This post was original planned as an update to the Pu’erh Vendor Guide which was published over a decade ago and is now hopelessly out of date. However, politics, tariffs and the back and forth trade war made me give that more all-encompassing article a (hopefully temporary) delay. If the tariffs do continue, importing from mainland Chinese sources will be more expensive and likely more difficult. It will also have trickle down effects felt further down the line, specifically with vendors who are based outside of the mainland but source their pu’erh directly from China. This should impact almost every pu’erh vendor to some degree, but won’t impact everyone equally. In particular vendors who commission and press their own pu’erh and sell a lot to the US will be hit the hardest, places like White2Tea, Essence of Tea, and Yunnan Sourcing.
Taiwan based hobbyist vendor. Teaswelike has a very high level of curation and a strong track record and high batting average. They source from everywhere, but have a strong Taiwan and Malaysia focus. Good for mostly semi-aged and aged pu’erh with a variety of boutique and factory tea.. Also a very good Liubao vendor. Their selection has drifted mid to higher-end over the years but you can definitely still find well priced budget tea. The downside is no samples and they frequently run out of stock. Their restocks are mini-events with teaware and some teas selling out quickly. TeasWeLike has had a large influence on the niche tea scene, many of the brands they sold now being sold by other vendors.
TWL is also one of the few vendors I’d trust with sourcing more aged teas (pu’erh, Liubao), which can be a bit of a trap for less savvy vendors.
A new merchant dropshipping Taishunhe (a Taizhong based pu’erh merchant) and some boutique teas. The markups are low so the prices are quite good if you know what you want. Taishunhe is good for mostly Taiwanese stored factory tea and there’s now a portion of the site that has more boutique teas, primarily Chenyuan Hao. In general Quiche Teas cover the whole spectrum of budget friendly tea to more expensive offerings. Like TWL, no samples.
Ran by Taipei based potter, Emilio Del Pozo. The Jade Leaf was originally more of a teaware and Taiwanese oolong hub who has gradually ventured out into selling a wide variety of pu’erh. Sells a lot of Taiwanese boutiques (BYH, CYH, YYT) as well as factory tea with Taiwanese storage. One advantage over TWL or Quiche is The Jade Leaf sells samples.
Tainan based boutique vendor, that has always been somewhat popular in the west. XZH was originally brought to the west by Houde about two decades ago and have started selling online to the west. XZH is usually on the pricier side of pu’erh.
Thai based collector who sells mostly older, expensive pu’erh and heicha.
North America Based Vendors
Since pu’erh is not grown in North America, these vendors will be hit unevenly by tariffs depending on how their supply chain is setup. A place like Yunnan Sourcing who sources directly from the mainland is far more likely to be impacted than someone like Yangqing Hao, a Taiwanese boutique.
Still one of the largest, widest selections of pu’erh. Fortunately their US site makes them a viable option. These tariffs unfortunately are likely to have a big impact on their ability to restock tea. YS teas are well priced and their selection is huge. They also have several years of producing their own line of raw and ripe pu’erh. For these YS products, the best value is almost always something made in the last couple years. They do annual price hikes around March which can add up after a few years.
Ohio based vendor who sells a variety of tea, but usually has a very healthy selection of semi-aged pu’erh stored in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. LP has historically sourced from a pretty wide ranges of places, and the selection rotates regularly. He’s a good vendor to subscribe to for his monthly drops, in case there’s something that piques your interest. Because LP’s sources are diverse and not mainland dominant, I’d anticipate small shifts rather than drastic changes.
A curated, often underrated, long running California vendor. Similar to TWL, a very high batting average. There’s a wide range of pu’erh from younger teas to much older ones. Generally their teas are on the higher-end. A handful of their teas offer experiences that are very difficult to find in the west (Evening Fragrant Jade, Kunlu). Bana does sell samples which helps to make some of their higher-end stock accessible. They have close ties to Hong Kong, specifically Best Tea House, so I’m not sure how well they’ll be able to restock.
US based Yangqing Hao store run by Emmett Guzman. Yangqing Hao is a Tainan based boutique pu’erh label that’s been pressing pu’erh since 2004. Emmett originally started coordinating group buys about a decade ago and his operation eventually grew into being Yang’s distribution partner in the US. Like XZH, YQH generally sells higher-end products and while they initially focused on Yiwu tea in the mid 2000s, YQH has pressed tea from all over Yunnan. Unlike YS or Bana their connections are entirely Taiwan-based, so they should have less issues restocking.
A Texas based reseller of a variety of popular Asian based vendors. They source regularly from Taishunhe and Yee On. The Steeping Room sells samples and their markups are generally reasonable making them a good, accessible choice to try and sample teas. Their ability to restock from Hong Kong, might be restricted.
A well known mainland pu’erh producer that lies somewhere between factory and boutique. CSH was created in 2008 and most of their tea is sourced from Menghai area, with a lot of Banzhang productions. They famously signed a contract to monopolize LBZ tea in 2008. CSH does also press some Yiwu tea and make a number of regular blends (Bawang/Emperor, Yihao). While they are mostly mainland focused they do have an outlet in Canada. They regularly raise prices on older stock so most of their better value tea are younger.
Washington-state based vendor who presses their own tea. Although they have their footprints in the mainland, they keep a good sized stock state-side so they should be able to sell for a while before running out.
