In this episode, Denny and James review one of Tea Urchin’s original productions from 2011 to see how it is coming along. The Tea Urchin GFZ is potent, strong, and quite tasty. Thanks to Man O Tea for providing the tea.
Tag: Tea Urchin
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You Can Buy Young Pu’erh From All Over Yunnan
The custom private label pu’erh has really thrived in the western market – with vendors increasingly sourcing their own pressings directly from Yunnan. This was a new thing for westerners back in 2009 when just Yunnan Sourcing and Essence of Tea pressed tea. Now it is almost a rite of passage for a pu’erh-centric vendor, and we have access to a sleuth of options all over Yunnan. (more…)
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The Western Pu’erh Scene is Really Dominated by Modern Young Pu’erh
For people looking to learn about pu’erh I usually recommend picking a western-facing, pu’erh-centric, vendor and ordering a bunch of samples that cover a few different categories (my suggestion: young raw pu’erh, semi-aged raw pu’erh, and ripe pu’erh). Most pu’erh vendors feature teas from two or all three categories but the focus of pu’erh-centered western vendors has drifted towards just one of those three — young raw pu’erh. (more…)
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The Box. Aged Oolong Report
The aged oolong market in the west leaves a lot to be desired. Most of the time the teas are usually significantly flawed (re-roasted/sour), overpriced, or more often than not both. A couple years ago, I was lucky enough to sample a number of aged oolongs from Tony of Origin Tea that were offered off-shelf. This helped to give me some perspective on aged oolongs, but also move me into the cranky, old curmudgeon category of a drinker who seems constantly dissatisfied and cynical with the online tea scene at least for this tea genre. Don’t get me wrong, I’m nowhere near an expert but I have gotten a taste of the Taiwanese market to at least know that the idea of aged oolongs being good value teas with consideration to age (true in TW) is not extended to the western market. (more…)
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2014 Tea Urchin Spring Xikong [Episode 152]
2014 production of a Mengla county from Tea Urchin.
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![Can’t I Just Settle Down? Menghai County Raw Pu’erh [September 2015 Tea Drinking Report]](https://teadb.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ripe-puerh3-940x198.jpg)
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…)
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Tea Urchin’s Old Bush Zhi Lan Xiang [Episode 121]
A blind session with a sample of Tea Urchin’s Old Bush Zhi Lan Xiang kindly provided by Richard.
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2014 Tea Urchin’s Gaoshan Zhai [Episode 113]
The second of a two-part series on a couple Tea Urchin teas that were included in the Yiwu report. This tea is the 2014 Gaoshan Zhai, a tea that has an inviting complex taste and a wonderful aftertaste.
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2014 Tea Urchin’s Yiwu Beauty [Episode 112]
The first of a two-part series on a couple Tea Urchin teas that were included in the Yiwu report. This one is a soft, easy-drinking young pu’erh, the 2014 Yiwu Beauty.
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“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…)