There’s a small subset of pu’er drinkers in Taiwan who buy large amounts of pu’er for investment, not unlike investing in stocks or bonds. While they tend to be serious drinkers and value the quality of their teas, it’s a slightly different mindset, with different intentions. I’ve been curious about this for some time, and recently had the chance to sit down with my friend’s parents, who’ve been doing this for over 10 years.
The Huangs are serious tea drinkers, both husband and wife. When they were younger they mostly drank Taiwan oolongs, and before the early 2000s didn’t really hear much about pu’er in Taiwan, except for the occasional shou pu’er. As pu’er became more popular, they had a few friends who started buying large amounts as an investment. So in 2010, they decided to give it a try, and started buying Dayi (大益) by the jian (which in most cases is 6 tongs, i.e. 42 cakes).
Dayi is the main pu’er brand that’s used for investment. It’s become somewhat notorious for how its prices have risen, largely as a result of this mentality. It should be noted that the name 大益, which in 2005 went into widespread usage for what was formerly known as the Menghai Tea Factory, loosely translates to “great rewards.”
The Huangs stressed to me the importance of avoiding fake Dayi, of which there is much in Taiwan. So they buy all their Dayi from the same reputable dealer, who also keeps track of what teas they’re holding. So if he gets a large order, he can come back to them and see if they’re interested in selling. To date, they haven’t sold anything back. In part because they feel the tea has more room to gain in value, but also because they hope to drink some of it. They feel much of it will begin developing the aged profile they particularly like as it gets closer to 30 years old.
Although they live in Taipei, they store their pu’er in the family home in Tainan, in a room with air conditioning running 24/7. They feel the conditions are better in Tainan, because Taipei receives so much rain and has greater temperature swings throughout the year.
Investment-grade Dayi storage is quite different from most other pu’er storage. The emphasis is on particularly slow transformation, in a very clean environment. If even the slightest tea oil stains develop on the wrapper, or there are bug bites or torn edges, the resale value drops significantly. The Huangs have found that excessive heat, more so than humidity, is the cause of this. So the a/c is set to keep the temperature below 26 C (78 F) at all times. Humidity is not separately regulated, but is controlled by the a/c.
Some of the earlier productions they purchased came in bamboo crates, rather than the now more typical cardboard boxes. To reduce the possibility of bug infestations, they removed the tea from these bamboo crates and moved them to cardboard boxes. This is the degree of caution that goes into their investment.
Part of the argument for this very dry storage approach is that if you wait long enough, the quantity of a given tea in the market will continue to dwindle. Especially as you pass major milestones, like 20 years. At that point, if you’re sitting on a large quantity that has pristine storage history, its value will be especially high.
When they’re ready to invest, they visit their dealer and try a range of teas, especially the more expensive ones, many of which are specialty productions only made in one year. With teas that are more common, like 1301-7542, they sometimes buy multiple jians without even drinking first. These more famous recipes are relatively low-risk; they have a proven track record.
But judging a tea early on is tricky. It takes at least 5 years to see where the market is trending for a given tea. And closer to 10 years to have any kind of guarantee. At which point, if it is a good investment then the price is already too high to buy in. In that early stage there usually isn’t much hype around a tea, and with lesser-known recipes it’s a gamble.
When they’re assessing these teas, they’ll look for huigan (returning sweetness) and houyun (throat sensation), which they take as indicators of good things to come. But it also doesn’t entirely matter if you like a tea; that’s not the sole objective here. Your own tastes will always differ from the market. It’s more important to have a diversified portfolio that includes teas that are likely to rise quickly in value, for instance the 2011 Jin Dayi and 2012 Yin Dayi.
Of all the teas in their collection, a handful have done especially well. One is the 2008 Dayi 801 Gaoshan Yunxiang (高山韻象). This cake sold new in 2008 for 800 NTD (about 25 USD at the time). In 2010 the Huangs purchased it for 1800 NTD (about 58 USD at the time). In 2018, at 10 years old, collectors started noticing positive developments and quickly word spread. Its price skyrocketed. In February 2023, it reached a peak value of 32134 NTD (1006 USD). This is a particularly exceptional case— a gain of 30334 NTD in 13 years, or 1685%.
I’ve had the chance to drink this with the Huangs on two occasions. Their cakes are certainly on the drier end of the storage spectrum, but not to the point of being undrinkable. Though for someone wanting to drink this tea right now, slightly more aggressive storage would probably be preferable. It’s a very strong tea, with a smoke-dominated savory profile. Smokier than most Dayi. Quite potent in feeling, both times, and noticeably warming in the body. It’s not the kind of tea I would drink regularly, it’s just very intense in a way I don’t gravitate towards on a regular basis. But the raw material is undeniably of a higher quality; better than most Dayi. Such a drastic increase in value is pretty hard to understand though.
Another famous tea in the Dayi investment world is the 2011 101 Jin Dayi (金大益). The Huangs bought this early on for 4500 NTD (about 150 USD at the time). At its peak in February 2023 it was 21422 NTD (662 USD). So a gain of 376% in just over 10 years.
Some of their investments have seen little change in value, however. For instance, they bought multiple jian of 2007 701-7742, and it has barely gone up in the intervening years. They also have consistently bought the Dayi zodiac cakes, which come out annually, featuring the animal for that year. The 2010 Year of the Tiger cake has done quite well, but none of the others have come close.
They’ve generally avoided Dayi’s Yiwu productions. While some of these are priced quite high at the moment, the Huangs feel these will not age well. An early example is the 2002 Menghai Tea Factory Yiwu Yesheng “One Leaf.” They showed me a cake of this from their collection and mentioned that it’s lost much of what made it interesting earlier on. It’s just not built for long-term investment.
About 5 years ago, they stopped buying new Dayi teas. The prices for new Dayi have gotten higher and higher, and it’s their opinion that the quality just hasn’t kept pace.
In the past nine months, there’s been a downturn in the Dayi market. That 2008 Gaoshan Yunxiang that was 32134 NTD (1006 USD) back in February is currently 20549 NTD (635 USD), and the 2011 Jin Dayi that was 21422 NTD (662 USD) in February is currently 14465 NTD (447 USD).
Fluctuations in Dayi pricing are not uncommon, and typically are tied to the economy in China— many of the largest Dayi buyers are in China. This recent downturn doesn’t really worry the Huangs though. Their rationale being, some will get cold feet and sell, which will in turn increase the scarcity of investor-grade clean-stored jians of these productions. The prices will ultimately rebound and increase even further.
These days, the Huangs don’t actually drink that much Dayi, though they enjoy it when they do. In the mornings they usually have oolong, and in the afternoons hongcha or dongfang meiren. Several years ago, they became interested in contemporary gushu-style pu’er productions. Ever since, their interest has leaned more and more this direction. At the end of our conversation, they took out a tin of loose-leaf gushu tea, produced from a single tree and bought off-market from a friend in Yunnan. It was excellent to drink, just a wonderful tea with very strong body feel. Surely not an inexpensive tea either, but also quite a departure from most Dayi.
Leave a Reply