Where is the puerh center?

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


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Nov 14th, '11, 09:57
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Where is the puerh center?

by needaTEAcher » Nov 14th, '11, 09:57

I am going to move to China next year for a 6 months or a year, assuming I can find work). I know of Puerh city, but I also remember learning about a city nearby that is the main hub for puerh. Where is it?

I want to work to pay the bills, but mostly I want to study and learn about puerh as close as I can to the source, including making it out to see the picking and processing in the spring. Where should I go? I know Yunnan, but where in Yunnan?

Thanks!

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Nov 14th, '11, 13:27
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Re: Where is the puerh center?

by brandon » Nov 14th, '11, 13:27

needaTEAcher wrote:I am going to move to China next year for a 6 months or a year, assuming I can find work). I know of Puerh city, but I also remember learning about a city nearby that is the main hub for puerh. Where is it?

I want to work to pay the bills, but mostly I want to study and learn about puerh as close as I can to the source, including making it out to see the picking and processing in the spring. Where should I go? I know Yunnan, but where in Yunnan?

Thanks!
Pu'er "city" is a town with a population of 200,000. Its eponymous contribution to puer tea is mostly of historical interest.

The commercial hub of Yunnan, tea and otherwise, is Kunming.

But if you have to ask....... :oops:

At least read the entire back catalog of The Tea Urchin, A Felicific Life, The Mandarin's Tea (c. 2006) for regional adventures in Yunnan.

Mao Cha used in private label tea is often bought and sold at the provincial level, things trafficked via Kunming are the plantation products of enormous puer factories.

It might, however, be a decent spot to find work, being a very large and technologically developed city.

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Re: Where is the puerh center?

by bearsbearsbears » Nov 14th, '11, 16:16

As Brandon mentions, Kunming is the best location in terms of transportation and finding a job.

Jinghong is the best "base camp" for Xishuangbanna, IMO, but there is not much job opportunity there that I am aware of. I have not been to Pu'er City/Simao or Lincang, so I can't comment on those places.

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Re: Where is the puerh center?

by bagua7 » Nov 14th, '11, 17:53

What is the weather like in southern Yunnan (Xishuangbanna) and Dali? I am visiting that area end of December and January next year as part of a holiday trip including Thailand and Lao.

Cheers.

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Re: Where is the puerh center?

by bearsbearsbears » Nov 14th, '11, 18:20

bagua7 wrote:What is the weather like in southern Yunnan (Xishuangbanna) and Dali? I am visiting that area end of December and January next year as part of a holiday trip including Thailand and Lao.
Generally speaking, XSBN is tropical: hot and humid. Dunno what it's like at that time of year. I was there in Spring.

I pray for rain while you're there; it may ruin your trip but it will make for good 2012 tea! :)

Nov 15th, '11, 07:53
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Re: Where is the puerh center?

by zhi zheng » Nov 15th, '11, 07:53

Xishuangbanna and Dali have very different climates.

See here:
http://www.weather.com.cn/yunnan/index.shtml
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/fin ... y=jinghong

In December/January Banna is generally dry and can be quite cool at night - particularly at higher elevations. The temperature swing is considerable. Menghai is a few degress cooler than Jinghong.

As bearsbearsbears has commented you have a basic choice between urban/job and rural/tea, unless you get lucky and find work which is tea related.

Lincang could also be an interesting possibility. IMHO Kunming doesn't have too much going for it: It can be fairly cold in the winter, they're building a subway system so the roads are chaos and the bus stations are miles outside the city.

Nov 17th, '11, 06:42
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Re: Where is the puerh center?

by yinwenqian » Nov 17th, '11, 06:42

i think kuming is better

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Dec 8th, '11, 01:53
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Re: Where is the puerh center?

by needaTEAcher » Dec 8th, '11, 01:53

I think I will search for work further south first, and if I can't find anything then I will shoot for Kunming, and if that turns out to be a no-go, then I think Wuyi mountain area! I want to go now!

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Re: Where is the puerh center?

by Spoonvonstup » Dec 8th, '11, 10:01

bearsbearsbears wrote:As Brandon mentions, Kunming is the best location in terms of transportation and finding a job.

Jinghong is the best "base camp" for Xishuangbanna, IMO, but there is not much job opportunity there that I am aware of. I have not been to Pu'er City/Simao or Lincang, so I can't comment on those places.
Also, Kunming is an awesome city! We only got to visit for a little while when we were living in China, but I cannot recommend at least visiting enough.

So much good food, beautiful weather and lovely parks basically everywhere, actual cultural diversity (which is very hard to find in China, at least where we were living in the North). Plus, there's the fun oddity that is the Yunnan Cultural Minorities Village. It's sort of like Epcot, crossed with a garden/zoo for minority cultures, crossed with a living museum, crossed with actually getting to sit and chat for hours with the last practicing artisans of crazy traditions and arts (like making cloths out of tree bark by steaming the bark off of the tree in the humid summer..).
I thought it would be kitchy and weird, which it definitely was sometimes, but you also wander around and actually get to meet these master craftsmen! And they're awesome people.

Plus, there's the entire Tea city of a tea market, which felt bigger than most small towns in America. Unfortunately, we were there during Chinese New Years, so it was like a ghost town, but we still met several really great people, and picked up great pu'er.

Kunming! Live there! If we ever move back (which we won't anytime soon), Kunming will be at the top of our list.

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