Puerh 1980

As I was relaxing at home due to public holiday (Good Friday), I decided to have a sip of the old puerh bricks made in the late 1970s to 1980s. This tea is more than 30 years old, needless to say that the fragrance is characteristic of old aged puerh tea. The texture is remarkable and the taste is excellent, very soothing to the throat.

Puerh bricks (pack of 4)

My tea set

The teapot was made in the 60s, a very old Yixing teapot of black clay. It is excellent to brew old tea using old teapot. This is how I will spent my life  when I retire from work, may be in a year or two.

Puerh brick 2004

My favourite green puerh tea processed from wild puerh tea tree. It was made in 2004 by state owned tea factory bearing the chinese character cha. The tea was made in March 2004. In October 25, 2004 the state owned factory (MengHai TeaFactory) ceased operation. All tea factories were privatised to strealime operation to control cost.

This tea brick has historical value, being one of the last few batches of puerh bricks rolled out from state owned factory.

Privatised Meng Hai tea factory in Xisuan Panna

The tea is more than 13 years of age. It will slowly mature into a fragrant tea with character and richness that all old puerh tea possessed.

Singapore money 2

This is the second series of Singapore currency notes that showcase the variouds types of birds found locally in Singapore.

These notes are more familiar to most younger Singaporeans, a common sight in the early 1970s. The series of currency notes are also well liked by the public.

One dollar note

Twenty dollar note

Five dollar note

Fifty dollar note

Ten dollar note

Old Singapore Money

One dollar note

This is the old Singapore currency used in the early days after independence, the famous orchid series of currency notes from one dollar denomination up to 10000 dollar denomination. The one dollar, five dollar, ten, fifty and hundred dollar notes are more common whereas the twenty five dollar notes are not so common. The thousand dollar notes  are now worth more as these big notes are seldom in circulation, they are quite rare.

These orchid series currency notes are well liked by Singaporeans as the notes are well designed and pleasing to the eyes. I collected quite a few of them and would not want to spend them in excange of things.

The notes are still affordable if you want to collect them. Any one upto hundred dollar notes are still within the means of an average Singaporean. 

Five dollar note

Ten dollar note

Old tea

Recently I found some old puerh tea in my store room. I must have bought them many years ago. There is a purth brick where the tea label had faded. I have no way to tell what was written on the tea label. Judging from the size of the tea leaves, it must have come from a puerh tea tree.

There is this puerh toucha. The square label zhong character can be seen clearly. As the label is smaller than those found on thd toucha made in the 1980s, I guess this type of toucha could well be from the 1960s.

A teapot for brewing tea

Recently I went with a colleague to hunt for some crystal carvings and spotted this teapot diaplayed at a nearby shop. I used to own such a teapot many years ago but sold it to a friend who happened to like the unique shape of this teapot. Since then I wanted to buy back this type of teapot but was not able to find one.

This was an opportunity and I would definitely make enquiry on price, etc. Fortunately, it was not that expensive so I bought it.

This teapot belongs to the type of teapots made by  joining segments of clay together. The segments are separated by glooves that bring out the shape of the pot. It is elegant and well made. When I pour tea out from the pot, tea just flows out from the sprout without wetting the pot.

A similar teapot made in Qing Dynasty is now on display in a museum in the United States. It was made in such perfection that it is a delight to its owner.

In a museum in the United States

I have other teapots made in this manner. Their artistic forms are just good  for tea drinkers to admire.