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.
Because of laphet is consumed in the daily life of the Myanmar people, laphet products can be easily found everywhere in Myanmar and Myanmar markets around the world. Selling small plates of laphet-thoke at the street stalls throughout the city demonstrates the culture of laphet in our community. Most families have a habit, and use laphet as daily snacks and as a treat for their guests. Some Myanmar people buy their own fermented leaves, which they modify for its unit taste, and buy other ingredients at the market and mix them together at home. Therefore, the demand for laphet is probably highest in Myanmar. Because of the current high demand of laphet, modernized laphet factories have been developed to produce it instead of using traditional ways, and the quality of laphet has been criticized with regard to standard production processes.