Kunming Tea Industry Expo 2018

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I went to the annual Kunming Tea Industry Expo yesterday (2018 昆明国际茶产业博览会) for a look around. Snapped some photos so you could see what it was like.  

 

It was held at a large conference center 国贸 -- 昆明国际会展中心。If you know Kunming, it's not far from the old (now closed) Wujiaba Airport 巫家坝机场, off Chuncheng Road 春城路。No admission fee, but registration required. They give you a badge to wear around your neck and a program with a layout map of exhibitors and schedule of events. (You can click these photos to enlarge them.)

 

   

 

This was mainly a conference and expo targeting people in the tea business, of which there are many in Yunnan. Kunming has evolved into a nationally-important tea hub. New tea factory equipment, processes and techniques were featured in most of one building (the expo was spread over several buildings.) Here are two mechanical "sorters" for processed tea leaves. Bright and shiny; ready to install. 

 

  

 

Lots of exhibitors, however, were showing hand-made, one-of-a-kind teaware, such as teapots 茶壶 and covered cups 盖碗。Prices were not low, but selection was very good. Much of it was from Jianshui 建水 in SE Yunnan, famous for its clay 紫陶 and for its craftsmen. Other booths showcased Yixing pottery 宜兴紫砂。

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This exhibit (below) was family run, offering the pottery of a pleasant middle aged lady and her artist daughter. The husband was also there, sort of minding the store as the two ladies milled around, greeting potential customers. I talked with them a while.

 

Many of these teapot shapes have traditional names. This one below right is one of my favorites because it looks graceful and is also nice to hold. Has tactile appeal as well as visual charm. It's called the 西施 shape (Xi Shi,) named after one of the four famous beauties of Chinese antiquity.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Beauties 

 

   

 

 

A lecture area had open seating, but ushers would take you in to minimize disturbance. Lectures and demonstrations, panel discussions, sometimes video presentations. I listened to one talk about the tea of a village that I'd never heard of before. They had a stand of ancient trees 古树 over a thousand years old. The rest flew over my head. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course there was lots and lots of tea available. This time (I have visited this expo and others in prior years) I concentrated on getting to know more about some less popular teas. Spent a long time with a purveyor of Fujian white tea 白茶。He specialized in older white teas that had been compressed and carefully stored. Some were round cakes 饼茶 and others rectangular bricks 砖茶。He had some delicious tea from Fuding 福建福鼎, 2005 vintage for about ￥1,000 that I almost bought, but didn't. Restrained myself in time, but just barely. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Explored a booth selling very strong Sichuan tea compressed into large shapes, mainly for export to Tibet 中茗藏茶。This is the kind of tea originally transported up the Tea/Horse Trail 茶马古道 on the backs of strong porters. Quality was not always high, and many of these are grouped together and called "border teas." But over time they have aged and become smoother, much in the way that good Pu'er tea can become great Pu'er tea 50 or 60 years down the road. As you see here, some were 90 years old. I drank several of them here, but didn't buy. "Rich, but not complex" would be my thumbnail summary. 

 

   

 

 

Here and there I saw tea purveyors that were featuring the tea of one or another of Yunnan's ethnic minorities. Lots of tea is grown in places with significant Yizu 彝族, Hanizu 哈尼族 and Baizu 白族 populations. (The list is actually quite a bit longer.) 

 

   

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find a large store selling aged tangerine peel 陈皮。This is a prized ingredient in Chinese Traditional Medicine TCM/中医疗法 as well as being something that can add a lot to some Chinese dishes. I invested in a small handful of this 2005 product, which is not easy to find. On request, the sales lady would brew some up as an infusion and let you taste it. The best of it is air dried, but not in full sun. That improves the flavor. 

