TeaDB

Category: Article

  • Crimson Lotus Tea, Featured Vendor

    Crimson Lotus Tea, Featured Vendor

    The vendor profile for Crimson Lotus Tea is a part of our Pu’erh Tea Vendor Series, covering a number of Pu’erh-centric vendors that sell to the west. This interview was conducted with Glen of Crimson Lotus Tea.

    Crimson Lotus Tea is one of the newest and hottest vendors in the pu’erh scene. Formed in late 2013, Crimson Lotus is based in Seattle and is composed of the husband/wife duo of Glen and Lamu Bowers. Lamu was originally from Yunnan, creating an instant familial connection to the land of pu’erh. The pair made their first sourcing trip to Yunnan in Spring 2014 (they also got married on the same trip!). The sourcing trip was well documented on their blog and resulted in a diverse range of pu’erh, Crimson Lotus brand cakes, teapets, and Jianshui teaware offered on their site. Crimson Lotus Tea fits firmly into the curated pu’erh vendor category with a small but eclectic selection of raw and ripe pu’erh. (more…)

  • Pu’erh Regions: Eastern Xishuangbanna, Mengla County, Yiwu + Youle

    Pu’erh Regions: Eastern Xishuangbanna, Mengla County, Yiwu + Youle

    This article frequently references and links to babelcarp. Babelcarp is a Chinese Tea Lexicon that is an essential resource for tea nerds that want to dive in further and don’t understand Chinese! This article also sources many maps from a TeaChat thread, original sources vary.

    Pu’erh is frequently sold by its geographical farming location. Teas are marketed as being from Yiwu, Banzhang, and Bingdao. These areas exist as physical areas but also serve as important marketing terms for pu’erh. Hot regions like Banzhang or Bingdao can fetch extremely high price tags. Learning these regions are an important part in understanding new school pu’erh as well as the regional terroir of Yunnan. The southernmost prefecture in Yunnan, Xishuangbanna is arguably the most important prefecture within Yunnan for pu’erh. Xishuangbanna is home to Menghai Tea Factory and the six famous tea mountains. It is also where most examples of aged pu’erh base material originates from. In the last 20 years, the pu’erh boom is extremely apparent in Xishuangbanna, an area that generally fetches the highest price for their tea. Within Xishuangbanna, there are dramatically different flavor profiles, from the soft, pleasant aftertaste of Yiwu to the bold and brash Bulang. This post will focus on the eastern regions of Xishuangbanna, which includes the greater Yiwu region, most of which falls under Mengla County. (more…)

  • Yunnan Sourcing, Featured Vendor

    Yunnan Sourcing, Featured Vendor

    The vendor profile for Yunnan Sourcing is a part of our Pu’erh Tea Vendor Series, covering a number of Pu’erh-centric vendors that sell to the west.

    Based in both Kunming and Portland, Yunnan Sourcing is one of the longest standing pu’erh vendors in the international online marketplace. The store was founded by Scott Wilson, an American expatriate based in Kunming and was originally conceived as an ebay vendor (in 2004). As the pu’erh tea market has grown in the west and worldwide, Yunnan Sourcing has grown and evolved with it. The ebay store eventually migrated onto its own domain(s), YunnanSourcing.com and eventually YunnanSourcing.us. In 2009, Scott began to source and press the well-received Yunnan Sourcing production cakes, these beengs have become a major selling point on Yunnan Sourcing’s online store. (more…)

  • Pu’erh Storage Schools

    Pu’erh Storage Schools

    Pu’erh storage is a polarizing topic. This article is not intended to be a storage guide, nor an advertisement or critique of any particular storage methodology. The goal is to simply outline a few concepts and methods surrounding the complicated and controversial issue of pu’erh storage. Similar to how there is no single way in which the Chinese, Yunnanese, or Southeast Asians consume pu’erh, there is no obvious consensus when it comes to storage. This is all despite what vendors or other influencers directly involved with pu’erh might say. (more…)

  • Bulang Pu’erh [July 2014 Tea Drinking Report]

    Bulang Pu’erh [July 2014 Tea Drinking Report]

    For June 2014, the tea of the month was Bulang Pu’erh. During this past month, I had Bulang tea at least once a day (unless totally unfeasible). I’ll still consume other teas, but the primary focus is understanding and building a palate for a specific type/genre/region of tea through repetition and concentrated learning. This the most personal blogging type style of post for TeaDB, and the goal is to stretch my palate as well as give recommendations to interested parties.

