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Does Pu’erh Increase in Value? Part 2. Landmark Years & Dayi Special Productions: A Look at Price
To some extent all pu’erh moves together in the market. When the pu’erh bust hit in 2007, teas across the board were hit. Raw tea, ripe tea, Dayi, Changtai, Lao Banzhang, Yiwu.. Of course this is only part of the picture. In the bust’s case, not everything was hit equally and teas definitely didn’t all recover at…
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Does Pu’erh Increase in Value? Part 1. Big Factory Pu’erh Recipes
When I investigated the teas that western vendors tend to sell (tldr: young raw pu’erh), the topic of pu’erhs value over time was brought up. In that post, I found that the average cost of a young raw pu’erh listed on western vendor’s sites tended to be less expensive than the semi-aged (7-15yrs+) or ripe…
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The Western Pu’erh Scene is Really Dominated by Modern Young Pu’erh
For people looking to learn about pu’erh I usually recommend picking a western-facing, pu’erh-centric, vendor and ordering a bunch of samples that cover a few different categories (my suggestion: young raw pu’erh, semi-aged raw pu’erh, and ripe pu’erh). Most pu’erh vendors feature teas from two or all three categories but the focus of pu’erh-centered western vendors…
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What to Expect from Traditionally Stored Tea
I get asked a lot about traditionally stored and wetter pu’erh. I like to drink these teas and it’s unfortunately a type that lacks a lot of the exposure in comparison with young pu’erh or ripe pu’erh. Most pu’erh focused vendors don’t offer this type of tea and the ones that do, it typically makes up a small…
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Reading & Drinking Numbers, Numbered Recipes in Pu’erh
I’ve seen the hashtag #drinkingnumbers around instagram used by a few pu’erh heads. This usually means that you’re drinking a tea labeled by the recipe number.. The recipes are usually four digits, and you’ve probably seen them attached to certain teas, both raw or ripe pu’erh. 7542, 7572, 8653, etc..
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Five Things I Like and Dislike. The Secondary Market, Four Year Old Pu’erh, 2017 Prices.
Things that have been occurring in the tea world that I like and dislike..
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Western Tea Culture & Tea Hermits
Whenever I’ve been to Taiwan or Hong Kong, I’m reminded of the solitude of being a western drinker. In tea hotspots out east, you learn about teas by drinking with other people, shop owners, hobbyists, etc. You can explore different tea shops, drinking and talking about tea with other people. And while there’s plenty of…
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Travel Write-Up (JP + TW + HK)
I recently had the privilege of traveling to Asia for the third time. Within 3.5 weeks I traveled to Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. I wasn’t going to write anything originally, but a slow chatter of emails and messages have convinced me to type up a report. The trip was primarily not tea-related, I did…
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The Secondary Pu’erh Market & A Few Pricing Factors
The secondary market is defined in this ebay guide on collectibles terminology as: “the buying and selling of collectibles previously sold on the primary market by retailers to collectors.” . Even though it is a consumable, the pu’erh market is also a collectible market and has a very active secondary markets in the east. In the west…
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Importance of Drinking Moderation
After I had scheduled this post for publication, Marshaln published a post on Caffeine Detox. This is worth reading over. The comments section also includes some personal experiences about overconsumption / overdosing on caffeine. I suspect the vast majority of the people crazy enough to read this blog and buy tea from the internet started…