A 2014 Old Bush Shuixian Yancha from Cindy Chen at Wuyi Origin.
Author: James
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Five Things I Like and Don’t Like. Group Buys, Buying Off the Shelf, Old Trees, YS Wet Teas.
Things that have been occurring in the tea world that I like and dislike..
Group Buys
Group buys have been popping up with increasing frequency over the past 1.5 years. They can be a very good way to try teas, often very inexpensively. When there’s a markup it’s nearly always smaller than a vendor and you’ll usually get very fair value for your money. It’s also worth doing, because there’s a lot of learning that can happen when people are drinking and discussing the same teas. Here’s a couple public ones worth mentioning: (more…)
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Teaful Taiwanese High Mountain Black [Episode 198]
This episode Denny and James review a tasty high-mountain black from Teaful.
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Extended Episode LA vs. HK Dry 2011 Treasures from Five Mountains Storage Comparison [Inbetweenisode 121]
A storage comparison of LA vs. HK dry stored Treasures from Five Mountains.
Thank you to Linda Louie of Bana Tea for sending in these samples!
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2009 Xizihao Guafengzhai [Episode 197]
Another fancy pants pu’erh from Xizihao. This one is a 2009 production allegedly coming from Guafengzhai.
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Early Yunnan Sourcing Production Aging Mini-Report & Some Pu’erh Thoughts
Many of the original pu’erh productions by western-facing vendor were in the 2009 or 2010 and principally done by Essence of Tea and Yunnan Sourcing. A lot has changed since then, and while there’s the odd production that has stayed somewhat consistent (i.e. YS Wuliang) both vendors are making from very different gardens and areas now. All of the retastes are still available, and despite them being double (or more) of the price originally sold the pu’erh market has risen meaning most are still reasonably priced and attainable as mid-range, dry-stored tea. (more…)
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2007 Xiaguan Xiaofa Tuo Ripe Pu’erh via YS [Episode 196]
Revisiting one of Denny’s old favorite ripe teas.
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W2T’s 2010 Liubao & Hot Brandy [Inbetweenisode 120]
A review of two of the teas in W2T’s December 2016 tea of the month club. A Three Cranes Liubao brick and a new experimental project, Hot Brandy.
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2013 Xizi Hao Yiwu Chawang Raw Pu’erh [Episode 195]
A youngish raw pu’erh from Xizi hao. One of the best young raw pu’erhs we’ve had the pleasure to drink on the show.
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Pu’erh for Beginners
The pu’erh compendium and vendor guide were written nearly three years ago and the content on this site has become increasingly pu’erh focused. This is fine for those of us already living in a house made out of bamboo tongs, but there’s a large chunk of people that are very fresh and new to the hobby. (more…)