Forged in a Kunming back alley
I met Master Liu three winters ago on a side street near Kunming’s old tea market. He was hammering a copper kettle on a stump outside his workshop, surrounded by brass shavings and half‑finished tea picks. Most pu‑erh needles on the market are turned from stainless steel — functional but disposable. Liu’s are forged by hand from recycled brass door handles and plumbing fittings, each one subtly different. The shoulder of this needle still shows the faint crescent of the original handle’s screw hole, deliberately left as a fingerprint.
We worked out a run of fifty needles over tea and cigarettes, adjusting the taper until it felt right on a 357‑gram cake of 2007 Da Yi. Michael Zhan, our procurement specialist in Yunnan, handled the logistics — visiting the workshop, verifying the source material, and ensuring every needle left with a simple cotton sleeve. The brass will darken with use, picking up the oils from your hands and the colour of the tea you break. That’s the point.