Pu'er man's drink

Barbara Dufrene, a French tea consultant, was aghast at what she saw in the tea department of London' famed Harrod's. A cake of 50-year-old Red Seal pu'er tea from China's Yunnan province was priced at 15,000 pounds ($24,900).

She forwarded the picture to friends, who were equally taken aback. "Is the price a mistake?" she asked. "It must have been 1,500 pounds. But even that is expensive." Her friends also questioned the high price, and even doubted that the tea was drinkable, considering it was 50 years old!