TeaDB

Category: Tea Musings

  • Mature Pu’erh Report [March 2016]

    Mature Pu’erh Report [March 2016]

    I drank through these teas in March of 2016.

    The last mature report was about 16 months ago, but with my Taiwan trip approaching I figured it was about time to drink through my lingering pile of samples.. This report is a mix of teas I own, teas still available from western vendors, and other teas that have since sold out. After traveling through Taiwan and Hong Kong in October my feelings on the market have changed a bit as the limitations present in the mature pu’erh market out west (really a subsection of already a niche market) have become increasingly obvious.. (more…)

  • TeaDB Q&A #2 – Pu’erh Questions

    A question & answer session featuring a number of pu’erh related questions asked in this video.

    Thank you for your questions!

  • TeaDB Q&A #1 – General Questions

    A question & answer session featuring a number of questions asked in this video.

    Thank you for your questions!

  • Pu’erh as RTS Resource Management

    Pu’erh as RTS Resource Management

    According to Youtube’s analytics, TeaDB’s video audience is 87% male, nearly half falling into the 25-34 demographic. Denny and I also fall squarely into the middle of both of these categories. From this data we could theoretically cross market things that “normal people” like.. Movies, cars, fantasy football, etc. However, given our status as nerds, I’m more likely to draw a different conclusion.. That many of you grew up playing a Blizzard RTS.. Starcraft or Warcraft 3. (more…)

  • How I Care For My Yixing — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #76

    One of the frequently asked questions. How I care for my yixing teapots.

  • Two Thoughts on Hitting Hard & Buying Pu’erh

    Two Thoughts on Hitting Hard & Buying Pu’erh

    Find Tea Worthy of Hitting Hard (Aim High, & DO NOT CHEAP OUT)

    Repeat that five times… Here’s a few buying scenarios…

    1. You buy too much of truly great tea and run out of money and tea. You end up in tea exile quaffing some crappy sea dyke or *gasps in horrs* teabags! We’re all deathly afraid of this but it almost never happens. I’ve yet to hear a single instance of this is happening.… it is also really not too hard for most of us, except for the most picky, to find drinkable tea for a not too ridiculous price.
    2. You hit it right and have a good chunk of tea to drink and a good chunk of tea to set aside. Good work!
    3. You buy a lot of cheaper tea. WARNING WARNING!!!! Not only do you have to worry about space but there’s a very good chance you’ll grow tired of your purchase.

    From what I can tell scenario #3 is really common and about 1000000x more likely than scenario #1.. One danger with hitting hard is becoming attracted to the idea of buying lots of tea for the sake of buying. Wanting to buy a tong, because well it’s a effing tong! There’s bamboo.. And seven cakes.. Good shit.. This is where the risk of cheaping out is high for people choosing quantity over quality, especially for newer drinkers. Before impulse buying loads of pu’erh, you should think long and hard about the quality and availability of suitable replacements for pu’erh. (more…)

  • All I Want For Christmas.. YangQing Hao Report feat. Grill

    All I Want For Christmas.. YangQing Hao Report feat. Grill

    YangQing Hao is a Taiwanese brand of pu’erh teas ran by Yang, a collector of old pu’erh. Other than the odd production here and there, Yang produced the bulk of his teas in the mid 2000s. Nearly all of his teas come from Mengla County and Yang can be seen viewed as a greater Yiwu area specialist. A small selection of these teas were originally sold by Houde and later by Origin, but have been sold out and unavailable for a couple years. Thanks to Emmett and his group orders nearly all of Yang’s catalog has become recently available at Taiwanese retail prices. (more…)

  • Influence & The Psychology Behind a Few (Tea) Sales Tactics

    What gets us to buy? Influence: Science & Persuasion is a book written by Robert Cialdini on the psychology of buying (or compliance). Despite being written for the every man or every women as a defense against marketing techniques, the book has ironically been adopted as an important work by marketers. Influence includes a diverse array of examples and studies, many of which we encounter very regularly in our lives. It’s a easy and highly relevant read, that is both approachable and eye-opening from an a day to day and macro point of view. In this article, I’ll be breaking down and covering how these sales tactics work specifically in the tea world. There are six key principles covered in the book.. (more…)

  • Traveling in Taiwan, Things I Like & Don’t Like. TW Report Part 1

    Big thanks to Max, Tony, and all the others who tossed in bits of advice or recommendations. Another high-recommendation but less personal thanks goes out to Marshaln whose blog and archive was and is highly valuable in navigating Taiwan in search of tea.

    I recently embarked on a trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong. I’ve been to Asia a couple times, but this is my first time traveling to both of those places. Needless to say I was rather excited, both to travel and to explore teas. I went with three friends, two from high school and the last one from college. The three friends have varying degrees of tea indoctrination. One of them is moderately into tea (MS), another (DW) drinks a ripe pu’erh from Yunnan Sourcing daily, and the third’s (JF) caffeine of choice usually ends up being coffee. A fourth (ZM) showed up for a few tea spots at the end of the trip and is a fairly regular drinker with broad(ish) preferences. I hadn’t planned on writing a report but when I got back and was bombarded with.. “James how was your trip?” “You might be talking about this on TeaDB soon, but I wanted to ask…“ (more…)

  • Time Machine! Pu’erh Snapshot… 2008

    Time Machine! Pu’erh Snapshot… 2008

    If only I got into pu’erh 5 years earlier…
    -Every single pu’erh addict (regardless of when they got into pu’erh).

    The year is 2008. Obama was elected. Lil Wayne was weird but still OK to like. In the midst of the steroids crisis, MLB considered A-Rod the great clean hope. The world economy took a dump… And perhaps most importantly, the commodity known as pu’erh had just busted.. in the autumn of 2007. With the power of hindsight and the way back machine, let’s search the depths of the internet and see what the pu’erh scene looked like in 2008… (more…)