Regional Storage: Hong Kong, Guangdong, Kunming, Taiwan, and Malaysia

What the pu'er world calls "regional storage" (diyu cang) refers to where a tea is stored long term and the style that place's climate gives it. Take one batch of tea, keep half in Kunming and half in Hong Kong, and ten years later the liquor color and aroma may differ so much you'd think they were two teas.

What Is Regional Storage?

Regional storage is a "broad-strokes" classification: it uses a city or region to sum up a set of temperature and humidity conditions. It's a different angle from Dry and Wet Storage: dry and wet describe how a storeroom is managed, while region describes the weather outside. Within the same city, there are well-dehumidified storerooms and damp, stuffy ones, so regional storage can only serve as a reference, not a guarantee.

Climate Figures for Several Places

The figures for Kunming and Jinghong are China Meteorological Administration climate averages for 1991–2020, Hong Kong's are Hong Kong Observatory averages for 1991–2020, and Taipei's come from Central Weather Administration station data. These are outdoor air figures; conditions inside a storeroom differ depending on the building and dehumidification. Compared against the 70% upper limit in Yunnan's local standards and the 55%–75% recommended by the China Tea Marketing Association, they show each place's natural conditions.

The Character of Each Region's Storage

• Hong Kong storage: hot and humid, fast change. Traditional Hong Kong storage gives a deep red liquor and a mellow, smooth taste, but often a storage taste as well; much early aged tea was stored in Hong Kong. See Hong Kong Storage.
• Guangdong storage: Dongguan and Guangzhou have been major storage areas for the past twenty-plus years, with a climate similar to Hong Kong's and fast change. Researchers stored the same batch of raw tea in Guangdong and in cold, dry Xinjiang: aroma compounds in the Guangdong-stored tea changed dramatically, while the Xinjiang-stored tea changed slowly and steadily.
• Kunming storage: high altitude, low average temperature, and dry winters and springs mean slow change, with a lifted, clean aroma. See Kunming Dry Storage and Local Yunnan Storage.
• Local storage in Banna and Menghai: warmer and more humid than Kunming, with a pace of change between Kunming and Guangdong.
• Taiwan storage: warm and humid; with good dehumidification and ventilation, the pace of change falls roughly between Hong Kong and Kunming storage. See Taiwan Storage.

Malaysian Storage: Aged Pu'er by the Equator

Tea drinkers often call storage in Malaysia "Dama storage" or "Malaysian storage."

Why is there so much aged pu'er in Malaysia? The usual account goes like this: the local Chinese community has long had a habit of drinking aged dark teas, such as Liubao tea shipped from Guangxi via Hong Kong, and pu'er came into Southeast Asia along the same trade networks. Before the 1990s, pu'er there was mostly an everyday commodity, and some factory teas from the 1970s and 1980s sat in tea shops and warehouses for years without being deliberately speculated on. Only when the collecting boom began and tea people went searching for aged tea did they discover how much stock remained in Malaysia. From the 2000s on, local merchants also bought tea in large quantities directly from Xishuangbanna and stored it long term in warehouses around Kuala Lumpur. This history mostly comes from accounts in the tea world and the media, and the details vary.

What's distinctive about Malaysian storage? High temperatures and humidity year-round, but little seasonal variation, so temperature and humidity are relatively stable. Tea changes very fast in this environment, but doesn't necessarily pick up a heavy storage taste as in traditional wet storage, so it's often described as "fast-changing yet relatively clean."

What does Malaysian-stored tea taste like? Tea drinkers often describe a liquor that reddens quickly, a thick, smooth, sweet mouthfeel, and woody or herb-like aged notes, with bitterness and astringency receding faster than in dry storage. Poorly managed storerooms produce storage taste here too, so when choosing, smell the dry leaf and check the spent leaf.

How Much Does the Same Tea Differ in Different Places?

It can differ a lot. Take raw tea: after ten years in a hot, humid region, the liquor may already be orange-red; after ten years in a cold, dry region, it may still be golden. The Guangdong-Xinjiang study mentioned above also found that faster change didn't necessarily mean a higher overall quality rating.

Where Is Storage Best?

There's no "best" city, only what suits you. People who prefer clean, clearly layered tea will like drier, slower storage; people who prefer a mellow, full tea with aged character sooner will like warm, humid storage that's kept clean. There's only one shared standard: stable, clean, and free of mustiness. For storing tea at home, see How to Store Pu'er at Home.

FAQ

What is regional storage? A storage style summed up by the region where tea is kept, such as Hong Kong, Kunming, Taiwan, or Malaysian storage, reflecting the local temperature and humidity.

Where is storage best? There's no absolute answer. What matters is stable, clean storage free of mustiness. Drier storage changes tea slowly with clear layers; more humid storage changes it faster with a fuller mouthfeel.

What's distinctive about Malaysian storage? High heat and humidity but little seasonal variation, so tea changes fast yet stays relatively clean, reddening quickly with a thick, smooth liquor.

Why is there so much aged pu'er in Malaysia? The local Chinese community has long drunk aged dark teas, pu'er arrived along the same trade routes, and in the early days it was stored for years as an everyday commodity before collectors discovered it.