TeaDB

Tag: Taobao

  • Storage Deep Dive featuring 2006 CGHT Yiwu Yecha [Inbetweenisode 181]

    This episode is a deep dive into looking at the storage . I recently acquired a duplicate . This is a cake I’ve kept in my own pumidor storage for three years and was previously stored in Houston Texas, a fairly humid place of the US compared with a cake I recently bought from taobao. The tea featured is the 2006 Chenguanghe tang Autumn Yiwu Yecha. It’s an alright tea, but the purpose of this episode is mainly to evaluate and attempt to analyze the storage.

    In the episode I take a look at the humidity generated by the dry leaves of the cake, examine the visual differences of the dry and wet leaf, have a comparison tasting session, and finally drink the tea under more normal conditions. The episode concludes with some of my own takeaways.

    If you are are pu’erh nerd or at all interested in storing pu’erh I think you will enjoy this episode. If you want to learn more about storage conditions, please check out some of our other storage related content.

    Any feedback for this episode is highly appreciated!

    Rating: 5.7.

  • TAOBAO (& Pu’erh). A Conversation w/Garrett [Inbetweenisode 151]

    In this episode, Garrett and James have an open-ended discussion on Taobao, a Chinese online shopping platform. We start by discussing how we originally started using Taobao, some of its uses to learn and explore tea, and how we found specific vendors on Taobao. About halfway through the episode we discuss agents (intermediaries that allow you to buy tea from Taobao) that we’ve used in the past with and the logistics involved. The episode concludes with a discussion of if we will order from Taobao in the future and the specific type of teas (i.e. factory tea) that we specifically look for. The episode concludes with some pros and cons that we both have of the buying platform.

    This is NOT a how-to guide for taobao.

  • Buying Teas on Taobao [Inbetweenisode 128]

    This episode, James walks through the logistics of buying teas on Taobao.

     

  • How to Find Teas on Taobao [Inbetweenisode 127]

    This inbetweenisode, James talks about Taobao and how to search and find teas. Featuring Babelcarp.

  • Selecting Teas from Taobao & Recommended Taobao Vendors

    I covered how to buy from taobao through an agent in the previous post. Knowing how to order is only part of the battle. There is literally an ocean of teas on taobao and samples are not normally offered. While there are decent teas to be found, there’s also an ocean of crap and overpriced teas. Even amongst the vendors that do indeed offer samples, it’s a long process of trying teas and re-ordering. That makes finding and selecting teas very important. (more…)

  • How to Order Tea from Taobao via an Agent

    Buying through an agent for taobao isn’t terribly difficult. A lot of goods come from China and it’s natural for people to want to buy closer to the source. There’s a number of taobao agents to help satisfy the demand and ship goods to you for a fee. You’ll get dinged and leak money out to these agents/intermediaries, but in many cases the pros of less expensive tea and increased access of goods outweigh the fees and shipping cost. This article details how to go through a forwarder (agent) to purchase tea directly from the bao. (more…)

  • Baxian (Taobao) Yancha [Episode 127]

    A good for the price Yancha directly from China.

  • 2005 Xiaguan 8653 via Taobao — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #44

    2005 Xiaguan 8653 acquired directly from Taobao. A good way to get inexpensive slightly-aged factory productions.

    https://www.taobaoring.com/
    https://mx-tea.world.taobao.com/

  • 2006 Old Bear vs. 2006 XG FT Purple Box — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #43

    Battle of the fang. A comparison between White2Tea’s Old Bear and a Guangdong-stored 2006 Xiaguan Feitai production (picked up via Taobao).

  • Yancha (Wuyi Oolongs) [March 2015 Tea Drinking Report]

    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…)