 

   

 

 

Along those same lines, I stopped off at a booth selling different kinds of limited-production chrysanthemum flowers. I enjoy chrysanthemum tea, and wanted to get familiar with some of the lesser known varieties. Some flowers were large enough that one bloom alone filled a big wine glass. Each one had a subtly different taste. Did the same at another shop specializing in rose tea. They had buds sorted into degree of opening: completely closed 关的，partly opened 微开，and fully bloomed 全打开。Each had a different flavor and bouquet. Bought some of these difficult-to-find "herbals" for US friends. 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Broke for lunch. Vendors outside the doors had cafeteria-style plate lunches available on disposable plastic trays for ￥15 each. No selection. Just took what they had and ate it up, sitting on a metal bench. Not bad at all, but the meat was sub-prime, mostly fat. Got a chance to rest my feet, which was welcome. That's a fried egg 煎蛋 on top of the rice 米饭。Lotus root 藕片 and bitter greens 苦菜。Potato slivers 洋芋丝; pickled cabbage 泡菜 beneath the meat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back inside, going to another building, found lots of hand-crafted Pu'er tea. Many varieties, many shapes and sizes, lots of them presented in an artistic way, not strictly utilitarian. These large Pu'er cakes, about the size of a large dinner plate (lower left), have lighter leaves arranged in such a way as to spell out a few old sayings 古话。

 

Lower right are two sizes of 七子饼 qizi bing. Pu'er tea is typically packaged in bamboo-wrapped stacks of seven 七 cakes 饼 each. They are often stored that way for long-term ageing, not separated until they are ready to be used. The usual size is 357 grams (those are on the right in this photo,) but smaller 200 gram cakes  (on the left in this photo) are also sometimes available. 

 

   

 

 

A few vendors had things unrelated to tea, but I was pleased to see that they were very few. Smaller expos tend to get over-run with trinkets and knickknacks. These brightly glazed ceramic flower vases from Taiwan, and the bracelets carved from petrified wood were two exceptions to the "strictly tea and tea stuff" policy. 

 

    

 

 

Some of the tea for sale was so nicely packed as to nearly be undrinkable. Who could bear to tear into one of these and actually brew it up? Guess these would be good gifts for the boss. Would gain you lots of face 面子, maybe help you get promoted. These were smaller Pu'er cakes (200 grams) -- one each from every famous Yunnan tea mountain (there are 8 major ones and several minor ones that tea people here generally know.) They thus present kind of a "Yunnan Pu'er tea tour." Each tea cake wrapper had the place of origin marked on a Yunnan map and the display boxes were hinged in such a way that they could fold together. Very impressive to me. I didn't ask the price and it was high enough to not be openly displayed. 

 

   

 

 

I didn't think I could top that no matter how long I walked around. Furthermore, by now I was carrying several packages. Called it a day and took the #62 bus back home. 

 

Summary snapshot of my "loot." Christmas shopping just about done. Some herb tea and some bamboo boxes. A good day's work, interesting as well as fun. 

 

   

 

 

[大肚男]

Always interesting to read your stories.

 

Man, I got sticker shock for the orange peel can at about $200/lb. ignorance is bliss haha

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@大胆男 -- Yes, it was expensive; I finally just cranked up my WeChat wallet and took the plunge. Bought several pieces, a few grams; wound up costing me about 50 Yuan. Enough to last a year. 

 

These were all from 新会县, a county in Guangdong (part of Jiangmen.) This is the most famous production center for aged tangerine peel in China (maybe in the world.) I knew almost nothing about it beforehand. Earned a 20-minute "curbside PhD," right there on the spot.   

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenpi 

 

They had several others which were less expensive, and some from 1997 and 1996 which were really outrageous. I was amazed to find a shop like this; where on earth could you expect to run into wide a selection of vintage orange peel? And get to taste them before buying? It's supposed to be good for the stomach and several other things having to do with regulating internal heat and qi.

 

 

 

[somethingfunny]

What do you plan on doing with the orange peel?  And the bamboo boxes?

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I'll use the bamboo boxes for small gifts when I go back to the US at Christmas or New Years. They are light and won't take much room in my suitcase. 

 

3 hours ago, somethingfunny said:

What do you plan on doing with the orange peel? 

