CITY GUIDE >Dining Out
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CITY GUIDE >Dining Out
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Simple taste needs cultivation
By Ye Jun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-03 09:23 William Irion, president of Irion Enterprises, a consulting company, moved his business to Yunnan province six years ago. He says he lost 20 kg with the help of pu'er tea and exercise. But he believes foreigners need to be educated in pu'er drinking.
"It is a tea unique to Yunnan, and most foreigners have to learn how to drink it," he says. "They might not like the first cup, but with the second and third cups, they'll like it." Although pu'er tea was popular for a long time in the West in the 20th century, Yunnan tea producers have been facing difficulties exporting tea to Europe and the US. The Mengku Rong Family Tea Company is known for its strong-tasting pu'er tea. Rong's family tea farms have trees that are more than 50 years old that adequately fulfill the requirements of organic teas, and have passed strict national safety regulations. But exporting to Europe remains difficult. "Import criteria in the European Union are strict, and we don't have enough experience or channels to work with European and American clients," says Rong Yulan, manager of the company. Meanwhile, foreigners say the Chinese need to do more to put its tea on the international market. Barbara Dufrene, from a tea consulting company in Paris, has traveled to China many times and tried Chinese green tea, oolong, pu'er and the "amazing" Chimen black tea. |
