The 1988 Qing Bing is a very famous cakes from the 1980s and early 1990s. Like the 1999 BGT I thought I would share my experiences with it. Phyll Sheng lays out the criteria for 1988 QB in this informative post.
A sample was very generously sent as a wedding gift by Su who has stored this tea for a couple decades in Malaysia. Thanks so much for your generosity Su! (more…)
Yunnan Sourcing has quietly added quite a selection of semi-aged pu’erh stored in more humid conditions, not a bad feat for a vendor mainly known for Kunming dry-stored tea and the YS label. Getting the sample itch, I convinced my local tea friend Garrett (also featured in the MX report) to split a few samples and write up some notes. We picked a handful of teas that looked interesting and added a couple teas I already own that fit into the category. (more…)
Sorry to all the people who like the drinking reports. 2017 has been sparse. This tasting is composed of a few teas that piqued my interest, affordable, semi-aged teas from Guangdong based Taobao Vendor MX-Tea. For this group of teas, I invited my local tea friend Garrett to join in. Garrett has a similar tea diet to myself, principally drinking traditionally stored pu’erh, semi-aged pu’erh as well as the occasional aged oolong. I’ve ordered tea from MX Tea a few times over the past few years and enjoy their naturally stored (Guangdong) factory tea. (more…)
I’ve never really considered doing: one post, one tea reviews on TeaDB. It’s the most standard type of tea blog and I don’t think I have much to add beyond what many of the blogging warriors have done so already. I’m also not great at waxing poetic in tasting descriptions nor do I have the photography skills of some others. Nevertheless, I’m making an exception. For many of the nicer teas we’ve brought onto the show viewers have complained that we’re not doing the tea justice by chugging 7 or 8 brews in 15-20 minutes. And they’re 100% right! We’re not going to film 1.5 hour episodes and are drinking fast out of necessity so we can cover more than just 2 or 3 infusions of these teas. In short, it’s not how we’d drink the tea in any other circumstance.. (more…)
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…)
Young pu and now factory tea. Aren’t you the guy that published that super-negative Xiaguan report. At least young pu’erh is popular in our western pu’erh community. Who the hell is talking about factory tea in the west? Other than the odd cake here or there, or a LP/Toby group buy most of our pu’erh drinkers are chugging White2Tea, Bitter Leaf, Yunnan Sourcing, Essence of Tea, Crimson Lotus, etc. Then we have another collection of drinkers buying up Yangqing Hao and Wistaria. Factory pu’erh is the neglected child, that is championed amongst some old school drinkers, a group of drinkers that isn’t really represented in the western pu-sphere. (more…)
If you have been living in a cave with your pu’erh stash for the past 15 years and arejust reemerging to restock your stash, I have some news for you. You should’ve bought apple stock. And google. And loads of pu’erh. Young pu’erh is expensive now. There was a time not so long age when three figure young pu’erh was considered an outrage. Now it’s commonplace and very easy to spend over $100 for a tiny little 200g beeng that may not even be that good. (more…)
Wistaria (website) is an iconic, Taipei teahouse. The building itself is nearly 100 years old and lived through its share of history. As a teahouse, Wistaria and it’s proprietor (Zhou Yu) have played an important role in the development of modern chayi (tea art) and tea culture in Taiwan. For tea folks or people traveling to Taiwan looking for a tea experience, it’s usually one of the first places on the list. The tea menu is a mix of Taiwanese tea, older teas, green tea, pu’erh, etc. It’s also relatively English friendly with an English menu and a conversationally fluent staff. (more…)
I drank through these teas in March of 2016.
The last mature report was about 16 months ago, but with my Taiwan trip approaching I figured it was about time to drink through my lingering pile of samples.. This report is a mix of teas I own, teas still available from western vendors, and other teas that have since sold out. After traveling through Taiwan and Hong Kong in October my feelings on the market have changed a bit as the limitations present in the mature pu’erh market out west (really a subsection of already a niche market) have become increasingly obvious.. (more…)
The aged oolong market in the west leaves a lot to be desired. Most of the time the teas are usually significantly flawed (re-roasted/sour), overpriced, or more often than not both. A couple years ago, I was lucky enough to sample a number of aged oolongs from Tony of Origin Tea that were offered off-shelf. This helped to give me some perspective on aged oolongs, but also move me into the cranky, old curmudgeon category of a drinker who seems constantly dissatisfied and cynical with the online tea scene at least for this tea genre. Don’t get me wrong, I’m nowhere near an expert but I have gotten a taste of the Taiwanese market to at least know that the idea of aged oolongs being good value teas with consideration to age (true in TW) is not extended to the western market. (more…)