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Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: Apr 10th, '12, 14:35
by hop_goblin
Tead Off wrote:I have never seen Thai puerh. Never heard of it. That's not to say it doesn't exist. KMT farmers were more involved with opium production than tea after their exit from China. They needed money to fund their utopian dreams of counter revolution. It was the Taiwanese who helped them setup tea production in the 80's in conjunction with the Thai gov't as the pressure to give up opium farming was great and the chance of counter revolution was nil. The tea production focused on oolongs, Taiwanese style. Vietnam also ramped up its gaoshan production and these 2 producers still feed their lesser quality oolongs into the Taiwanese market.
I could see Myanmar, Lao, and Vietnam, having some puerh production as the border people are virtually the same as well as the wild tea that also grows there. But I have yet to see any Thai puerh and never saw any Myanmar puerh being sold in the markets of Yangon. Maybe in Shan State you can find. Never saw any Vietnamese puerh in the markets in Hanoi, either. Maybe they sell some closer to the Yunnan border. Yunnan's Dian culture was related to Vietnam's Dongson culture. 2500 years ago, there was plenty of trade between these 2 areas. Some historians say they were the same people.
I have never had a memorable tea from any border country. I had a pleasant green from Myanmar and Thailand but nothing that I would buy again. Worse for Lao.
I was speaking technically. But you are indeed correct, there are trees on the other side of the border as well. Cheers!
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: Apr 19th, '12, 14:12
by kasey
I have a little bit left of some sheng I bought a few years ago in Boston's Chinatown. It came in bags, believe it or not and was called "Green Tuocha". It's small twisted leaf, chopped up very uniformly. The fact that it's small leaf suggests that it's not from Yunnan (I don't recall) but it is so delicious...
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: Apr 28th, '12, 13:18
by needaTEAcher
I'm in Thailand now, and there is no Thai puerh that I have seen. A few overpriced Yunnan puerhs of course, and some decent rolled oolongs (think Ti Kwan Yin). Stickin' with the Thai Iced Tea for now, and I will update again from Laos.
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: Apr 28th, '12, 13:43
by gingkoseto
needaTEAcher wrote:I'm in Thailand now, and there is no Thai puerh that I have seen. A few overpriced Yunnan puerhs of course, and some decent rolled oolongs (think Ti Kwan Yin). Stickin' with the Thai Iced Tea for now, and I will update again from Laos.
If you have a chance, would you ask Thai people if they had any tea made by Chia Tai Group and what they think of it?
It's a large agricultural products company. They own chain supermarkets in China. Some 10 years ago, they started cultivating Taiwan style oolong in Sichuan and sell it in both their own supermarkets and some higher scale ones in their own tea store. But even their high end products are not super expensive. I only had a mid-range product of theirs, think the price is good for its quality, and wonder how the high-end product are.
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: Apr 28th, '12, 13:58
by Tead Off
Thai people generally don't know what Puerh is, Gingko. They like soft drinks and bottled commercial Japanese iced teas.
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: Apr 28th, '12, 14:29
by gingkoseto
Tead Off wrote:Thai people generally don't know what Puerh is, Gingko. They like soft drinks and bottled commercial Japanese iced teas.
Yeah I remember I asked you about the Chia Tai tea too
But it seems Thai Yancha tea stores could be even better than some in China!
My husband's friend's wife is Thai and he told me he had Thai "tea salad" in their place. I have yet to see it and complained him for not taking a few photos for me to take a look. I've read in a Chinese tea book that Chinese Thai people (Dai) makes "tea salad" too. I would love to try it and wonder how much caffeine it has
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: Apr 29th, '12, 03:34
by Tead Off
gingkoseto wrote:Tead Off wrote:Thai people generally don't know what Puerh is, Gingko. They like soft drinks and bottled commercial Japanese iced teas.
Yeah I remember I asked you about the Chia Tai tea too
But it seems Thai Yancha tea stores could be even better than some in China!
My husband's friend's wife is Thai and he told me he had Thai "tea salad" in their place. I have yet to see it and complained him for not taking a few photos for me to take a look. I've read in a Chinese tea book that Chinese Thai people (Dai) makes "tea salad" too. I would love to try it and wonder how much caffeine it has
Again, this is something I've never seen here. In Burma, pickled tea leaves are quite common and are often placed on the table as an appetizer or something to get the appetite going. Maybe in the far north of Thailand, they have some forms of tea salad but in general, Thais know little about tea. Here in BKK, where the concentration of Chinese Thais is great, there are many shops in Chinatown where you can find all sorts of Yancha like the one I sent you some time ago. But, the quality can't be compared to artisan handled tea. That doesn't exist here.
