The mystery of the Swedish Puer
I happened upon a mystery and I hope that one of you wrapper-ologists out there might help solve it.
When I was browsing for other stuff on AliExpress some time back I noticed a Puer 100g cake among the “recommended products”. Something just seemed off, so I clicked it and realized that the text on the wrapper was in Swedish. Closer examination revealed that the motif on the wrapper also seemed distinctly Scandinavian. Intrigued, I wrote the seller and asked if he knew the origins of the cake, who it was originally produced for or anything else. He replied that he had no idea, in fact he didn’t even know the language on the wrapper was Swedish.
On a whim I purchased a cake.
Presumably this tea (or at least, the wrapper) must have been produced for someone who wanted to resell it in Sweden but then for whatever reason the order got cancelled and the Chinese manufacturer was stuck with a load of these cakes that then found their way to an Ali seller. My curiosity is piqued and it would be fun to figure out what happened.
The text on the wrapper is in Swedish and reads: “Break off a small piece of Pu’er, put it in a pot and pour fresh spring water. Cook it over open fire and enjoy a delicious, aged Chinese vintage-tea. Pu’er tea can be brewed multiple times.” (my translation) This is a rather unusual steeping-instruction. Interestingly it does correspond well to how coffee is traditionally brewed in the northern part of Sweden (“kok-kaffe” where coarsely ground coffee is mixed with cold water and then heated to boiling after which the coffee is allowed to sink to the bottom before drinking). I’m wondering if some entrepreneur thought to try and get the coffee drinking northerners to switch to Puer by recommending a familiar brewing method. The motif seem to support this speculation. If so, that endeavor must have failed since the Swedish Puer-community pretty much consists of me and a handful of others, as far as I know (slight exaggeration but not by much).
Anyway, sorry for being long-winded. I thought this curious and perhaps someone can make out something from the pictures of the wrapper, in which case I’d be grateful if you share your insights.
I have not tried the tea yet, but it has a faint, though pleasant, smell of tobacco, tar and minerals. No fermentation smell, though if it really is from 2008 then there wouldn’t be. Given the price my expectations are modest.
Steve
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BTW: This is ripe puer, obviously. The cake weights 103 grams. Apparently a 357 gram bing also existed at some point (the seller had pictures of one) but those were not for sale.
Generally speaking a 2008 ripe tea will still have some fermentation flavor if dry stored but might not have any with the right storage. While a tea made for the Swedish market is unusual it is not incredibly surprising. I know of teas made for the French market and I am certain there are teas made for the Russian market. It may be as you suggest something that was a business failure and some person in China got stuck with the bings. Also many teas come with an English version of paper on the inside of the cake. By this I do not mean the Neifei but another piece of paper often included with a bing. They often come in English as well as Chinese. You probably could find out more if you are able to read the Chinese on the back of the bing. That might at least tell you the tea factory.
Thanks. I’ll ask one of my Chinese friends about the characters on the back of the wrapper when the opportunity presents itself. It would be interesting to know where it was made. I just drunk a steep of the tea and found it… uninteresting. I brewed up 5 grams in a 100 ml yixing pot, at 95C, the liquor is clear with a deep brown coffee color. There are few stems or sticks in the tea, surprisingly clean for the price point with no unpleasant smell, so I only did one wash. The first two steeps were reasonably tasty with notes of chocolate and whisky. Mellow and pleasant enough but unexciting. I did not taste any fermentation but that might be the limitations of my palate. After the third steep it went downhill and after the sixth I gave up. These are just first impressions and I’m not that experienced with shou puer, maybe further sessions will reveal more. Perfectly drinkable but a bit boring to me, a more discerning drinker might not agree.
I would try again with more leaf. I use about 8g of ripe for 100ml. Might be better with more leaf.
Good call. I tried with 8g and it did become a bit more interesting. Nice thick and viscous for the first few steeps. Still a bit mellow for my taste but perfectly drinkable.
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