 

That's a tougher question and, to be honest, I don't have much experience with the good stuff, the aged tangerine peel like I bought yesterday. I have some lesser citrus peel that I bought at an herb shop in Guangzhou 3 or 4 years ago, and I've used it to make a nice chicken wings dish. Combines well with ginger as a flavor note. (Tangerine and ginger chicken wings.) 

 

The lady at the booth where I bought it made some tasty ripe tangerine peel Pu'er tea. Just put a little in the teapot. I also tried a plain infusion of it with a tiny bit of honey. Both were things I'll do here at home. I hope to explore other possibilities now that I have some to play with. 

[pon00050]

Thanks! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post!

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You're welcome @pon00050. 

[somethingfunny]

I think I bought some pu'er that came inside a tangerine peel once.  I might still have it somewhere actually...

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I think I bought some pu'er that came inside a tangerine peel once.

 

That is often very good. A fine marriage of flavors. The mellow, earthy taste of ripe Pu'er and the tart, slightly bitter-sweet note of citrus peel. 

 

   

 

[Shelley]

Thank you for putting the effort to share this with us. It must make your visit slightly more work as you take photos and make notes either real or mental to go with the photos. I hope it doesn't detract from your enjoyment of the day.

 

I really like the bamboo boxes, I would have bought some too, are they designed for storing tea or for anything?

 

Thanks again.

 

 

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27 minutes ago, Shelley said:

I really like the bamboo boxes, I would have bought some too, are they designed for storing tea or for anything?

 

You're welcome, Shelley. They had some that were a perfect fit for round Pu'er tea cakes, but the ones I got seemed to be "general purpose" boxes. Well made and only 20 RMB each (roughly $3 US.) 

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Well, shame on me. Just now figured out that all of these bamboo boxes are actually made for compressed Pu'er tea and sized appropriately. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two sizes of round ones, suitable for large and small round tea cakes 饼茶 and rectangular ones, just right for brick tea 砖茶。

 

     

 

 

But that does not mean they can't be "creatively repurposed." 

 

[Shelley]

Well that makes sense, they do look made for that, but as you say they could be used for what ever you want, after all a box is a box.

[amytheorangutan]

I love your posts so much. So interesting and detailed. Really love the bamboo boxes, reminds me of the magewappa bento box I got from Japan... and the tea cakes oh dear... the pretty packaging alone would have sent me broke and citrus peel infused tea sounds amazing. Such great Christmas gifts! I even like your lunch

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Thank you, Amy. I am honored! These bamboo tea boxes do resemble bento boxes; had not thought of that. 

 

Last year, at the same conference center, I attended a similar expo which was dedicated to Yunnan's Pu'er tea. That was enjoyable too. Here's a link:

 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/54670-yunnan-puer-tea-expo-云南普洱茶国际博览交昜会/?tab=comments#comment-421112  

[amytheorangutan]

@abcdefg you went to tea school? Did you also make a post about your experience at the tea school? ?

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Yes, I went to professional tea school in Kunming starting three or four years ago. Had begun informally, one-to-one with a tea master, the year before. It whetted my appetite. Graduated at the intermediate level. with an actual diploma 茶艺师，中级。After that I had additional lessons for about a year at a smaller school, founded by one of the instructors who split off and established her own tea academy. It was very interesting and very challenging, as well as lots of fun. (No English spoken, anywhere along the way.) 

 

The other people in my formal class were all studying tea so they could use it in their work. Some were already in the tea business, but without official qualifications. Wanted to up their game. Three local university students were auditing the course for fun plus elective credit and I was doing it as a hobby. 

 

In a little while, I'll go back and see if I can locate some old posts about tea school and give you links. Here's the overall collection of tea articles, though it might not be complete: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/54133-tea-articles-a-users-guide/ 

 

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Edit -- @Amy --  Looks like info on the tea courses was scattered out, not all in one place. Fragments and some photos here: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/48538-chinese-tea-中国茶/ and here: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/48844-warming-up-to-pu’er-a-beginner’s-guide-普洱茶/. Also here: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/48134-south-yunnan-tea-mountains/ 

 

I would offer to go back and pull it all together into one article, but it has been too long ago and my photos are too scattered out. Sorry about that.