William Irion enjoys pu'er tea but thinks that foreigners need to learn more about how to drink the tea. [China Daily]

William Irion, president of Irion Enterprises, a consulting company, moved his business to Yunnan province six years ago. He says he lost 20 kg with the help of pu'er tea and exercise. But he believes foreigners need to be educated in pu'er drinking.

"It is a tea unique to Yunnan, and most foreigners have to learn how to drink it," he says. "They might not like the first cup, but with the second and third cups, they'll like it."

Although pu'er tea was popular for a long time in the West in the 20th century, Yunnan tea producers have been facing difficulties exporting tea to Europe and the US.

The Mengku Rong Family Tea Company is known for its strong-tasting pu'er tea. Rong's family tea farms have trees that are more than 50 years old that adequately fulfill the requirements of organic teas, and have passed strict national safety regulations. But exporting to Europe remains difficult.

"Import criteria in the European Union are strict, and we don't have enough experience or channels to work with European and American clients," says Rong Yulan, manager of the company.

Meanwhile, foreigners say the Chinese need to do more to put its tea on the international market. Barbara Dufrene, from a tea consulting company in Paris, has traveled to China many times and tried Chinese green tea, oolong, pu'er and the "amazing" Chimen black tea.

As a member of the European Tea Committee, Dufrene was invited to the 4th Yunnan International Pu'er Tea Expo in Kunming as an expert. She was surprised to find herself the only European there.

"The main problem is with communication," she says. "The only time I found written material about Chinese tea in French was in 2003."

Besides an updated brochure about Chinese teas, Dufrene hopes Chinese delegations will participate in world trade fairs more often.

As Westerners mostly drink from tea bags, while Chinese often use loose tea, Dufrene suggests Chinese tea producers "provide minimum instructions about the temperature and brewing time".

Irion says most people in the United States don't know about pu'er. "Nobody has gone into a full-form marketing campaign yet," he says. "The government is waiting for companies to do it, and companies are waiting for the government to do it."

Although there are already quite a few creative pu'er products and reasonably priced ordinary quality pu'er, he says, "the companies are concentrating on franchising in the home market".

Dufrene thinks even though the biggest share of the European market goes to tea bags, Chinese loose tea is a growing segment, and can take a big profit share because of the profound culture behind it.

"People want variety, and matching teas with food is becoming a trend," she says.

(China Daily July 3, 2009)