This episode, Denny and I drink an aromatic approachable young sheng from Tea Encounter. This is part of Tea Encounter’s inaugural set of productions. Congrats to Tiago!
Category: Raw Pu’erh
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2019 Tea & TeaDB Reflections
2019 may be one of the more boring years from TeaDB to write about. I drank tea, bought a little, Denny and I continued our episode per week pace, and I wrote a bit. My habits are more settled, a steady trend at this point. I know what I like and tend to follow predictable patterns.
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2005 Nanqiao Bulang Double Lions Teas We Like Raw Pu’erh [Episode 346]
This episode, Denny and I drink one of the most powerful teas we’ve brought onto the show, the 2005 Nanqiao Bulang Double Lions. The tea has been stored very well in Malaysia and packs strength powerful enough that indicates it could be aged for another 15 years!
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2019 Pu’erh from Western Vendors are More Expensive Than Ever. Three Ways to Look at Price.
I’ve been updating a spreadsheet on pu’erh prices on release for the past few years in order to get an idea of tea being offered to western consumers and any possible trends. The well-known popular narrative is that fresh pu’erh prices have gone up and this certainly seems true in the data. Last year the prices looked about the same as the previous year. And when and how much the price has gone up depends on how we look at this and there’s a handful of different ways to look at the data and options available (I do three here).
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VORT & VOATO. Nerdy Tea Comparisons.
VORP/WAR
In sports analytics (baseball and basketball), there’s a couple of new(ish) advanced metrics that have caught traction over the past decade. One is VORP, which stands for Value Over Replacement Player and measures a player’s contribution compared with what a theoretical placement player might. This is typically measured in baseball as runs with the player being measured vs. a replacement player. Another somewhat similar metric, is WAR or Wins Above Replacement. This is measured in wins. The methodologies for these vary across sports, but involve aggregating data together in some sort of a model.
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2005 Chenyuan Hao Shanzhong Chuanqi Raw Pu’erh [Inbetweenisode 213]
In this episode, I give the 2005 Chenyuan Hao Shanzhong Chuanqi another go. This is a six famous mountains blend I’ve sampled a few times and each time my own impression of the tea has shifted. The tea is dark, strong, with an undercurrent of energy. Thank you to Marco and the folks over at Teas We Like for sending another sample my way.
Rating: 7.3
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Five Things I Like & Dislike. Short-Term Pumidors, B&B Sheng of the Day, Buying Pu’erh on Amazon
Five things I like & dislike.
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2019 Biyun Hao Yiwu Huangshan Raw Pu’erh [Episode 339]
We drink a very high-quality, small-production Yiwu tea. The tea is made by Biyun Hao a Taizhong based pu’erh vendor. Unfortunately this tea is not available but a few are.
Thank you to the folks over at Teas We Like for providing the tea. You can check out TWL for other BYH products.
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2012 Yangqing Hao Yegu Wild Raw Pu’erh [Episode 337]
This is about as strong a tea as you will encounter. I think this episode is enjoyable, when it becomes obvious that Denny and I are completely taken aback from the power of the tea. This was the 3rd episode of the day filmed consecutively and in TeaDB vs. the 2012 YQH Yegu, we easily lost.
The tea itself is strong, potent, bitter, and substantive.
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Storage Methodology & Odor-Free Storage. Things to Watch Out For in a few Popular Western Storage Methods.
One pumidor-related topic I contemplate is the correct way to think about the chosen container. Given we store a tea at identical temperature and humidity (say 70F/65RH), if we store the same tea for five years in two different ways, a food-grade plastic box versus an old wine cooler, how much will they differ? What about an odor-free wood cabinet or a crock? Or a natural solution in a humid place? Should we just be thinking about the container and methodology as a vessel to get the desired temperature and humidity, provided it can hit a few checkpoints (dark, odor-free)? Or is there something inherent with the choice we make here that can make a substantial impact to the finished product even if we’re able to store the tea otherwise identically.
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