In episode 148, Denny and James compare the same base material stored in loose maocha form (California) vs. the caked China-Stored version. Very interesting comparison and big thanks to Bana Tea for providing the materia (the 2009 Sanhehao)l
Category: Raw Pu’erh
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The Cult of Yang. Easter Edition. YQH Part 2
Santa Claus didn’t come this year? No problem.. Easter’s early this year.. And while it’s not traditionally much of a gift giving holiday, who’s not above spiking the kid’s easter egg hunt with a few adult treats. I’m not remotely suggesting that you should skip buying your kids candy (it’s unhealthy anyways) and replace the original tong bamboo wrapping of your YQH tong with a giant tong-shapped easter egg… (more…)
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Jingjiatang’s 2013 Xile (Youle) [Episode 146]
Jingjitatang’s 2013 Xile. This is a nice, good bang for your buck example of modern pu’erh from one of the six famous tea mountains (Youle).
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2003/04 Changtai Brown [Episode 145]
A sample kindly provided by Toby. A HK-stored 2003 Changtai tea.. Nice matured, clean drinker.
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HK Report
Big thanks to those that contributed knowledge and time to helping make this a successful trip. You know who you are!
Hong Kong is a very different place than Taipei. Not having been to either, I naively expected a few more similarities. They’re both just big cities in east Asia, right? HK is dense, dense, dense, and built vertically and in general is far more commercial and fast-paced. While I’m more naturally inclined towards somewhere like Taipei, HK has a lot of very nice things that I greatly enjoy, especially the food. Dim Sum, Chinese bakeries, all cheap compared to Seattle prices. Yumm… We spent ~10 nights in Taiwan and four in Hong Kong. The first couple days were used doing relatively standard tourist things (going to tall buildings, Victoria Peak, Star Ferry) which left a bit of time for tea shopping. (more…)
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Verdant Tea’s “Old Tree” Teas vs. W2T’s Little Walk — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #68
2015 Spring teas. This review features three of the supposedly old tree teas from Verdant (300yr, 1000yr, 1800yr) against White2Tea’s Little Walk as the benchmark.
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Storage, My Pumidor, a little Q&A — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #67
A one-off episode about storage, pu’erh storage, tinning teas, and my pumidor. Thanks to Benoit for the great questions.
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Pu’erh, The Body, and Are You Confused Yet!?
In the west, tea is annoyingly difficult to separate from its health claims. Will this help me lose weight? Will this cure cancer? blah blah blah… Due to its post-fermentation, pu’erh has its own set of purported health benefits many based off its status as a chic probiotic. Most seasoned vendors and drinkers roll their eyes at these, but most everyone has their own set of beliefs on how the different types of pu’erh can affect the body. You don’t have to look much further than a tea vendor’s FAQ to find a smorgasbord of questions and answers about the supposed health benefits of tea. This article is not intended to be a health guide, nor an advertisement or critique of any particular school of thought. (more…)
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2004 Commissioned 7542 [Teas I own] — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #66
Another tea acquired abroad. This one is a HK trad. stored commissioned (not Dayi) 7542.
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Jingjiatang’s 2007 Bada [Episode 142]
Jingjitatang’s 2007 Bada. This one is priced as a semi-aged daily drinker. A nice, balanced, middle of the road tea.