical reaction process of compounds benefical to the tea quality, stimulating the transformation of olive, fresh, scented and strong-tasted dried green tea into brown, scented and mellow Pu’er tea.
However, in the process of pile-fermentation, the oxidation of polyphenol, decomposition and degradation of protein and amino acid are profound, polyphenol forms secondary substances as thearubigins, thearubigins and some theaflavins after ageing and oxidation, which are substances creating mellow taste, but ploythenol is lost by large, which reduces its thickness and fragrance.
Therefore, the more the polythenol in the dried green tea before ageing and oxidation, the more mellow taste and dense scent the Pu’er tea maintains, the better the quality. Otherwise, the Pu’er tea may be of light taste, less scent and inferior quality for the decrease of inclusive substances.
Arbor tea trees usually have olive, big, smooth and shining leaves with gradually extended leaf apexes, the palisade tissues of leave flesh consists of one layer of cells. Therefore arbor tea trees often have delicate treetops and strong trunks with long nodes, big buds and abundant substances, as well as more polythenol key to the intensity of the tea taste, higher content of theine, especially higher content of simple catecholase. Therefore, it has lower content of polythenol if being processed into dried green tea, and has lighter taste, less scent and inferior quality if being into Pu’er tea after ageing and oxidation.

Quality & Characteristics of Arbor Pu’er Tea

“The Journal of International Tea”, 2007 edition provides a tantalizing list of articles in both; Chinese and English: So it is worth getting a Hard copy. (I got this one from a friend)
NOT all the articles on the web site have the English version (frustrating)
Analysis on the Quality & Characteristics of Arbor Pu’er Tea.
By: Cao Fanrong, department of Tea Sciences of South China Agriculture University. Other articles of note, printed in English
The Six Famous Pu’er Tea Mountains -- Yiwu
The Six Famous Pu’er Tea Mountains -- Nannuo
http://www.teaspecial.com/default.asp
Web site Main page

http://www.teaspecial.com/zz15.asp
“The Journal of International Tea”, 2007 Web site is in Chinese, so just hunt around. Unfortunately I could not find an English version of this fine article on-line. http://www.teaspecial.com/new/News_View.asp?NewsID=403

Foreword (For Eword, as printed)
The price of Puerh Tea is hiking. From origin place Yunnan to distribution centre Guangdong unto rising markets Shanghai and Guangxi, the price of Puerh Tea is hiking successively, and there is no evidence to show a suspend. As for the reasons of price increasing, there are various opinions.
Some people believe that too many dealers assemble in Yunnan to buy while the output of raw material is limited, certainly causing its price going up in right ascension and so the price of Puerh Tea products. Some people hold that many Zhujiang Delta collectors purchase and regrate Puerh Tea in large amount for its specific character longer storage more fragrant. Meanwhile a few bankers are operating, which results in striking jump of Puerh Tea price different every day.
Other people think that in the last two years the local government and manufacturer of production have hammered out effective promotion projects with successive impression and popularity of Puerh Tea to publicity. So, a great number of consumers are attracted to buy and try, and the consuming group of Puerh Tea is extending rapidly.
On the point of view of economics, when supply is larger than demand, the price is going to fall; when demand is larger than supply, the price is going to rise. The reason for price rising of Puerh Tea is within this economic rule. However, there are more questions under the event. Now that the reason for price rising of Puerh Tea is due to the prompt increase of demand while product yield has not been promoted adequately, then why is there such a quick increase of demand? If this demand is actual and consuming, or just some other element effecting? We must recognize the real value of Puerh Tea before answering those questions.
Puerh Tea is widely regarded as a collecting article with collecting value and long-term increasing potential for its specific character longer storage more fragrant. However, a lot of people have neglected this prime value drinking, while focus too much attention on its characters as collection item. The original attribute of Puerh Tea is drinking, which is consumable. Even the collection value is based on its drinking value. The taste of Puerh Tea will be better after a period of storage; therefore its value is promoted than the initial period of production.Drinking is the only way to make its taste value come true.
Collection is an approach nothing more than Puerh Tea value promotion, never the way to realize the value.Consequently, the consumption options of Puerh Tea can be classified into two generally: first, collection, which is favored by consumers who have the economy power and investing foresight. They focus on its increasing potential of value for the exchange of profits. Second, consumption, which is the choice of more and more people joining to enjoy Puerh Tea for its widely accepted multi remedy functions.The quick direct consumption of Puerh Tea reflects its popularity on quality and taste while brings its drinking value into play instantly.
However, collection is a technique to improve its quality and can't completely reflect the really status of consumer market. Moreover, this technologic process faces not only the risk of collecting skills, but also the influence by macroeconomic environment. Therefore it is a game for the people with higher anti-risk ability.The price of Puerh Tea is hiking, result of common function of material and consumer markets.
The price rising interprets the return of its true value. Meanwhile, we cannot neglect some short-term operations, which lead to market fluctuate too much and impact the trust of consumers. Dealers of Puerh Tea should make a right decision in business.

http://www.teaspecial.com/new/News_View.asp?NewsID=401

国际茶讯 International Tea information
1. Japan has put Chinese Green Tea into key import check list on pesticide residues On April 5th, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare made the decision and announced to reinforce import check on Chinese green tea and large peanuts exported to Japan from the very date. The check proportion of green tea has been increased to 50% while large peanuts to 100%. It is said by Japanese officials that the recent green tea exported to Japan from Shanghai has been checked out with triazophos over the limited amount of 0.05 in Interim Criteria; while in last three months for two time large peanuts exported to Japan from Shandong Province had been check out with BHC over the limited amount of 0.01 in General Criteria. Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare made the decision to put Chinese Green Tea and large peanuts into key import check list on pesticide residues. According to the statistics of Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan imports from China annually green tea 1,232 deals of 9,488 tons, blended tea with ingredient of green tea 375 deals of 1,119 tons, and large peanuts 1,081 deals of 18,839 tons.

