One of the perks (or drawbacks) of having a blog is literally drowning in tea/samples. I’m not really in the market for young tea, especially not cheaper young tea. This is mainly because I don’t drink these teas nearly often enough and the number of samples I cross path with are more than enough to satiate my sporadic young tea craving. As a result, I cranked through this batch of samples pretty quickly in a series of shortish sessions.. Here’s some quick impressions on thoughts on teas I’ve had recently that were priced beneath the Fomo Report on more premium teas (>$0.40/g). (more…)
Category: Raw Pu’erh
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2004 XG FT8653-3+1, Teas I Own [Inbetweenisode 117]
A 2004 Feitai production with the classic 8653 recipe. Stored in southern Taiwan, this tea firmly fits into the semi-aged category and is an upgrade over the 2005 XG FT8653-5 that was previously reviewed.
Tea is provided courtesy of Toby (https://www.instagram.com/toby8653/) and Emilio (https://www.instagram.com/thejadeleaf/).
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1990 CNNP 9016 Tuo via YS [Episode 192]
An old ripe tuo stored in Kunming via Yunnan Sourcing.
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2009 Xizihao Diangu [Episode 191]
A special Northern Yunnan production from Xizihao. A very complex, dynamic tea that was fun to session with other pu-heads.
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Tea Drinking Reflections 2016 & 15 Cake Challenge 2017
In what is becoming a yearly tradition, I spent too much and bought too much in 2016. An extended trip to Asia didn’t help matters. Unlike 2015 I’m actually pretty happy with what I spent money on. Part of this is just having another a year under my belt to both learn about tea and my own preferences. For instance, 85-90% of the pu’erh I bought comes from 2003-2007. This hits the right mark for me of affordability, quality of base material and storage. I’ve avoided buying young pu’erh, a category I tend to not drink much and have bought too much of in the past. I bought a bit less mature pu’erh than 2015, but that’s more because I’ve found it difficult to match some of the traditionally stored pu’erh I found in Hong Kong during my brief trip there in 2015. (more…)
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W2T Club B____ D____ [Inbetweenisode 116]
The W2T Club November tea. A young recently-pressed raw pu’erh from Lincang.
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2003 Chenyuan Hao Yesheng [Episode 189]
To commemorate our new location, this episode we drink a high-end sheng from boutique Taiwanese producer, Chenyuan Hao. Dry-stored by a collector in Malaysia, this is a wonderful tea to enjoy with our tea heads.
The tea is made from wild Yiwu leaves.
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Extended Episode, Grandpa Style & Gongfu. 2003 Brown Changtai [Inbetweenisode 115]
An extended episode that shows James brewing a light traditionally stored 2003 Brown Changtai in both grandpa style and gong-fu style brewing.
Relevant: http://www.marshaln.com/whats-grandpa-style/
Tea is provided courtesy of Toby (https://www.instagram.com/toby8653/) and Emilio (https://www.instagram.com/thejadeleaf/).
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2016 Yunnan Sourcing Mangfei — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #113
A review of a very affordable, strong young pu’erh from Yunnan Sourcing.
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1998-2003 House Blend via FarWenwa [Episode 185]
A house-blended mix of 13yr+ pu’erh mixed in together. Generously sent to us courtesy of Geraldo at Far Wenwa.