TeaDB

Category: Aged Pu’erh

  • Shopping for Tea in Taiwan

    Forever alone.. Being a pu’erh addict in the west is a lonely endeavor and how we intake information and buy tea is in all likelihood very different than the average Asian pu-head. We’re often resigned to the tea table/closet all by our self. If we’re lucky we can get a good friend/significant other to come over once a month to humor us but we’re mainly drinking alone and talking to each other on instagram.. It’s no wonder why teapets are so popular..

    In the western tea scene… 65ml teapots are in high-demand.
    In the western tea scene… we get teeny, tiny boxes of tea shipped monthly.
    In the western tea scene… a cake is most definitely not a sample.
    In the western tea scene… we occasionally indulge with **gasp** multiple 200g cakes that we we still have trouble getting through! (more…)

  • 2000 Essence of Tea Green Peacock [Episode 137]

    We’re back with more of that Essence. This is a really clean, high-quality, Malaysian-aged raw pu’erh the Green Peacock.

  • Malayisan Stored 2001 Dayi Jianyun 7542 [Episode 135]

    A sample of a famous tea courteously supplied by Meng from his recent excursion to Malaysia.

  • 2000 Kaiyuan Green Stamp via Essence of Tea [Episode 134]

    A really wonderful, active Malaysian stored pu’erh, from Malaysia based vendor Essence of Tea. It’s not cheap but it’s pretty darn good (also sold out).

  • Time Machine! Pu’erh Snapshot… 2008

    Time Machine! Pu’erh Snapshot… 2008

    If only I got into pu’erh 5 years earlier…
    -Every single pu’erh addict (regardless of when they got into pu’erh).

    The year is 2008. Obama was elected. Lil Wayne was weird but still OK to like. In the midst of the steroids crisis, MLB considered A-Rod the great clean hope. The world economy took a dump… And perhaps most importantly, the commodity known as pu’erh had just busted.. in the autumn of 2007. With the power of hindsight and the way back machine, let’s search the depths of the internet and see what the pu’erh scene looked like in 2008… (more…)

  • Cross Tea Price Comparisons

    I’ve written in the past about relative price comparisons and a couple different models of how we frame tea cost. Tea vs. coffee. Tea vs. wine, etc. How about inner-tea comparisons. Aged pu’erh frequently gets put up against younger tea, Taiwanese Oolong high-mountain tea, low-elevation, Yancha. One comparison I only occasionally see made is types of tea put up against one another. If you focus too heavily on specifics of raw pu’erh like 2015 $100/beeng gushu A vs. 2015 $120/beeng gushu B, it can be easy to miss the big picture. You may forget that according to your taste perhaps raw pu’erh as a whole is under or overvalued. Instead of asking if a $0.40/g ripe pu’erh is twice as good as $0.20/g ripe pu’erh, maybe you should ask if you’d rather have the $0.40/g ripe pu’erh or $0.40/g Taiwanese Gaoshan. This is a casual, fun little thought experiment that tries to make these comparisons. As expected, It’s impossible to make this comparison clean. Vendor markup varies one to one, but here’s what I would choose at these ranges! (more…)

  • Tea Reports 2015 & 2016, Soliciting Feedback & Looking Forward

    As many of you may have noticed the tea of the month reports haven’t exactly been on schedule. They’ve often gone longer than expected and I still have countless unfinished samples which I am trying to drink through. First things first.. I’ll be finishing the last two reports at the end of 2015, Taiwanese oolongs to age & the box (aka aged oolongs). While it may seem premature to brainstorm/discuss how to continue these sorts of reports, it often takes a time to get these together without placing extraneous orders. These reports are the most personal tea journeyish projects that I do on TeaDB, but I’d certainly be curious to solicit some feedback. (more…)

  • 2002 Yibang Cha Wang Yuan Raw Puerh – InBetweenIsode #33 w/ Denny @ Dorothy Lake

  • Interview w/Scott Wilson (Yunnan Sourcing) feat. 2013 YS Da Si [Episode 115]

    A comprehensive interview with Scott Wilson of Yunnan Sourcing detailing his long 12 year journey based in Yunnan from it’s beginnings as an Ebay store, his own productions and much much more. Tea consumed: 2013 Yunnan Sourcing Da Si. Interview was conducted in Bend where the Yunnan Sourcing US branch is based.

    http://yunnansourcing.com/

  • CNNP Zhongcha: Inconsistency, the Bubble & Bargain Hunters

    CNNP Zhongcha: Inconsistency, the Bubble & Bargain Hunters

    Editor’s Note: After the episode on the 1997 CNNP 7581 (acquired via Yunnan Sourcing) (a good tea) we received several emails showing other options for late 1990s 7581. Some were drastically cheaper and others were more expensive. Such inconsistency in pricing indicates either faked age or drastic difference in quality/mark-up. Much of this inconsistency is associated heavily with the Zhong Cha brand.

    Established in 1949, CNNP, or Zhong Cha, is one of the oldest, most classical pu’erh brands. CNNP wrappers are perhaps the most iconic, featuring the tea character surrounded by the Zhong (China) character. This logo is found on the majority of pu’erh beengs from the 1950s to the 1990s, including all of the famous pu’erh vintages from that time period. Productions in the 2000s used the same logo and similar wrapper as the original Zhong Cha wearing cakes printed in 1951, Still, the brand and the label on its own means very little in terms of a quality product. Far less than a consistent Menghai or Xiaguan product. In the opinion of many, these labels have become increasingly watered down over time but neither has fallen as far as the CNNP brand. In fact, contemporary CNNP of the last 20 years is almost renowned for its inconsistency. (more…)