China's premium-tea prices have cooled, but it's still boom time for some
Prices have dropped significantly since their highs last year. Charley Lanyon finds the experts divided over where the market is headed
Hong Kong's first auction of premium teas captured imaginations far and wide last year, when interest was piqued by the sky-high asking prices. One 20kg box of narcissus oolong tea was valued at nearly HK$1 million.
Free-spending mainland buyers, who had already driven up the prices of French wines and fine art, were now turning their attention to tea, it was suspected. When the oolong went under the gavel for well over the expected price at the Sensation of Tea auction, it seemed that the tea boom prognosticators had been proven right.
This year's auction - Fascination of Tea - showcased even rarer teas at even more jaw-dropping prices. One cake of Qianlizhen Songpinhao puer, considered one of the rarest teas, was valued at HK$2 million. But when the gavel came down for the last time on November 26, it was clear that something significant had changed. Many teas struggled to reach their minimum prices, and the HK$2 million puer went unsold.
So, what happened? Some bulls were left wondering if the market had already gone bust. Was the pot plugged by an economic slowdown and anti-corruption drive in China? Or did the global trend in favour of coffee and wine appreciation mean the future of premium tea was uncertain?
High-end teas - especially puer, a fermented dark tea from Yunnan province that improves with age - each have their own back stories and mythologies, and boast great cultural import as well as exceptional flavour. They have become potent status symbols in modern China.
