In the earlier days, Malaysian Chinese brewed mostly Fujian Oolong tea and GuangxiLiubao tea for their daily cuppa. Back then, Puer tea was a rather rare choice. Some twenty years ago, however, there began a wave of enthusiasm for Puer drinking among Malaysian Chinese. By 2007, there was the emergence of the concept of MalaysianStorage or Da Ma Cang. At that time, the Yunnan Province Puer Tea Association and the Puer Tea Chamber of Commerce in Malaysia jointly proposed the concept of DaMa Cang, laying the foundation for the subsequent trend of Puer drinking and collection in Malaysia.

Malaysia is located close to the equator with a tropical marine climate. There is little difference in temperature and relative humidity all year round. However, the change could be sudden and drastic during the day, with a scattered shower turning a summery day instantly into autumn. Such climatic conditions, coupled with good ventilation, expedite the ageing of teas by encouraging “breathing” of the tea leaves, presenting a very different storage environment from those in Guangdong, Yunnan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Nowadays, Da Ma Cang is a well-defined concept. Endorsed and well-received by the tea fraternity, it is considered premium quality tea that ages fast and delivers pure, natural taste with depth and complexity. There has been a trend of tea merchants and Pu'er tea companies bringing their stock of Puer tea here and keeping it in the Malaysiastorage before sending them back for sale in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, giving rise to the unique “export-turned-domestic” trade phenomenon. This way, Malaysia has become the second-largest market for Chinese tea, accounting for more than 15% of Chinese tea exports.