Late-night ramblings about the Puerh tea economics

[@cannibalisticwolf3319]

I personally think 2023 was a phenomenal year for the quality of young gushu.

[@knyghtryder3599]

I am a decent quantity, tongs and up, high end puerh purchaser , I travelled to Yunnan , but did not visit any tea areas , i did haggle at a tea shop for an hour or so in Ruili for a bag of Maocha , which turned out to be excellent jingu yang dai bai cha or something similar, my friend who spoke Mandarin didnt know anything sbout puerh and I was looking for wild/rough western/northern puerh , like baoshan , Luxi , Dehong or something like that but the seller didnt have and kept trying to bait and switch. I only speak local guang dong language which isn't well known in most of the areas we traveled. I bought coffe or drank coffee almost daily , so it seems you may have seen some of my fellow traveling doppelgangers out there , well i guess we were there more for business , for myanmar border trade , but i felt like a tourist , awesome experience!

[@JohnKay79]

Straight up honest answer.... let's say I have money to invest. Would you suggest I buy lots of different cakes from you and other farms/ tea sellers, to age for 10+ years and sell them later, or just stick the money in my investment portfolio?

[@michelsamson3689]

You are absolutely right NOW is the time to buy---this goes for the art market or anything else---your example of the housing market is absolutely right!1

[@samivayajd]

Sheng Puer, I know the sweetness builds with age. I have a brick from 2006 and it is far superior to my moderate 2016 cake. (I purchased 2 to age the second one) I don't mind younger Shou Puer cakes, but prefer those from 2018 or earlier. Something about the flavor does not appeal to me if it has not "rounded out" due to age. Like Bai chas, I love to fixate on the aftertaste that lingers on the palate. I've well over 30 tea blends in my collection, so now I am only focusing on building a stash of bings for storing, rather than consuming right away. This of course has only had me switching from purchasing tea to tea ware more frequently. I've started to collect Jianzhan glazed ware. I have often contemplated how global warming will affect the tea market when it comes to organic leaves. With the growing curiosity of Gong Fu Cha in the west, I would anticipate that the cost would inevitably drive up for consumers as it may be more harder to source "good tea" that can be trusted to drink. With the amount of detail that I learn everyday (thank you for your content by the way) there are other aspects to "justify" the rise in cost as a "specialty" product. At least, here in the Western US, where our tea culture is not rooted at all in everyday society. We heavily rely on those with connections to the Chinese market, but as you can imagine the amount of mark up prices we pay here VS what would be paid in China. As an artist with a small business, I understand the sale of a product when appealing to it's cultural significance. I can get tea for a lot cheaper online than from a designated Chinese Tea House here in the states. Same with items such as gaiwans and gong dao beis. I have grown smarter in where to search for certain products in which markets. I really enjoy your "lessons' in these videos. It's interesting to hear the business side of tea, rather than just a showy "sales pitch" of why we should buy your tea. Thank you.

[@canislupus2661]

hi! thank you for your detailed explanation of your thoughts. im on your boat. would you mind sharing a few cheaper sources with me? i'm through the first stage of tea experience an am now trying to find specialties and also good prices for dailies and providing friends and family. thank you!

[@VitaminCsk]

You have excellent way of explayning principles. Wery usefull for me - ripe puerh lover.

[@Bigislandchef]

I had much more time during the Covid lockdowns to pay attention to sourcing tea, so now I’m sitting on several KG of tea in my tea closet. Except for a cake here & there I’ve never done much long term storage, so I have well over a year, perhaps more, of tea on hand. I’m always open to purchasing more tea, but I have no “need or pressing desire” at this point. I know several folks who did the same thing. Perhaps this is part of the market force as well. Arguably my view is limited and the U.S. enthusiast market is very small in general and more so for Pu’er. I share because I wonder if this concept is more widespread around the world. Just a thought…

[@samivayajd]

Myself; also being from the US, I explained the huge contrast of the "tea world" in the West VS Asia. As an Indigenous person, I have come to appreciate the aspect of respect for the product and organic consumption of gong fu cha. It gives me a deeper consideration for the how the tea is farmed and processed by the workers and the care and attention they put into their product. Unfortunately, in a capitalistic society there would be no appreciation for such a thing, especially toward a simple leaf. What little we have here in the US, (I have a local Chinese Tea House fortunately) the tea is sold on the cultural aspect and "experience". Therefore the markup price is significant. Over the past 3 years of learning the world of gong fu tea, I've gotten a lot smarter about navigating my purchases for the best deals. Tea culture is non-existent in America and most people generalize as "tea' is simply dust or syrup.

[@farmerleaf61]

Exactly, buying tea is a luxury, and the Chinese tea enthusiasts already have a lot of tea from past years in storage. This is just about psychology, they don't feel safe at this time spending their money for tea, but since they are travelling everywhere and going to the restaurant, i'm not worried, they will want to buy tea eventually.

[@vgamedude12]

I'm one of those who prefers the younger puer. I'm new to puer in general but from all I've had so far I prefer the younger ones. Not really a fan of ripe either.

[@SimpleSlyman]

Any Lao Man E Sweet this year? Thanks

[@farmerleaf61]

Of course! My favorite tea.

[@Fra881]

@William can this be then a good year for you to try to source lao banzhang gushu?

[@thorarthur66ddz]

Does the yearly price increase of Puerh keep up with inflation?

[@farmerleaf61]

It typically beats inflation by a wide margin. I would say it has increased three-fold in the past ten years (and this is considered a steady growth, it is much less increase than the decade before).

[@Mandragara]

For those that haven't tried his yellow flakes cake, it has more Gushu in it than most Gushu cakes o_0 Does Puer tea have a futures system like for many other crops? Also I can say that people in Australia don't care about ageing. A cake that is 5 years old is already 'AGED' in many minds.

[@farmerleaf61]

I haven't heard of futures system in the puerh tea industry. The price starts relatively low early in the season, then increases as the buyers take orders, and usually drops as soon as heavy rains fall on Yunnan. A futures system would be hard to enforce with the tea farmers, I can't imagine them producing at a loss because they signed a contract.

[@Mandragara]

@@farmerleaf61 Hahaha that sounds about right. Have you heard of a book called "The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia"? They don't bow easily!

[@adriannacolleen5411]

Promo_SM