Tea in my opinion is such an important part of the Chinese tradition. As we develop and progress, tea has played many important roles in enhancing appreciation. The Chinese New Year is especially a great festive to appreciate reflection on the year gone by; of happy gains and missed opportunities.
Self-realization and a clear mind is important to ensure we bring balance to our life with positive influences overriding the negative ones. Of course, the recent year has been a reborn for us in many ways when the pandemic and what caught and hit the world so hard into a force to pushing mankind to overcoming limits and breaking conventional. With the virus shaping the world, I think it’s accurate to say that live eventually finds the way.
Reflecting on the year gone by; of the happy gains and missed opportunities. I’ve learnt new things about myself. Knowing that nothing is quite impossible to a certain extent and that recounting the good and bad of the past year is an introspect on your personal growth, to learn from the experiences. I’ve been finding ways to grow creatively and I still find things around me being the most inspiring when learning about things and people. Out of all my routines, tea brewing is one that crafts a spiritual calm to clear the mind. Very often when the mind is clear and focused, inspirations are born.
If you’ve been following me on social media, you’ll know my appreciation for tea. And when Purple Cane delivered the CNY gift set, I make sure to properly brew my favourite Puer. This time around, I brewed the Lao Puer. Here’s my brew on the day I am finding creative inspirations.
Purple Cane is probably one of the most reputable tea houses around with most outlets of retail units to walk in to purchase quality tea. However, in this time and age, it is undeniable that digital presence is currently at utmost importance to many of us, including myself. I am super thrilled to share this and at such fantastic timing for gifting in the name of festive celebration- the launch of Purple Cane App. It is now a all-in-one platform to easily access all products and purchase, as well as keeping track of previous purchase, on top of being notified whenever there are new promos. The new APP is giving RM 20 upon installing and signing up and that money can easily go to your first purchase on the APP. I have been shopping on the APP and I can honestly say that I am enjoying it.
At the same time, Purple Cane also have the Purple Cane Communitea Rewards Program, which enables consumers to earn points for every purchase while enjoying exclusive member rewards. Starting from 15th December onwards, members nationwide will earn points by making their purchase through the Purple Cane Official Mobile APP, Online Store or Retail Stores. These enhancements were done to provide a seamless offline to online shopping experience for all their customers.
I am no tea expert but as always, I’m very willing to share my thoughts on the choices of tea that I’ve tasted.
Puer Tea came from the Yunnan Province, and is made of leaves harvested from the large-leaf (daye) varietal of tea trees. The processing of freshly-picked leaves involve fixing (undergo pan-frying process in order to inactivate the enzyme), rolling and sun-drying to yield green raw tea (maocha), known as Dian Ding, literally Yunnan Green.
Sun-dried green raw tea is then moistened, piled and covered for “pile fermentation (wodui) to yield ripe puer tea (shu cha), after which the leaves are air-dried, sifted. sorted and classified into different grades.
According to the manufacturer, the brownish-red ‘ripened puer tea have a uniquely aged wood note and mellow aroma, its bright reddish infusion is well rounded on the palate with a smooth, long finish. The mild aromatic notes of aged wood for Lao Puer and the lasting finishing is what I adore and is what’s suitable for beginners if you are starting to drink Puer. And unlike green or white tea, Puer has a distinct profile not many would enjoy. Good Puer can be very expensive but I wouldn’t recommend anything too expensive for beginners yet I think this sets a good benchmark as an introduction to appreciation of Puer tea.
