This episode, Denny and I drink a very high-quality hongcha from White2Tea, their Old Arbor Red. This is a complex, long-lasting tea with good depth.
Sample kindly provided by Oolong Owl.
Author: James
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2018 Thai Grown Yueguangbai Moonlight White via Tea-Side [Episode 296]
In the first filmed episode of 2019, Denny and I drink a Thai-grown white tea from Tea-Side. The tea is robust, slightly smoky, with good longevity. It is also unique as Moonlight White is a Chinese-style tea but is grown in Northern Thailand.
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2009 Yiwu via W2T Raw Pu’erh [Inbetweenisode 186]
This episode, I drink a semi-aged raw pu’erh from W2T. The tea is from one of my pu’erh areas, Yiwu and stands out for its decent storage, clean profile, and good aftertaste. Finding affordable Yiwu can be difficult and this one is solid and doesn’t cost too much.
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Mystery Ripe (1997 CNNP 7581) [Episode 295]
This episode, Denny and I drink an aged mystery ripe, unlabeled in Denny’s stash. In the episode, we’re not totally sure what the tea is. Given the profile, after the episode we compared the wrapping and neifei to a brick I have we were able to get a pretty good guess on what the tea actually is, an old ripe 7581 brick.
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2018 Tea & TeaDB Reflections
2018 has been a year where I’ve continued to settle into regular habits of drinking my own tea rather than a year of exploration. I still very much enjoy drinking tea and have it at least once daily but the hobby is more restrained than a few years back. I haven’t bought teaware in several years and I drink from the few categories of tea I enjoy and not much else. Call me a grump, but I got a good idea what I like and what I’ll drink. (more…)
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2014 Xizi Hao Grade B Manzhuan [Episode 294]
This episode Denny and I drink a companion to the 2014 Gedeng a few episodes back. This tea is the XZH Grade B Manzhuan and is also from the 6FM area. This session is a bit more balanced and the tea shows off a strong aftertaste and body feel. It is quite potent, but it integrates well and hits us more easily than the Gedeng. A very high-quality tea and session. Thank you Darius for providing the leaves!
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2018 YS Year of the Dog Blue Label Ripe Pu’erh [Inbetweenisode 185]
This episode I drink a tea from Scott’s 2018 ripe line. Bought blind, this has been a regular tea in my rotation for the past few weeks. An enjoyable tea that is very clean, smooth, and a great daily drink.
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2014 Xizi Hao Red Mark Iron Gedeng [Episode 293]
This episode Denny and I drink a very high-end tea from the six famous mountains range, the Gedeng. This productions uses some very high-quality leaves and is easily one of the most potent brews we’ve had on the show. If you are a lover of incoherence and substance abuse, this is the episode for you. Thank you Peter for providing the tea!
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Old Tea: 1967 Baozhong
I picked up this tea from a vendor in Taiwan in 2017. Generally speaking, I lean skeptical of age and even moreso extreme claims of this extent. But I spent considerable time with this vendor and trust them more than most. Call me a chump, but I mainly believe it in this case. Finding tea this old is not common and I wanted to document the experience since I have not encountered many oolongs that I reliably consider this old and doubt I ever will.
About this Tea
This tea was picked in Pinglin which isn’t too far outside of Taipei and was one of the primary growing regions in Taiwan during that period. Like other teas, the processing of Baozhong has changed substantially over the years. I had the opportunity to try a (young) Baozhong produced in an older style when Origin Tea was still in business and it fit firmly into the category of a darker, roasted oolong. Today, the tea is typically processed very green and is usually considered one of the greenest oolongs on the market. (more…)