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5+ Year Old “Menghai County” Raw Pu’erh [July 2015 Tea Drinking Report]
Shoutouts to Dignitea, Brian (double B), and Hster for providing teas for this month and allowing the content to be what it is! By now you know the drill. I drink a bunch of teas following a certain theme. Blah, blah, blah. This month is Menghai County. One problem.. Menghai County is big and I…
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Da Hong Pao, What’s in your Cup? Blending & Popular DHP Surrogates
Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) is one of China’s ten most famous teas, owns a mythic origin story and is as close to a household name as exists in tea. Given this, it is unsurprising that the name Da Hong Pao is a great marketing term for purveyors of tea. The name Da Hong…
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Wuyi Oolong Tea Vendors
In line with the trends of the rest of the tea industry online, the amount of roasted oolongs and Yancha (Wuyi Oolongs) being sold online has grown significantly. With increased choices and wild price variations even within the same vendor and tea (1,2) shopping for Yancha is confusing and difficult. The online shoppers reliance on…
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Wuyi Oolong Compendium
Home to the original oolong tea and its fair share of tea legends, the Wuyi mountains house some of the world’s most sought after oolong teas . Although there are many types of tea grown in the Wuyi mountains (notably Lapsang Souchong/Jin Jun Mei), it is most famous for its oolong teas. Due to the…
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The Royal Court, Uber-Premium Taiwanese Teas Feat. Zhu Lu, Long Feng Xia, Fu Shou Shan, Da Yu Ling 105k
You are now a seasoned veteran of Taiwanese teas. It has been hard work and you’ve spent alot of time and money, but it’s been worth it. You’ve tasted and mastered the whole lineup… Dong Ding, Baozhong, Oriental Beauty, uber-fresh straight from Taiwan high-mountain teas…Alishan, Lishan, Shan Li Xi, Da Yu Ling. What’s next!? Like…
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Taiwanese Tea Vendor Guide
There are a number of vendors in the western world that offer Taiwanese Oolongs. Prices vary dramatically vendor to vendor and tea to tea (cheap, expensive) and there are even Taiwanese tea forgeries (i.e. grown in China/Thailand, harvested in a Taiwanese style and marketed as Formosa/Gaoshan Oolong). Navigating the online vendor landscape can be a…
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Taiwanese Oolong Compendium
Taiwan has been described by Marshaln as “The Tea Shop Island” and is truly a tea lover’s heaven. Like Japan and unlike China, the standards for authentic Taiwanese tea are quite high. This doesn’t necessarily mean that all tea marketed on the internet as Taiwanese tea is extremely high quality (or even grown in Taiwan!),…