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Young Sheng Variety Pack. The Western Tea Scene Has Loads of Young Sheng Options
In my first couple years of drinking pu’erh I sampled heavily. Many vendors and many different teas. While I originally did not go into it with a goal of trying specifically young pu’erh, this ended up making a pretty strong majority of pu’erh that I sampled. This is due to a few factors. One is…
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2019 Pu’erh from Western Vendors are More Expensive Than Ever. Three Ways to Look at Price.
I’ve been updating a spreadsheet on pu’erh prices on release for the past few years in order to get an idea of tea being offered to western consumers and any possible trends. The well-known popular narrative is that fresh pu’erh prices have gone up and this certainly seems true in the data. Last year the…
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Boutique Pu’erh. How Much of a Story Does the Top End of the Western Boutique Pu’erh Market Tell?
If you follow what gets said about prices each year, you would end up with the impression that the average price of tea has gone up. But more specifically the price at the most sought after regions (say Lao Banzhang, Bingdao) have gone completely through the roof. A lot of this narrative is anecdotal. Tales…
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2018 Crimson Lotus Tea Autumn Hekai Raw Pu’erh [Episode 316]
This episode, Denny and I brew a powerful young sheng by local Seattle friends, Crimson Lotus Tea. The tea is quite punchy, potent, and strong, you’ll be able to tell by just watching the video. Thank you to Lamu & Glen for the tea!
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A Conversation w/Glen on Aging Tea in Seattle & Kunming, Blending & Tea Culture [Inbetweenisode 199]
In this episode, Glen and I have a casual conversation covering a wide arrange of tea and pu’erh centric topics. We start by talking about how tea is aging in Seattle (where we both live) and how that compares with Kunming, a place known for its dry storage. We then talk about tea culture and…
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2006 Troublemaker Fangcha w/Crimson Lotus Tea Raw Pu’erh [Inbetweenisode 198]
This episode, I’m joined by special guest Glen of Crimson Lotus Tea! This is the first of two episodes, and we drink a new semi-aged production. The tea is clearly dry-stored, but any harshness in the tea is mellowed to a very drinkable state. The profile is sweet, smoky, and pretty tasty.
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Datapost: 2018 Pu’erh Prices are More of the Same
About a year ago, I used the Way Back Machine/Archive.org to go back and examine the prices at conception of tea from western vendors since 2011. This was a valuable exercise and produced some interesting findings on a range of things, from price fluctuation, to the specific market each vendor aims for, etc. Crunching the numbers…
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How Much Does Ripe Pu’erh Cost from Western Vendors?
Since I’ve crunched a bunch of numbers for other pu’erh categories, I figured I should do the same for ripe pu’erh. Ripe pu’erh is not exactly the most talked about tea, but it is generally considered to be affordable and there’s enough options easily accessitlbe to keep most people satisfied. I compiled all the ripe…
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Q&A. Vendor + Tea Recommendations, Tea Books, Judging Pu’erh, etc. [Inbetweenisode 173]
This episode I answer a series of questions on tea, covering a pretty wide range of topics. Topics include vendors for aged oolongs, water, tea books, caffeine content, judging pu’erh, and some pu’erh recommendations. Thanks for all the great questions sent in! I answered as many as I could, but unfortunately could not get to…
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Datapost: The Dearth of Aged Pu’erh Available From Western Facing Vendors
It’s no secret that aged pu’erh is scarce out west. The western vendor scene is dominated by vendors traveling to Yunnan bringing back predominantly young tea to sell. For this exercise, I added all of the older teas from western vendors I could think of. Unlike some of my other data compilations, this one didn’t take…