China | Beijing | Maliandao Tea Street

Since I had completely run out of the puerh tea I had no choice but to pop down to Beijing and replenish my stores. Loose puerh tea is available at the State Department Store in Ulaan Baatar, but it is hardly the quality I am accustomed to drinking. As I mentioned earlier there had been a devastating collapse of the Puerh Tea Trade in China so I thought it might be a good time to stock up on Puerh in Beijing at fire sale prices. I took a cab from the airport (Mongolian Airlines still flies to the old Terminal #2 so I still have not seen the huge new terminal yet) straight down to Wangfujing Street and checked into a fleabag hotel just a half block from the Foreign Languages Bookstore, one of my usual haunts in the Big Dumpling.

Before checking out the books, however, I headed for the Maliandao Tea Street in southwest part of the city. There are over 1000 tea stores in this area but I always return to the shop of Ms. Na, who has an especially good selection of black and Puerh teas. “Long time no see!” she announced when I walked in the door. When I first met Ms. Na three years ago she spoke no English at all, but now she had obviously learned some colloquialisms. We were also able to conduct a rudimentary conversation on the subject of tea. Hoping to set the tone for the upcoming bargaining I said, “Puerh prices have gone down, yes?” She readily agreed, then suggested we sample her shop’s finest Puerh. This was sixteen year old tea from one of the most famous Puerh producers in Yunnan Province. Six months ago this puerh was selling for 10,000 yuan ($1,463) a kilo. Now the price was 2000 yuan ($292) a kilo.

Loose Puerh — $292 a kilo after Tea Crash

It was certainly delectable, with a wonderfully clear orangish-amber color, a breath-takingly bracing fragrance, and a flavor to bring tears of joy to the eyes of even the most jaded tea taster. But it was a bit out of my price range. I was more interested in the $20 to $30 a kilo Puerhs. Fortunately Ms. Na also had a good selection of these. The slow sampling process began, and two hours later I had bought an assortment of both disk and loose puerhs of differing ages, two kilos of Yunnan Gold black tea (two different grades), a kilo of Qi Mun (Keemun) black tea, and a half kilo of Tie Kwan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy) Oolong. That, I thought, should be enough tea to last for the winter months.

The unfailingly gracious and charming Ms.
Na showing off a disk of seven-year old Puerh

Some nice disks of Puerh

See more on the Maliandao Tea Market.

China | Beijing | Maliandao Tea Street

Having exhausted my supplies of Yunnan and Qi Mun black teas and running dangerously low on Puerh tea I had no alternative but to wing down to Beijing to replenish my supplies. The day before I left Ulaan Baatar we were treated to ferocious dust storm and a snow storm simultaneously—Mongolia is of the few places in the world where this can happen—but in Bejing real spring had already arrived, with temperatures up into the low 70s F. Overhead was a faultless dome of blue sky, without a hint of Beijing’s fabled pollution.

I immediately grabbed my local tea consultant, Ms. R, and head for Maliandao Tea Street, one of the world’s greatest tea emporiums. This is a standard stop for me in Beijing. Although there are reportedly over a thousand tea stores on the street I always return to the shop of Ms. Na, who has a especially strong selection of black teas.

The estimable Ms. Na showing off a new brick of Puerh

I bought a kilo each of the highest grade Qi Mun and Yunnan Black and three bricks of Puerh.

Ms. R sampling the Qi Mun

Tie Kuan Yin Oolong

Although I am not a big fan of Oolong tea at Ms. Na’s instigation I sampled some new Tie Kuan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy) Oolong which she had just gotten in and ended up buying 250 grams. It is so hard to say no to the entreaties of the charming and gracious Ms. Na!

Ms. R virtually glowing after sampling the Tie Kuan Yin

Another tea seller in the same store

Nice selection of Puerhs