Shan State vs Chiang Mai
Two neighbouring uplands holding the same old large-leaf stock and the same tradition of eating tea rather than drinking it. Myanmar’s laphet and Thailand’s miang are parallel practices, and both are anaerobic fermentations of steamed leaf that have no equivalent in the six-category model.
What is being compared
Why these get confused
Laphet and miang are sometimes described as pickled tea and grouped with dark tea. The fermentation is lactic and anaerobic rather than the aerobic microbial process behind shou pu-erh, so the resemblance is a family one and not an identity.
Point by point
| Aspect | Shan State | Chiang Mai |
|---|---|---|
| Country | Myanmar, in the eastern uplands. | Thailand, in the northern highlands. |
| The eaten preparation | Laphet: leaf packed and fermented, then dressed and eaten as a salad or an offering. | Miang: young leaf steamed and packed to ferment, then chewed. |
| How the leaf is prepared | Steamed and packed into pits or vessels, excluding air. | Steamed and packed to ferment, on the same anaerobic principle. |
| The drunk preparation | Also made into conventional green and black tea. | Also made into conventional tea, though less prominently. |
| Stock | Old large-leaf material, continuous with Yunnan’s. | Indigenous assamica in forest stands. |
| Elevation | 900 to 1,900 metres. | 700 to 1,600 metres. |
The short answer
The fermented-leaf belt runs across Yunnan, Shan State and northern Thailand without regard to borders, and it is the largest thing the six-category model leaves out. A reader who has understood green, white, oolong, black, yellow and dark tea still has not met this, and it is not a marginal curiosity in the places that make it.
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