TeaDB

Category: Tea Learning

  • Raw Pu’erh Oddities. Feat: Small Leaf, Purple Leaf, Purple Bud, etc.

    Pu’erh is a very elusive term, that carries many definitions and radically different taste profiles depending on who you ask. While for the most part, pu’erh is produced with Camellia Sinensis v. Assamica, the big leaf varietal; the term itself is attached with the geography (Yunnan) and the processing, not necessarily the leaf varietal. As pu’erh has picked up steam and demand has spiked, there’s been a few interesting oddities that are cultivated and marketed. Many of these are naturally growing and some haven’t been produced as pu’erh until recently (causing heavy scrutiny into the aging potential). (more…)

  • Aged Huali Box Tea [Episode 99]

    Big thanks to Carolyn who sent this tea in. A mystery tea that came from a box!!

  • May/June/July Tea of the Month 2015

    Here’s the announcement of the next batch of tea of the months. Feel free to drink alongside, give suggestions, etc. Due to being egregiously and hilariously over my tea budget, I’m not sure how much I will be able to accommodate specific requests!

    • Greater Yiwu, Mengla County + Youle (May 2015)
    • Menghai County (June 2015)
    • Aged Oolongs (July 2015)

    (more…)

  • Wuliang/Ailao Raw Pu’erh [February 2015 Tea Drinking Report]

    Wuliang/Ailao Raw Pu’erh [February 2015 Tea Drinking Report]

    Big shoutouts to Carolyn & Brian (a different Brian from last month) for providing several of the teas for this month and allowing the content to be what it is! I hope you like long-form content, because this tea of the month report is truly massive.

    In the month of February 2015, the tea of the month was Wuliang/Ailao Pu’erh. During this month, I had Wuliang/Ailao Pu’erh at least once a day (unless totally unfeasible). I’ll still consume other teas, but the primary focus is understanding and building a palate for a specific type/genre/region of tea through repetition. This is the most personal blogging type style of post for TeaDB, and the goal is to stretch my palate as well as give recommendations to interested parties. (more…)

  • Pu’erh Regions: Pu’er Prefecture

    Pu’erh Regions: Pu’er Prefecture

    This article frequently references and links to babelcarp. Babelcarp is a Chinese Tea Lexicon that is an essential resource for tea nerds that want to dive in further and don’t understand Chinese! This article also sources many maps from a TeaChat thread, original sources vary.

    Previously named Simao, Pu’er Prefecture shares pu’erh’s name and is one of the three principle growing prefectures for pu’erh tea. Located in Yunnan, Pu’er is sandwiched in between Xishuangbanna and Lincang and despite not being a particularly important historical growing region it is a historical hub for the tea horse road. Pu’er prefecture also borders Laos, Burma and Vietnam. Within Pu’er Prefecture, there are a few high-profile regions although the majority of the prefecture lacks the hype of the most hyped regions, especially Xishuangbanna. (more…)

  • Pu’erh Buying Thoughts: Diversification & Buying Tea for the Long Haul

    Pu’erh is one of the trickiest teas to buy and a very different landscape than other teas. One reason is the instability of the market, partially because pu’erh is treated as a commodity for investment and is mainly due to the the thought that pu’erh will improve over time. Another is the psychology behind the consumption of pu’erh. Pu’erh drinkers think about their tea in a much different way than drinkers of other teas. lacking the immediacy that naturally accompanies other teas (especially greener teas). In 2007, the pu’erh market busted largely because of over speculation of tea that really wasn’t very good to begin with. People were aggressively buying at a rate that outpaced consumption and the market eventually corrected itself. This article will discuss a few thoughts on pu’erh buying and an alternate buying strategy. (more…)

  • Lincang Raw Pu’erh [January 2015 Tea Drinking Report]

    Lincang Raw Pu’erh [January 2015 Tea Drinking Report]

    Big shoutouts to Dignitea, Brian, Jake, Carolyn and Cwyn for providing several of the teas for this month and allowing the content to be what it is! I hope you like long-form content, because this tea of the month report is truly massive.

    In the month of January 2015, the tea of the month was Lincang Pu’erh. During this month, I had Lincang Pu’erh at least once a day (unless totally unfeasible). I’ll still consume other teas, but the primary focus is understanding and building a palate for a specific type/genre/region of tea through repetition. This is the most personal blogging type style of post for TeaDB, and the goal is to stretch my palate as well as give recommendations to interested parties.

    Producers sampled from:

    • S. Mengku
    • Yunnan Sourcing
    • Fengqing Sanning
    • Mandala Tea

    (more…)

  • Pu’erh Regions: Lincang

    Pu’erh Regions: Lincang

    This article frequently references and links to babelcarp. Babelcarp is a Chinese Tea Lexicon that is an essential resource for tea nerds that want to dive in further and don’t understand Chinese! This article also sources many maps from a TeaChat thread, original sources vary.

    Regarded as the northern pu’erh region Lincang Prefecture is one of the largest and most tea regions that produces pu’erh tea. While there is some pu’erh production north of Lincang (Dehong) it is sparser and not nearly as common as Lincang or Xishuangbanna. To the west, Lincang borders Burma and to the south is Pu’er Prefecture. Despite lagging behind Xishuangbanna in fame and hype, Lincang is home to a few of the most famed and expensive areas in all of pu’erh. The most notable of these are Bingdao and Xigui. There are also several Lincang-based factories, including Shuangjiang Mengku, and Fengqing (the iconic Xiaguan is located nearby in Dali). (more…)

  • Problems with Online Tea Reviews

    Problems with Online Tea Reviews

    There are many problems with reviews online. Many people use reviews as a way to filter out the fodder and find good products. Talking about and discussing tea is also an important and necessary part of the learning process and a part that reviews can help to facilitate. Learning in a vacuum is usually a terrible idea and reviews can be a formative part of learning. People who sell products and vendors have realized that online reviews and opinions affect sales and have reacted in a number of ways. On the most basic level, yelp, ebay, and amazon vendors openly ask for and encourage reviews of their product. Fair enough. On a slightly more sinister level, there are paid reviewers of Amazon products that are on the payroll of the producer and are required to give 5 star reviews. This becomes a huge problem when there are only a few reviews of similar products online, meaning one or two five star reviews can propel a significant amount of sales! Many of these problems persist into tea, to varying degrees. While there isn’t necessarily malintent on the reviewer or the vendor’s part, bias and aspects beyond the quality of tea play frequently heavily into the actual review and people’s perception. This article will specifically examine points of bias in the online tea world. (more…)

  • Yixing Teapots — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #10

    Inbetweenisode Episode #10 from James. This is part two of a two part series on Yixing teapots. The second part covers some basic attributes, advantages and characteristics of Yixing.

    Please check out these additional resources:
    http://www.marshaln.com/tag/yixing/
    http://terebess.hu/english/yixing1.html
    http://terebess.hu/english/yixing1a.html