Tag: Bana Tea

Awkwardness in Pu’erh & A Brief Survey

Thanks to Linda, Scott, and Paul for answering my questions!

Raw pu’erh is very tricky. From the time it is processed to consumption the tea is constantly changing. There are ebbs and flows in how the tea develops and what tastes good fresh may not be the better tasting tea in the long-run. Teas can also go through certain stages where it’ll be transitional or in-between profiles, lacking a cohesive form and not necessarily tasting appealing or enjoyable. These awkward stages depend on a number of factors including the base material, compression, storage, etc. making them difficult to pin down. It can be tricky to discern if the tea will recover to become good and decent or if it is ultimately doomed.. (more…)

December 19, 2015
Bana Tea’s Jade Buddha Da Hong Pao [Episode 133]

A Yancha from Bana Tea. This is a fun drink from Linda Louie and a nice change of pace from all the pu’erh we’ve been quaffing!

November 24, 2015
Can’t I Just Settle Down? Menghai County Raw Pu’erh [September 2015 Tea Drinking Report]

Shoutouts to Meng, Carolyn, Bellmont, and Dignitea for providing teas for this month and allowing the content to be what it is!

Menghai County Part 2! This is the last of the pu’erh reports for 2015. I’ll be traveling to Taiwan and Hong Kong in October and will finish up the year with a pair of oolong reports (more on this later week). It also probably represents the last young pu’erh report for quite sometime (more on this later in the report and next week). Similar to the last Menghai report, this is a continuation of the previous year’s Nannuo and Bulang reports. (more…)

September 26, 2015
2012 Denong Lao Banzhang via Bana Tea — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #48

Denong’s invigorating 2012 Lao Banzhang purportedly from one of the most famous and most expensive tea mountains.

September 23, 2015
Guranese White via Linda Louie (Bana Tea) [Episode 119]

A Nepalese white tea kindly sent over by Linda Louie of Bana Tea.

August 18, 2015
Bana Tea’s 2009 Sanhe Hao & 2014 Red Yiwu — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #34

Comparison of two excellent teas from the same farm in the Yiwu area. Thanks to Carrie for kindly providing the Red Yiwu and Linda Louie of Bana Tea for providing the Sanhe Hao!

http://www.banateacompany.com/pages/puerh_teas.html

June 16, 2015
“Yiwu” Raw Pu’erh [May 2015 Tea Drinking Report]

Big shoutouts to Carolyn, Richard, Dignitea and several vendors for providing teas and others like Shah8 for their recommendations! A brief disclaimer: This report should be taken as my own personal journey into tea and not as the ultimate, definitive anything.

WTF Part 1!? These reports have been getting progressively longer. Rather than do something sensible, (a) get an editor to reduce flab and misspellings or (b) allow my mom or girlfriend to chuck out samples/stage an intervention… I stuck my middle finger out and indulged.. That’s right! This report is even longer than the previous one and will be released in two installments. The first will cover the young tea and the second will consume the Yiwu with some age (somewhat arbitrary set as 8 years). (more…)

June 6, 2015
Yancha (Wuyi Oolongs) [March 2015 Tea Drinking Report]

Big shoutouts to Brian, Carolyn, and Richard (+vendors) 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 March 2015, the tea of the month was Yancha. During this month, I had Yancha 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…)

April 11, 2015
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…)

March 14, 2015
2008 Bana Tea Jinggu — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #20

Big thanks to Carolyn for providing the tea for this episode, Bana Tea’s 2008 Jinggu. A nice, well-rounded cake pressed by Bana Tea!

http://www.banateacompany.com/pages/puerh_teas-Bana.html

March 11, 2015