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: May 1st, '12, 19:12
by bagua7
Tead Off wrote:Thai people generally don't know what Puerh is, Gingko. They like soft drinks and bottled commercial Japanese iced teas.
So Westernised...me cries.
Have they also adopted fast food practices?
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: May 1st, '12, 19:24
by gingkoseto
bagua7 wrote:Tead Off wrote:Thai people generally don't know what Puerh is, Gingko. They like soft drinks and bottled commercial Japanese iced teas.
So Westernised...me cries.
Have they also adopted fast food practices?
Several years ago, McDonald lost money in America but survived on the big money they make in Asia
I remember Starbucks was forced to close up a lot of stores a few years ago due to finance crisis. I suspect they largely relied on their Asian stores to survive too
On the other hand, in the city (Syracuse) I lived for quite a few years, the most profitable Chinese food places were always take-outs. None (or barely one) of my favorite Chinese restaurants survived till the year I left. That's pretty much how the world is run, I guess
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: May 1st, '12, 21:21
by Tead Off
bagua7 wrote:Tead Off wrote:Thai people generally don't know what Puerh is, Gingko. They like soft drinks and bottled commercial Japanese iced teas.
So Westernised...me cries.
Have they also adopted fast food practices?
Mostly, Japanese style, but there are the usual cast of characters here ala KFC. Thais love sweets, too. It's kind of shocking to see all these school kids about twice the size of what they should be. I'm mainly talking about Bangkok where the global influence is very apparent.
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: May 3rd, '12, 06:16
by Tead Off
Having tea with Mr. Less earlier today at my place in BKK, I asked him if he ever saw Thai Puerh. He lives up north in Chiang Mai and frequents the tea shops in the north. He also confirmed that he's never seen any.
After drinking about 30 cups of tea, we were ready for some pizza and proceeded to the best pizza place in the world, right here in BKK. And, as all good Thais do, Mr. Less (who is not really Thai) had a coke with his pizza!
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: May 3rd, '12, 09:20
by JRS22
Of course people in the New York metro area think we have the best pizza. My son took a photo of his girlfriend (Thai) putting ketchup on pizza in Bangkok - not something you can or will do around here.
You have to share the address of the "best pizza in the world" so he can partake of good pizza on his visits to Bangkok.
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: May 3rd, '12, 12:52
by Tead Off
JRS22 wrote:Of course people in the New York metro area think we have the best pizza. My son took a photo of his girlfriend (Thai) putting ketchup on pizza in Bangkok - not something you can or will do around here.
You have to share the address of the "best pizza in the world" so he can partake of good pizza on his visits to Bangkok.
I grew up in NY.
The best pizza in NY is in Coney Island, Totonno's. Wood oven, imported Roma tomatoes from Italy, and, continuously run by the same family for 3 generations. They are famous.
In Bangkok, we have more Italian restaurants than in Italy! And, they all have a wood burning oven. But, the pizza I speak of is made in a gas oven like the ones in most of the pizza joints in NY. But, it's Roman style.
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: May 3rd, '12, 17:21
by gingkoseto
Tead Off wrote:
In Bangkok, we have more Italian restaurants than in Italy! And, they all have a wood burning oven.
That's amazing!
The last pizza I had in Beijing and the last pizza I had in Mexico were both made with layers of things manually
pasted on a pre-made flour cake
The Mexican (in Merida) one was even included in a travel book. I felt totally cheated
Re: Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam Puerh
Posted: May 4th, '12, 22:38
by needaTEAcher
I would do bad things to good people for some serious pizza. Best I've had in two years was from Costco in Seoul.
No dice on people knowing much about puerh, or recognizing that tea company mentioned earlier. Most people think I'm crazy for how much I love and know about tea. Found a decent tea shop in Chiang Mai with all Thai tea, and a touch of imported puerh, but they didn't know very much nd were a bit standoffish. Not what I loo for in a tea shop.
Can't wait to go back to the States and get proper pizza again!