The cuisine of Myanmar has a popular expression: “Of all the fruit, mango is the best; of all the meats, pork is the best; of all the leaves, laphet is the best.” The original taste of tea leaf is very bitter and its bitterness is reduced after the fermentation process. Furthermore, the bitterness of laphet is partially removed by rinsing with warm water once or twice, depending on the user's desire.
The laphet market in Myanmar deals with the fresh tea leaf, the fermented product, or the finishing product. Local people from mountain areas only collect fresh leaves and go to fresh tea leaves market. Some laphet manufacturers buy fresh tea leaves (without growing the leaves themselves) and then steam, ferment, and modify the tea leaves.