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Year of the Iron Ahat · Championing Bak Kut Teh Tea Culture in Singapore
Since the early days of bak kut teh in Singapore, BKT is enjoyed with hot Chinese tea. Bak kut teh is considered "heaty", so cups of "cooling" hot tea restore the balance in our body.
In the early days, bak kut teh was eaten by coolies and enjoyed with inexpensive tea, usually the same tea ๆ็ฅ่ถ used in offerings to deities.
By the 1920s, more well off traders and businessmen acquired a taste for the humble dish. Singapore River coolies' wages too went up thanks to thriving trade. Coolies could earn up to $10 a day, a princely sum in the 1920s.
A bak kut teh meal in the 1920s cost $1.80 which was close to a dinner at Raffles Hotel which cost $2.
According to Kenry Peh, Pek Sin Choon Tea Merchants have been supplying tea to bak kut teh stalls since 1925. Pek Sin Choon's business has been closely intertwined with bak kut teh since it was founded in 1925.
The story of Pek Sin Choon as related by Kenry Peh is supported by this article published in Nanyang Siang Pau in 1934. The article stated that a bak kut teh meal in Singapore costs $1.80 in 1925, thus providing documentary evidence that bak kut teh existed in Singapore in 1925, as mentioned by Kenry Peh.
By 1925, coolies were earning over $10 a day, and they were willing to spend at least $1.80 on bak kut teh ่้ชจ่ถ with good tea ๅฅฝ่ถ.
In 1930, Pek Sin Choon Tea Merchants rode on the trend to introduce the premium tea blend known as Wuyi Iron Arhat. At first, there was scepticism about how a premium tea that cost five times the average tea used with bak kut teh could survive in the market.
It turned out that Wuyi Iron Arhat was well received, did well in the market and became a trend setter.
By the 1940s, enjoying premium tea with bak kut teh was a well established culture or custom along with average tea. Tea enthusiasts bring their own teas ่ชๆณก่ชๆ to share and appreciate together with their friends (much like today's wine enthusiasts bringing their own wine to BYO places).
Iron Arhat was followed by a series of premium tea blends, culminating in the Unknown Fragrance in 1950, specially formulated for bak kut teh.
Though the custom emerged in the 1920s, we can say that popularising eating bak kut teh with premium Chinese tea appreciation can be credited to the business savvy of Pek Sin Choon.
The bak kut teh and tea sessions are relaxing, friendly meet ups among friends and business associates where ideas and opportunities are shared. It is a culture which Kenry Peh (fourth generation of Pek Sin Choon) is still actively promoting by living it out on a daily basis on his bak kut teh and tea rounds with his friends and clients.
The packaging of Wuyi Iron Arhat departed from the traditional images of deities such as Guanyin, Jigong, etc. Instead, it showed a strong, muscular man juggling iron balls.
At that time, the Jinan Incident of 1928 in Shandong province of China was causing indignation in British Malaya. Japanese army clashed with Chinese troops at Jinan, killed the Chinese negotiating team, and launched its invasion of China.
The muscular man motif depicts the need to be strong, fit and healthy to face the challenges of life as an individual (and also as a country).
Till today, Pek Sin Choon is still the leading tea merchant in Singapore supplying bak kut teh restaurants in Singapore. Unknown Fragrance is still the preferred tea of bak kut teh and tea enthusiasts.
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