*I have being meaning to write this article since 2 weeks ago, but work kind of got in the way as always.
SCMP [subscriber only] recently had an article detailing the soaring prices of Pu er Tea and the potential of a bubble there. They go on to add that “millions of tea enthusiasts are buying up large stocks of puer tea and hoarding them as an investment, giving better and quicker returns than the stock market.??? Frankly told, I am not at all surprised being that China has This
A little background about Pu er tea.
Pu Er Tea “???” or Bo Li for Cantonese folks comes from the mountains of Yunnan. The tea can be sold as raw or cooked depending on how the aging process is done. Then we have the classification of both raw and cooked pu er as either green tea or post-fermented tea. Pu er can be either drunk immediately or aged which leads to it being compared to wine.
1) Rarity
Tea connoisseurs often compare pu er tea of various lineage, whether they are from Mountain A and how it has aged. There are even reports of Pu Er tea which have being aged from the Qing Dynasty and stamped/chopped with seals from late Emperors which often leads to further speculation. This rarity obviously brings about major premiums to the prices
2) Health Benefits
As Pu Er is a green tea, and with increasing reports from Japan as well as studies showing that Green Tea is beneficial to us humans with claims of prevention of cancer, slimming properties and what not.
With the above two factors and typical Chinese speculation, what next can only happen in a place like China now.
Although there have being many talks of a Stock bubble in China. Most folks would be surprised that certain stocks of Pu Er Tea rose over 300% from February to May 2006 this year even outstripping the red-hot Shanghai Stock exchange. It has since cooled off somewhat but you know it is big time when a radio station in Hong Kong had a show 3 weeks back talking about Pu-Er Tea and how common Hong Kongers can invest. They also narrate how the Tea trading district in Guangzhou is now lined with expensive Mercedes Benz and Sports cars where once there were only bicycles and cheaper Japanese cars.
After all, when people in China can invest upwards of US$50,000+ (RMB400,000)for 500gram of Pu-er tea, One can’t help but wonder whether this Tea Bubble is akin to the Tulip Bubble or the South Sea Bubble.
