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.
This episode we drink a 2006 tea from northern Thailand produced like a pu’erh. It was made under the Hongtaichang label and produced by Mingdee factory. Thanks to Valerii at Tea-Side for providing the sample.
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…)
This episode, I bring on the well-balanced, semi-aged, dark Yiwu, the Yangqing Hao Lingya. This is a cake that I own quite a few cakes of and enjoy drinking regularly.
7.5 Rating.
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…)
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.
This episode, James brings on a repeat, the 2007 Yangqing Hao Jincha. One of James’ favorite daily drinkers, it is a semi-aged Yiwu that strikes a good balance between strength and drinkability.
6.9 Rating.
In this episode, Denny and James bring on a tea from the famed Dayi Bok Choy series from the early 2000s. Despite being 15 years old, this tea is extraordinarily potent and is one of the strongest teas we’ve ever brought onto the show (in a good way). Big thank you to Dipu for providing a sample of this tea.
(My apologies for the audio, the recording was corrupted so we had to use the audio from the camera)
Today, James & Denny drink a unique loose raw stored purportedly from 1993. The tea has been processed like a pu’erh but was harvested and aged in Northern Thailand. Clearly aged, clean, and quite relaxing. Big thanks to Valeri!
https://tea-side.com/aged-raw-pu-erh-tea-1993/
https://tea-side.com/
(My apologies for the audio, the recording was corrupted so we had to use the audio from the camera)
85-90% of the tea being sold is young pu’erh, and the remainder is almost exclusively ripe or 5-10 year old semi-pu’erh. Old-school, traditionally stored pu’erh is an afterthought or an afterthought of an afterthought… This sort of tea can be hit or miss and more of an acquired taste for many.. For me, it’s always been a tea category I personally enjoy and turn to on a regular basis (~25% of the time). I also think if you can find decent examples it is well-worth exploring. As “traditionally stored” implies, this is a style of pu’erh that has been around for a long time. The pu’erh scene has changed and this sort of tea isn’t viewed fashionably or favorably as other sorts of pu’erh (this is not just restricted to the west). (more…)