Vintage Pu'er is among the most valuable tea drinks due to its rich taste and low yield. In recent years, investors have shown great interest in the leaf, driving the price even higher than gold.

Vintage Pu'er is among the most valuable tea drinks due to its rich taste and low yield.

Vintage Pu'er is typically stored for over 10 years. And in the past decade, its price has increased tens of times.

Luo Jingbo runs a vintage tea shop in Dongguan, Guangdong province. His pocket is filled up by the rising profits of Pu'er tea.

Luo Jingbo said, "I bought this pad of tea for 1,500 yuan in 2002, and now it's worth almost 60, 000. And this one was sold for 20 yuan in 2002, but now it's worth six-thousand yuan on the market."

Luo Jingbo said the roaring profits of Pu'er tea has attracted him to give up his steel business and become a vintage tea dealer several years ago. Luo Jingbo said, "Vintage Pu'er of high quality is rare in the market, so tea lovers tend to keep it as a kind of antique."

China's southwest Yunnan province is where most high quality vintage Pu'er is produced. But recently, instead of going out, the tea is sold from elsewhere back home. Feng Xinghua, tea dealer in Yunnan province, said, "It's very difficult to find vintage Pu'er in Yunnan now as it has been sold out for years. Now, we have to buy it elsewhere and bring it back."

Luo Jingbo said, "This is called French brick, which was bought by French people in 1986. Later it was sold to a Taiwan dealer, and then we bought it."

The price hike of vintage Pu'er has brought great profits to many tea dealers, yet its prices have not always been stable. How long the seller's market will last remains to be seen.

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