TeaDB

Category: Aged Pu’erh

  • Advice I’d Give to Someone Just Starting With Pu’erh

    One good thing about TeaDB is it encompaseses a large chunk of Denny and my tea journey. This includes when we were new and fresh in the western tea world and while it results in some early embarrassing episodes, it also helps to document our own learning and progression. Here’s the advice I’d give to myself (beyond which specific teas to buy) if I were to rewind 6 years or to someone just starting in pu’erh now. (more…)

  • Rare Tea: 1970s Ripe Tuocha

    This tea was generously gifted to me by Su as a wedding gift. Thanks so much for your generosity!

    About the Tea (& Is it Legit?)

    Ripe pu’erh was invented in the 1970s, so this represents an extremely early specimen. The process has been tinkered with throughout the years so this humble tuo might show us a bit of how ripe has changed with time. (more…)

  • Correcting Your Storage & Preventing Mold. What are Safe Parameters?

    So you got mold? This is a real risk for anyone aging pu’erh, especially those with setups designed to add some form of humidity. After you deal with the immediate outbreak, you essentially have two options.

    1. Scrap your setup and find a new one.
    2. Tinker and mess with small things within your setup.

    I think people often freak out and choose option 1, when option 2 will usually suffice. In some cases finding a new setup is justified. If your container holding pu’erh is leaching off aromas into the tea or if your container is susceptible to a spill risk, you’ll probably want to make significant changes.. (more…)

  • Thoughts on Marco’s Hotbox Storage Experiment [Inbetweenisode 174]

    This episode, I talk on Marco’s fascinating experiment where he heats up his pu’erh in a cooler (kept at a fairly steady humidity). It’s only one year in, but there’s a lot of food for thought!

    https://mgualt.com/tealog/2018/08/04/temp-control-experiment-w2t-bosch/
    https://mgualt.com/tealog/2018/08/12/storage-experiment-w2t-tuhao-af-2016-one-year-in/

  • Q&A. Vendor + Tea Recommendations, Tea Books, Judging Pu’erh, etc. [Inbetweenisode 173]

    This episode I answer a series of questions on tea, covering a pretty wide range of topics. Topics include vendors for aged oolongs, water, tea books, caffeine content, judging pu’erh, and some pu’erh recommendations.

    Thanks for all the great questions sent in! I answered as many as I could, but unfortunately could not get to everything.

  • Tea-Side, Vendor Profile & Interview

    I had the pleasure of meeting tea vendors and Russian expats Valerii and Jane when I went to Chiang Mai. I had not been planning on any tea meetups on this trip, but Valerii happened to see I was traveling to Chiang Mai on Instagram and we met up for tea. Valerii’s family was very generous and we ended up meeting up a few times during my brief trip, including an outdoor excursion and tea session to the scenic Bua Tong waterfall. After we parted and he sent me home to Seattle with a ton of samples, we agreed to do an interview on the interesting niche he occupies, selling Thai teas. (more…)

  • Garrett Pre-Taiwan Travel Diaries [Inbetweenisode 171]

    In this episode, we discuss Garrett’s upcoming trip to Taiwan in September. We talk about shopping for tea abroad, what he hopes to buy, and some aspects of traveling there.

    After he returns from his trip in late September, we plan to do a recap episode.

  • Some Reasons You Should Consider Aging More Oolong & Less Pu’erh

    Sometimes when I’m sipping a particularly delicious aged oolong, I’ll glance over at my tea fridge and then to my wine cooler and get some major self doubt. I enjoy drinking pu’erh and happen to own enough that I’ll be aging it for a very long time. But I I also really do enjoy aged oolong… And for partly inexplicable reasons have hardly even a pu’erh cake worth of oolong put away for the long haul. (more…)

  • Datapost: The Dearth of Aged Pu’erh Available From Western Facing Vendors

    It’s no secret that aged pu’erh is scarce out west. The western vendor scene is dominated by vendors traveling to Yunnan bringing back predominantly young tea to sell. For this exercise, I added all of the older teas from western vendors I could think of. Unlike some of my other data compilations, this one didn’t take long at all.. The cutoff for aged pu’erh (both raw and ripe) was set at 18 years (2000 and older). Setting it at 18 years puts it firmly above semi-aged, but also not high enough (25 years) where we would have no teas making the cut. It’s a number that’s probably going to annoy some people off because its too low and others because it isn’t high enough (ask Su what aged tea is!). (more…)

  • Why Not (Age) Oolong? [Inbetweenisode 167]

    In this episode, regular guest Garrett comes back to discuss why more people aren’t aging oolong. The episode focuses on difference in pu’erh when it comes to aging, storage, and ease in the west.