The final episode of the blind tasting is a ripe, Scott’s 2017 Rooster King.
Category: Ripe Pu’erh
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Western Brands are Very Different from Big Factory Tea
- The data from this original post was originally taken from puer.cn, and isn’t totally complete (it’s probably missing some productions). The information is intended as a proxy to look at some trends. Here’s the dataset of White2Tea, Yunnan Sourcing, Dayi, and Xiaguan. Dayi and Xiaguan we looked at 2004-2006 and 2014-2016. For W2T/YS we just looked at 2014-2016.
It’s no secret that the pu’erh market has changed a lot. Old factories like Dayi and Xiaguan have remained mainstays, but are pretty different entities than they were 30 or 40 years ago. Boutiques and more recently westward facing vendors have popped up. Some have pressed long enough to fall into certain patterns for what they offer, i.e. vendor X sells tea as Wuliang every year. As we’ve examined in what western vendors put into their inventory, boutique western facing vendors don’t necessarily offer a balanced selection of pu’erh. So are these big Chinese vendors offering the same sort of tea as we see places like Yunnan Sourcing or White2Tea are? Not exactly. (more…)
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Zhang Jinghong’s Ancient Caravans & Urban Chic, a Conversation w/Garrett [Inbetweenisode 155]
This is not a review.. In this episode, James and Garrett have a very long discussion on (IMO) the best English-language book on pu’erh around. They discuss what they like about the book and dive deeper into some of the topics brought up by Zhang (the author).
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Tea Drinking Reflections 2017
2017 has been a transitory year for me with a few significant life changes. Part of this involved the very painful process of packing up all my tea-related things and moving from my apartment of five years. This is the first time since my tea-obsession began that I’ve moved. It also forced me to reckon with how much I had accumulated (maybe I can just get rid of more sweaters to fit a few extra cakes?). This year has also been quite different from 2014-2016, with both my consumption and purchasing shifting significantly downwards, a shift I consider to be both positive and healthy.. (more…)
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Five Things I Like & Dislike, Obsession with Value, Tea Shaming…
Things that have been occurring in the tea world that I like and dislike.. (more…)
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2015 W2T Brown Sugar Ripe Pu’erh [Episode 234]
A 2015 ripe pu’erh from White2Tea. This is a smooth, thick brew for an inexpensive price. Recommended.
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Why is the Western Scene so Dominated by Young Pu’erh, A Conversation w/Garrett [Inbetweenisode 146]
In this episode, Garrett and I take a look at one of the latest articles on TeaDB and some of the responses. We discuss why young raw pu’erh is such a commonly sourced tea for western facing pu’erh-centric vendor.
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2017 YS Rooster King Ripe Pu’erh [Episode 232]
One of Scott’s very recent ripe pu’erh pressings, the Year of the Rooster ripe cake. Well-blended and well-priced!
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2015 W2T Pretty Girls Ripe Pu’erh [Episode 231]
White2Tea’s premium ripe pu’erh brought onto TeaDB. A relatively strong ripe blend, for those that like their shu on the greener side.
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Does Pu’erh Increase in Value? Part 2. Landmark Years & Dayi Special Productions: A Look at Price
To some extent all pu’erh moves together in the market. When the pu’erh bust hit in 2007, teas across the board were hit. Raw tea, ripe tea, Dayi, Changtai, Lao Banzhang, Yiwu.. Of course this is only part of the picture. In the bust’s case, not everything was hit equally and teas definitely didn’t all recover at the same rate.. Some teas rebounded in a year or two, far more quickly than others. Others slowly creeped back up in five or six years and some teas and brands have never recovered. (more…)