The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Cultural thirst drives China’s high-end tea boom Posted: 06 Nov 2011 12:05 AM PDT  Tea shop owner Sam Lam smells a 50-year-old pu erh tea cake in his shop in Hong Kong September 9, 2011. — AFP/Relaxnews pic "It's like magic," managing director Sam Lam told AFP as he prepared tea according to the Chinese ritual, pouring boiling water through rough leaves and then into tiny cups to drink, and spoke of the profits to be made. The tea is pu erh, a dark tea that is fermented after drying and whose taste mellows with age. Its history is thought to date back between one and two thousand years, with legends of growers in mountainous Yunnan province ferociously guarding their cultivation secrets. Over the past 20 years prices for aged pu erh have rocketed, while China has encouraged renewed development of a luxury tea culture which parallels that of wine — partly as a source of national pride in a home-grown high-end product. With over 70,000 tea businesses in mainland China, skilled buyers must taste tea in order to assess its quality, which only increases pu erh's mystique and sociability. "You can tell from the aftertaste, the smoothness," says Lam, pouring out cups with practised hands. The tea is sold in pressed round "cakes", wrapped in paper printed with bold designs that reflect the vintage of each one. Lam's father set up the business, Lam Kie Yuen, after moving to Hong Kong from the war-torn mainland in 1949. But the pair say it is only since the mid-nineties that the market for luxury pu erh — also, in its less refined forms, a staple of cheap restaurants — has exploded, with middle-class investors joining the wealthy to buy it up. The Lams are now selling tea from the 1930 to 1950 era for up to HK$200,000 (RM80,180) per 345-gram cake, having bought much of it in cheap truckloads from dim sum restaurants that closed down. "Growth slowed during the economic downturn, but it's still ongoing," said Sam Lam. "As the price is rising, people are buying it less to drink, and more to collect and invest." But luxury pu erh is not just bought to lay aside; it is identified with proud, ancient aspects of Chinese culture, in contrast with the cheap "made in China" goods that have spurred the country's economic rise. In Hong Kong's hectic Mong Kok district, fashionably dressed young men gather at a calm teahouse for lessons from qualified tea master Eliza Liu. "It's like a drug — I'm addicted now," said student Ngan Kan Shing, 21. "By discovering tea I feel that I've learned about China." He has been coming to classes for six years, but says: "I still only know the basics." The group examines the colour of each cup of tea before sniffing and then slurping it in respectful silence, as Liu talks them through the value of the aged tea. Grown before artificial pesticides and dried naturally rather than at a high temperature, it has a paler colour and a smoother taste. "Good tea is produced at higher altitude, and also depends on climate," says Liu. "In Yunnan, they say a tea tree can experience all four seasons in one day." The tea is served from small fine china tea sets, used with a tray that drains off excess water. The first cup of each brew is not drunk, as it is used to clean dust or residue from the leaves. After that, a good tea should taste different with every cup, say experts. According to China's state-run Global Times, one batch of top pu erh sold at auction for US$250 per gram in 2002, while rare Da Hong Pao oolong can also rival such prices. But Liu and tea professor Yip Man, who taught her the art, are sceptical of the eye-popping prices paid for some teas, preferring to emphasise tea's long-time role in Chinese medicine and thought. "Tea has a philosophy behind it, and it's about health. Tea has been very commercialised, but a cheaper tea may also be as good (as an expensive one)," said Yip. "The philosophy is about harmony, bringing people together, peace within the self." The price of pu erh is acknowledged to be boosted by a tight supply, and sceptics argue that investors buying aged pu erh may be made to look foolish as China's newly affluent drinkers move on to fresh fashions like Phoenix Oolong. However Lam says that although the astonishing growth of the last two decades may not be sustained, pu erh is still a good investment. He said a buyer of a good, inexpensive pu erh — at, say, HK$100 a cake — now could expect to make a 10 per cent return in a year. "But you have to choose the right tea," he said. Luxury teahouses springing up in London and Sydney indicate China might succeed in exporting its high-end tea culture. And Liu and her students feel meanwhile that they are tapping into much more than a fad. Student Ngan is evangelical about pu erh. "Before learning about tea, a lot of my friends believed the stereotype that tea is for old people. But now I think they're changing their minds," he said. — AFP/Relaxnews Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Brand-addicted Indians propel luxury sector Posted: 05 Nov 2011 07:45 PM PDT NEW DELHI, Nov 6 — India's luxury sales are expected to expand by a scorching 20 per cent annually until 2015, according to a new report, as brand-smitten consumers snap up big names to flaunt their wealth. Luxury sales were slow to take off in India a decade ago, disappointing retailers who had rushed into what they hoped would be the next China — a vast market of over a billion people with an eye for status symbols. But now Indian consumers "are quickly catching up with global trends", according to Neelesh Hundekari, head of Indian luxury retail at consultancy AT Kearney and author of the recent "Indian Luxury Review" report.  An office-worker walks past a billboard advertising a luxury watch boutique in Mumbai. — AFP/Relaxnews file pic India's luxury sales grew by 20 per cent to reach $5.75 billion (RM17.9 billion) in 2010, despite high tariff barriers, a lack of retail infrastructure and costly rents, according to the AT Kearney report. That figure is expected to rise at a similar pace annually to reach US$14.72 billion by 2015 — around half of the forecast US$27-28 billion for the sector in neighbouring China by the same date. "We expect this strong Indian upward trajectory to continue," Hundekari told AFP, with the market propelled by increasingly affluent and "brand conscious" shoppers. Indians are buying everything from high-end handbags, jewellery, electronics and cars to expensive wines and spirits, with all the big names present in the market from Gucci and Chanel to Porsche and Ferrari. Hermes has just launched a limited-edition sari range, while international high-end brands are spreading from niches in the lobbies of five-star hotels to branches in new shopping malls. The vast DLF Emporio mall, which opened in 2008, was built on rough ground on the outskirts of Delhi with a mission to sell only luxury goods — it now houses names including Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Dior. "This is just a beginning where the big boom is waiting to happen," said Sanjay Kapoor, managing director at Genesis Luxury, which distributes brands like Bottega and Cavalli. For many Indians, who are casting off the mantra of frugality espoused by independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, wealth is a novelty that they "like to flaunt", Hundekari said. "If they spend money, they want to get social recognition. They are not buying for intrinsic satisfaction — their primary motivation is to show off." The Internet and social media are also making it possible for luxury firms to connect with once hard-to-reach consumers in smaller cities and rural areas. Angela Ahrendts, chief executive of iconic British brand Burberry, told an industry conference in Delhi last month that some 500,000 Indians are among its 8.5 million Facebook fans. Also fuelling the lavish spending is the large amount of so-called "black money" on which people have paid no taxes. "They need to do something to do with it," said one analyst who did not wish to be named. India's luxury market is still weighed down by a combination of 35-40 per cent import tariffs on luxury goods and bureaucratic red tape. "World-over, customs duty varies from 15 to 20 per cent, but in India, it's much higher, making brands very expensive," said Pradeep Hirani, chairman of designer retailer Kimaya Fashions. Some Indians shop abroad for cheaper luxury prices but many of the well-heeled do not want to wait. Global luxury firms are pushing India to cut import taxes on prestige goods and to lift a 51 per cent cap on foreign ownership of Indian units that they say undermines their brand value. India is "looking at how we can make it for you people to come here", Commerce Minister Anand Sharma told the Delhi conference, adding that the government was considering raising the foreign investment retail cap. — AFP/Relaxnews Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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