A group of 43 horsemen has spent the last six months covering more than 4,000 kilometers on foot from the small city of Pu'er in Southwest China's Yunnan Province to Beijing.

Though this method of transport may seem expensive now, it was the done thing for sending Pu'er Tea, a royal tribune, to the Forbidden City during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

What makes it different this time round is that the horsemen's journey is not for the emperors and their concubines, but for children who have dropped out of schools.

The tea will be auctioned at the Wanshou Temple located northeast of the Zizhu Overpass in Xisanhuan Beilu, Beijing, at 3 pm tomorrow.

The proceeds will go to Project Hope to finance the construction of primary schools in China's poverty-stricken areas, according to Liu Xiaoqiong, spokeswoman of www.guaweb.com, the online auction house affiliated to the prestigious China Guardian Auction Co Ltd, which hosted the sales on behalf of Project Hope.

Lectures on Pu'er Tea and a free tasting will be held before the auction. Further information on the activities can be found at www.guaweb.com.

"We expect to collect 3.7 million yuan (US$456,200) to finance the building of 20 schools in the poorest villages on our journey's route," said Liu.

She said the journey was an arduous one which had already claimed one of the horsemen, reducing the caravan's strength from 44 to 43.

"The Pu'er under the hammer is of top quality and its scent and taste has not been reduced during the long journey," said the spokeswoman.

The taste of Pu'er gets better, the longer it is kept. Pu'er tea liquor has a flavor unlike any other tea in the world. It is somewhat earthy in flavor but not in the least repulsive. Its flavor lingers on a while in the mouth and palate. Poor grade Pu'er can be bitter but the top grades are smooth, pleasant and sweet.

The tea is also highly regarded for its medicinal qualities as a digestive and nerve stimulant.

Though it is most popular among the Hakkas in East China's Fujian Province, who serve it at Chinese restaurants around the globe, the tea is mainly grown in the Pu'er tea district of Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

It takes its name from the small city of Pu'er, close to the Laos and Myanmar border.

The tea leaves, which have a marked bitterness, are plucked, panned, sun-dried, and steamed. They either remain in leaf form or are pressed into circular cakes of varying diameters.

The Pu'er to go under the hammer in Beijing is the "cake tea," which is the most ancient form of tea in China and goes back hundreds of years.

"Cake tea" preparation is described by scholar Lu Yu in the "Book of Tea" (Cha Jing), the world's first book on tea, published in China around AD 780.

It is interesting that the cake tea described by Lu was wrapped in pieces of bamboo for transport. This method is used even today for some high quality Pu'er.

(China Daily November 15, 2005)