Inbetweenisode #14 covers a great daily-drinking ripe pu’erh that is very much to James’ taste, 2012 Yong de Blue. If you liked the Yong de Organic Ripe pu’erh covered in inbetweenisode #1 this is an excellent alternate.
Author: James
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Shang Tea’s 2007 White Tea [Episode 90]
Denny and James review an aged white tea from white tea specialists, Shang Tea. This tea was processed as a white tea in 2007 and was pressed into brick form.
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Ripe Pu’erh Shopping. What does your Money Buy?
Tea quality and price aren’t exactly cause and effect. There’s alot of factors that go into pricing tea and there’s a reason why hunting white labels can be lucrative. It’s important to know what exactly goes into the pricing of tea, in order to know where your money is going and to most obviously not get ripped off. Ripe pu’erh occupies a different niche for most tea drinkers compared with raw pu’erh. For many that specialize in other tea genres like Taiwanese oolongs or Tieguanyin, it is their easy-drinking pu’erh of choice. Inexpensive young raw pu’erh is often quite harsh and ripe pu’erh is a far cheaper alternative to drinking aged raw pu’erh. However, there are also more serious drinkers of ripe pu’erh that seek out higher-quality, premium ripe pu’erh. This article will break down the pricing factors and categories of ripe pu’erh. (more…)
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Tea Urchin’s 2014 Bulang Beauty — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #13
Inbetweenisode Episode #13 covers Tea Urchin’s 2014 Bulang Beauty, a cake cut with some Lao Banzhang. If you have the money this will probably age quite well (or if you like young, strong sheng!). A good comparison with White2Tea’s New Amerykah.
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Yin Ming Hao’s 1980s Raw Pu’erh [Episode 89]
Denny and James review an aged raw pu’erh, Yin Ming Hao’s 1980s raw pu’erh. Sold by Tea Classico and sent our way by Cwyn of http://deathbytea.blogspot.com/ .
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Essential Gong-Fu Teaware — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #12
Inbetweenisode Episode #12 from James. A short episode that covers the basics of what you need to get started brewing gong-fu style!
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White2Tea’s Big Tree Red [Episode 88]
Denny and James review a very above average Yunnan Red (black) tea, White2Tea’s Big Tree Red.
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Problems with Online Tea Reviews
There are many problems with reviews online. Many people use reviews as a way to filter out the fodder and find good products. Talking about and discussing tea is also an important and necessary part of the learning process and a part that reviews can help to facilitate. Learning in a vacuum is usually a terrible idea and reviews can be a formative part of learning. People who sell products and vendors have realized that online reviews and opinions affect sales and have reacted in a number of ways. On the most basic level, yelp, ebay, and amazon vendors openly ask for and encourage reviews of their product. Fair enough. On a slightly more sinister level, there are paid reviewers of Amazon products that are on the payroll of the producer and are required to give 5 star reviews. This becomes a huge problem when there are only a few reviews of similar products online, meaning one or two five star reviews can propel a significant amount of sales! Many of these problems persist into tea, to varying degrees. While there isn’t necessarily malintent on the reviewer or the vendor’s part, bias and aspects beyond the quality of tea play frequently heavily into the actual review and people’s perception. This article will specifically examine points of bias in the online tea world. (more…)
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Yunnan Sourcing’s More Humidly Stored Pu’erhs. 2007 Bo Nan, 2004 Nanjian Phoenix, 2002 Yiwu Ancient Spirit — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #11
Inbetweenisode Episode #11 from James. Discussion is on wetter-stored pu’erh and some recommendations of the recent additions to Yunnan Sourcing’s tea lineup. Teas talked about include the daily drinker 2007 Bo Nan Mountain Yun Wu and the better 2004 Nanjian Phoenix Aroma + 2002 Yiwu Ancient Spirit.
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Teavivre’s Nonpareil Anxi Tieguanyin [Episode 87]
Denny and James review another roasted oolong. This one is from Teavivre and is a mainland (Anxi) roasted Tieguanyin.