    Vendors ordered from:

    Primary tea producers:

    • Banzhang Tea Factory (Cha Wang Shop/White2Tea)
    • Hai Lang Hao (Yunnan Sourcing)
    • Yunnan Sourcing

    Also featuring:

    • Mengyang Guoyan (Yunnan Sourcing)
    • Gu Ming Xiang (Yunnan Sourcing)

    (more…)

  • Old School & New School Pu’erh

    Old School & New School Pu’erh

    Pu’erh is an unusual and highly unique tea. It is a tea genre accompanied by both a long rich history as tribute tea and also closely associated with the wild and dynamic nature of modern China. Pu’erh cha is frequently marketed as “traditional” and often accompanied with marketing buzzwords like “Ancient”, “Wild” and claims (many ridiculous and unverifiable) of very old trees. These days, there’s a ton of pu’erh being produced and sold by a number of different producers and vendors, operations ranging from the very large to the very small. Things weren’t always this way. This article will examine some of the trends and changes within the pu’erh industry post-PRC. (more…)

  • The Price of Menghai Tea Factory Recipes: Taobao & Other Purchasing Options

    The Price of Menghai Tea Factory Recipes: Taobao & Other Purchasing Options

    Menghai Tea Factory. The gold standard of ripe pu’erh and the producer of famous benchmark raw pu’erhs from the 1980s and 1990s. If you purchase legitimate Menghai, it is usually thought of as a safe buy. Dayi has the reach to make these recipes consistent year to year and while there is a higher price associated with the brand, you are paying for a reliable tea factory with a proven track record (Dayi tea is also liquid). This article examines a number of different routes available to purchase young Dayi plantation recipes. One advantage to purchasing pu’erh, especially classic recipes like these is the ability to research the price compared with the Chinese market price (Taobao). (more…)

  • Nannuo Pu’erh [June 2014 Tea Drinking Report]

    Nannuo Pu’erh [June 2014 Tea Drinking Report]

    Every month, I dedicate it to one type of tea. This means I drink that genre of tea in some form at least once a day. This could mean gong-fu, grandpa, or even a cold-brew. I’ll still consume other teas, but the primary focus is understanding and building a palate for a specific type/genre/region of tea through repetition. This the most personal blogging type style of post for TeaDB, and the goal is to stretch my palate as well as give recommendations to interested parties. I had so many different teas this month that my notes were especially useful for this write-up.

    Vendors ordered from:

    Primary tea producers:

    • Mengyang Guoyan (Yunnan Sourcing)
    • Hai Lang Hao (Yunnan Sourcing)
    • Yunnan Sourcing

    Also featuring:

    • Ruiyuan, Taochaju, Yunhai, (White2Tea)
    • Mingsheng Hao, Nannuoshan Tea Factory, Changtai (Cha Wang Shop)
    • CNNP, Guan Zi Zai (Yunnan Sourcing)
    • Chen Yuan Hao (Origin Tea)
    • Supermarket Pu’erh (Tienxi/Uwajimaya)

    (more…)

  • Pu’erh Factories: Why Buy from a Big Factory? Feat. Menghai, Xiaguan

    Pu’erh Factories: Why Buy from a Big Factory? Feat. Menghai, Xiaguan

    Pu’erh brands play an important role in the marketing and selling of samples, cakes and tongs of pu’erh tea. This is far more pronounced in the Yunnan-based pu’erh when compared with their Fujian-based Yancha selling counterparts or Taiwanese oolong selling merchants. This has resulted in some fascinating convolutions within the pu’erh scene… CNNP sold their name and wrappers to anyone willing to pay, seemingly every operations specialist at Menghai formed their own factory (1,2,3), and forgery continues to be a major issue. This is true for not only highly-priced gushu and expensive aged tea but Menghai plantation tea! The pu’erh market also has a tendency to attach itself to brands and certain recipes (see 7542 speculation) and even a brand that has been protective over their reputation like Menghai, has had their recipes blatantly copied until it was deemed illegal in 2005. (more…)

  • Ripe Pu’erh Concepts

    Ripe Pu’erh Concepts

    Depending on who you ask you will get dramatically different reactions to ripe pu’erh. Ripe pu’erh, also shu, shou, or cooked pu’erh, is preferred by many as an easy, smooth drink. It is also often shoved aside by tea people as an inferior or simply uninteresting tea. In Zhang Jinghong’s fantastic Puer Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic she draws the analogy between raw/ripe (cooked) pu’erh and raw/cooked food. In this analogy the wo dui process that ripe pu’erh undergoes is the cooking process and the aging of raw pu’erh can be likened to naturally slow cooking cooking the tea. Freshly pressed raw pu’erh is simply uncooked (and has even been classified by many as not pu’erh!). This article will explore some intermediate level concepts of ripe pu’erh and examine common variations in the “cooking” process of ripe pu’erh and how it might affect your cup. (more…)