Chapter 2 Salute to Master

During the three years in the field of tealeaf wholesaling, I've got chances to understand the characteristics of all kinds of Chinese tea. Plus, I've meet many wholesalers, manufacturers, exporters, retailers, etc. in the industry. At the time, Puerh Tea was the prime product in the tea market. Due to this reason, I went back to Cheung Chau and followed Master Loo. He taught me the techniques in processing Puerh teacakes from raw tealeaves.

*Mr. Ho, Wing Sang Cheung Tea Co.


*Master Loo, The establisher of Cheung Chau Fok Wah Tea Company

The establisher of Cheung Chau Fok Wah Tea Company, Mr. Loo had worked in Ying Kee Tea Company of Macau when he was young. After his marriage, he moved back to Cheung Chow and started his own business specialized in making Puerh tea, "Chi Tse teacakes", Maiden tea", "Liu Bao Cha", "Grilled Ti Kwun Yin", and " Koo Lo Silver Pin tea", which mainly exported to Southeast Asia.

Mr. Loo is an honest, sincere, and very serious towards his work. Because of that, he went to Thailand and Vietnam many times to observe the production of Chi Tse teacake and Puerh tea, which will then ship back to Hong Kong for sale.

In the early 70's, teacakes from Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Myanmar were imported to Hong Kong causing the teacake processing industry in Hong Kong to boom all of a sudden. But after the revolution in China, many companies moved to China to escape the high expenses in wages and rent in Hong Kong.

Although the work of processing trainee was very harsh, I've learn a lot of techniques in processing teacakes, changes to teacakes during the storage period, and characteristics of raw tealeaves from other countries.

As technology advances, the equipment and supplies used in processing teacakes had changed. The fuel used to steam the teacakes changed from firewood to gasoline then electricity.The package used also changed from wooden box, to bamboo basket, bamboo bag, gunnysack, Nylon bags, and paper box. The processing method changed from steaming to pile up fermentation. But until today, only teacakes made by the steaming method can produce the best quality Puerh tea.
 

*1983 Liu Bao Cha
*Early Liu Bao Cha
*Macau Ying Kee Tea Company