An old ripe tuo stored in Kunming via Yunnan Sourcing.
Category: Ripe Pu’erh
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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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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.
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Pumidors 101. Designing & Maintain Your Own Pumidor
The idea of a pumidor is simple. Create an enclosed space where conditions like relative humidity can be manipulated to better maintain and age pu’erh. In the west, this usually means creating an environment where the humidity is higher than the ambient conditions. Much of the western hemisphere west is a cold, and dry relative to pu-hotspots in east Asia. If Kunming is dry compared with places that pu’erh was traditionally exported and stored at, then a good chunk of the US is the desert. With the risk of the tea drying out or simply not evolving or maturing, it is no surprise that the western pu’erh world is filled with people trying to create artificial ways of aging. One such way is the pumidor, a riff on humidor, an airtight device for aging cigars. (more…)
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Pu’erh Home Storage — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #112
A non-drinking episode covering some topics of home storage. Basic ideas of storage, pumidors, and some dangers of storing pu’erh.
Further reading: Home Pumidor Survey, Kunming Storage
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2015 Denong Wild Ripe [Episode 182]
A very nice young ripe pu’erh from Denong Tea, a boutique operation who is available through Bana Tea but has also opened their own web store.
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Pu’erh Vendor Markup — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #107
A video followup to a series of articles on TeaDB. Screencast was meant to be on for the bulk of the video. Sorry guys!
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Blind Spots (in the Western Market)
The west is a tiny blimp in the Chinese specialty tea market. Having had the experience of traveling and shopped for tea in Taiwan and Hong Kong it gives me some idea of how the market looks in parts of east Asia where tea culture is strong. There are some teas where the west does generally well and gives some access to. There are others where we have to pay a bit more and have limited access. And then there’s blind spots where the market where what we have access to is a pale shell of the real deal. (more…)
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1990s HK-Stored Ripe [Episode 171]
HK-Stored ripe acquired from James’ trip to Taiwan. This is thick, oily, and extremely warm + comfortable.
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Ripe Pu’erh Learning & Basics [Episode 170]
This episode covers the basics of ripe pu’erh and how to brew it and get started on this very diverse category of tea. Teas included are the 2014 Yunnan Sourcing Year of the Horse Ripe and a 1990s HK-Stored ripe.