2. Sri Lanka Rank Number One in 2006 Tea Export The statistic data of International Tea Committee has shown that Sri Lanka ranks number one in 2006 tea export trade with quantity of 314,831 tons, increased 5.37% than last year, while green tea exported 3,437 tons which is 25.71% more than last year. Russia is the largest export tea market for Sri Lanka with quantity of 59,272 tons in 2006, increased 12.17%; UAE 44,127 tons, increased 17.41%; Syria 30,573 tons, increased 10.69%; Iran 27,880 tons, increased 12.01%; Turkey 13,344 tons, decreased 20.58%; Iraq 12,066 tons, increased 11.89%; Japan 10,899 tons ，increased 28.63%; Jordan 9,473 tons, decreased 21.33%; Ukraine 8,282 tons, increased 9.68%; and Tunis 7,992 tons, increased 35.48%. The above mentioned ten countries consumes 71.12% of 2006 Sri Lanka total tea export.

3. New Taste of Tea is challenging Russian Market Black tea is the traditional product consumed by Russian residents. Before the 90's of last century they knew there is only one kind of tea black tea. Nowadays black tea is still the preferred product by Russian and takes a market share of 86%. But the tea products structure in Russia market has been changing. They are trying other tea products while keeping the tradition of drinking black tea. According to the information collected by the Company, the market share of black tea in Russia had deducted 2.2%, while green tea has reached 8% and been keeping growing in distribution. Furthermore, consumers are attracted by various flavor tea (blended tea with flora flavor of rose, hawthorn, and chamomile). Recently such products, especially black tea with lemon flavor, have achieved a visible increase to market share of 5%. In the past flavor tea and fruit juice tea are sold in super cities generally. Now it is stepping to cities of state level. Any blended tea can be produced as liquefiable tea, which is drinkable hot or cold while keeping its own unique flavor. Currently there are few kinds and small quantity of liquefiable tea in Russian market though they are popular. Experts and tea products dealers are quite firm about the bright future of liquefiable tea.

List of web sites for this Magazine/Journal:
http://xianxianchinatea.com/
http://www.cg.b2b.cn/
http://www.chentea.cn/
http://www.cmstea.com/
http://www.dianhong.com/
http://www.dingshantea.com/
http://www.fhtc.cn/
http://www.jingnantea.com/
http://www.jinxianxuan.com/
http://www.junzhong.cn/
http://www.longyuanhao.com/
http://www.lstea.com/
http://www.lyhtea.com/
http://www.nanyantieguanyin.com/
http://www.puerfh.com/
http://www.pu-ertea.cn/
http://www.rchtea.com/
http://www.sanleaf.com/
http://www.tea108.cn/
http://www.teaspecial.com/
http://www.yncccy.com/
http://www.yndch.com/
http://www.yungong.com.cn/

YiXing Tea Shirt

Andrew "I'm a little teapot, hears my handle, hears my spout"The Ultimate tea shirt, a Robin masterpiece.

Sunday Lunch

Sunday lunch .. head over to: “Fat Mothers Fragrant Pizza” shop in Chang Ping .. start with a few flat toasted cakes and then beef noodles...
比薩餅 Bi Sa Bing or 薄烤餅 Bo Kao Bing, whatever works for you ..
Locally we use BoBing, for most Flat cooked cakes-pizza-tortillas etc.

The Sunday extravaganza: "Are the noodles ready yet ?".. "One min, only one min more"
Fresh hand made noodles in a great soup broth ... nothing better

Saturday - Part III -- Special Order

After all this tea-isum .. time to eat.
We change our plans and abandon the ChaShan visit and head back to Dongguan city.
Long story .. short version:
There are 4 tea shops on the 2nd floor of our favorite DongCheng shopping center. One is Mrs Yangs (The BEST) ..one of them tends to carry products of "Good / Taiwan" quality but the asking prices are extravagant to say the least. On items I tested their prices are double that of the same products in other local shops (one needs to know where to look) this shopping center sees a lot of foreigners (Hong Kongers -Taiwanese - Singaporeans - Westerners etc.)
In the "expensive shop" I see the Granite tea table I MUST have .. asking 3,600 RMB.. Too much .. Beautiful .. but too much .. Hell the Scottish Parliament would pull my passport if I knowingly paid twice the price .. so hence the "PLAN"
The black granite table with dark red supports ...
Exquisite carving detail ..
A lustful look through the window .. just like an 8 year old with his pocket money
Now the cunning plan "Me Lord" .. Armed with pictures I walk the twenty seven steps to consult with Mrs Yang .. She thinks she can get me the same table from her source .. we estimate the cost added 200-300 RMB profit (Depending on actual cost) now I'll wait and see if she can get one ...
Yes .. I bought tea .. but more on that later ...