"Davelcorp" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Is there any truth to his accusations? Are there a large number of
> fakes coming out of there? Or is his comment purely prompted by
> personal grudges?
>
Hi Davelcorp,

Not that I know of actually. There might be fake puerhs being imported into
Malaysia from China and elsewhere, but since they do not produce puerhs
there in Malaysia, I don't think they have exported any.

In the past, the puerhs we get usually came from the warehouses in Hongkong
and Guangzhou, these being the two areas where most puerhs were stored after
being produced in Yunnan and its regions.

In the late 70s (or early 80s, I have to check the records), Taiwan began
importing (stealthily) puerhs. After a decade or so, we have puerhs coming
out of Taiwan warehouses as well - though this is not usually the case, as
there were more consumers in Taiwan than exporters.

Thus we have mainly puerhs from Hongkong, Guangzhou and Taiwan warehouses.
From the late 90s onwards, more puerhs players enter the market and we have
puerhs from Kunming, Yunnan, etc warehouses besides those from Hongkong,
Guangzhou and Taiwan.

3 pieces of puerh stored in Hongkong, Guangzhou and Taiwan will end up with
different flavours. Kunming and Yunnan are often not considered ideal
storing locations as the climate there is too dry.

In the early 90s some Taiwanese tourists holidaying in Malaysia discovered
that Malaysia is a treasure cove with teas excellently aged and without the
signature flavours of the warehouses from Hongkong, Guangzhou and Taiwan.
This sparked an interest in the so-called 'Malaysian Puerh', which is puerh
imported from China sometime back.

Danny