Long running Houston based vendor with Taiwanese ties. They sell a variety of mostly US stored factory teas and Taiwanese boutiques (XZH, YQH, CGHT) from the 2000s. They don’t restock their shelves often, but because they’re old players in the game they have teas that are not commonly available when they do.
UK-Based pu’erh vendor selling mostly tea from the 2010s and 2020s, with a focus on Zhensilong productions as well as Tea Encounter’s own commissions. Both ZSL and Tea Encounter productions tend to be Yiwu focused and have drier storage.
Newish UK based vendor who sources tea from a wide range of sources from Taiwan, Malaysia and mainland China. Puerh Guy sells a lot of boutique as well as some factory tea. Boutiques include CYH, BYH, XZH, YQH, YYT, BHYJ, etc. A lot of overlap with Teaswelike, Liquid Proust, and Puerh.uk. Most of the tea is semi-aged, ranging from 2000s to 2010s.
Sells a range of younger boutiques to older more anonymous aged pu’erh. Mostly Taiwan and Malaysian stored tea. A particular emphasis on CYH. They also run the official Chenyuan Hao distribution for the west.
Russian/Dutch vendor that used to be compared regularly with Yunnan Sourcing. Their selection isn’t as big as YS anymore, but they do still sell some pu’erh.
My Top Picks
It is very difficult to go wrong with Teas We Like. The other two Taiwanese based vendors (Quiche and The Jade Leaf) also would be amongst my top recommendations. Not to be mercenary, but many vendors sell a lot of the same boutiques, so you can shop around if you want something specific. A place like Yunnan Sourcing remains good for stocking a variety of teas. For the tea type that will probably become somewhat harder to find (young pu’erh) you can still go to places like Yunnan Sourcing US, Crimson Lotus Tea, and Tea Encounter.
High-end ripe was an afterthought when I started drinking tea in the early 2010s. There wasn’t easily accessible fancy ripe to do a tea drinking report and ripe was mostly a cheap thing for daily drinking. When White2Tea released Pretty Girls in 2015, I remember a grumpy murmur from the tea community for having the gall to sell $0.20/g ripe. Absurd! But in the past 10 years these sorts of productions have become normal and part of a larger trend towards higher-end ripe. The $0.20/g ripe looks quaint compared to some of the $/g ripe W2T puts out now.. These teas still get less attention than raw, but as evidenced by the large increase in productions there’s clearly a market for higher priced ripe productions made by boutique brands. We now have several years of products done by the usual suspects, enough to have a drink through. The goal of this report is to sample and get a better feel for the landscape of these higher-end ripes made by boutiques. I’ve dabbled and sampled a few but overall this hasn’t been a major area of focus for my own drinking/sampling. Drinking in close succession allows me to place them more accurately and try to understand the different profiles.
I am well aware that boutique ripe existed before 2015. My assertion is that the boutique ripe movement has picked up quite a bit more steam in the last 10-15 years. As usual with a tea of the month report this grew in scope. I originally only wanted 10 teas, but ended up with nearly 20.
I did most of the drinking in February before BFZC ripes showed up at LPs. Next time.
The Two Profiles
In drinking through these, I feel they generally fall into two different categories.
The Asskicker. More bitter, highly punchy material. This ranges from different punchy Bulang sorts with Bitter material that easily persists through the ripening process (think Lao Man E). I think the concept is that these are highly dense, thick and substantive teas that get partly smoothed out through the ripening and will further smooth out over time.
Refined tea.. These could come from wherever but tend to focus more on texture and aftertaste and lack the bitterness of the more asskicking type.
Of course these categories aren’t perfect and a vendor like W2T who does heavy, somewhat experimental blending, has some that are more challenging to place. Even for more conventional blending there is a spectrum as there are teas that will have a smaller touch of the asskicking material and balance it with more typical material.
Both types will generally have much better base material than you wouldn’t normally see in a ripe production.. Most vendors also seem to prefer to keep their boutique ripe on the lighter fermented side of things, although there are some exceptions (W2T Reading Room). The lighter fermentation gives a bit more room for the tea to evolve and change than it would under a more standard fermentation. You can also taste the base profile a bit more clearly. The lighter fermentation also means teas that have a few more years under their belt have softened and evolved a bit.
Small Pot/Gaiwan Gong-Fu Brewing
These teas uniformly do not pass the speed test. I brew a lot of ripe, but most of it fits into cheap stuff for daily drinking. My usual ripe brewing is not well suited for this month. As followers of my inbetweenisodes know, I usually have my ripe in my big blue pot in the morning with my wife. This works fine as most ripe is a forgiving and easy brew that does not require an especially meticulous hand. But for this report I mostly brewed gong-fu. Why? For the asskicker types, this makes it much easier to have a good session as the long pour time can lead to extreme overbrewing and some frankly nasty brews. That could be adjusted, but I’d rather just do gong-fu where it’s easier to respond to the tea than hear my wife complain about the bitter tea she’s drinking in the morning. For a few of the more refined ripe I did brew them in both fashions, to see if there was any performance difference. But even in these cases I defaulted to the gong-fu type brewing.
The Teas
White2tea
For the past decade, White2tea has gotten a lot of attention for their “outrageously” priced ripe. I admire the experimental nature of many of these and do enjoy trying them. They are especially well suited for regular TeaDB episode material with Denny, where we can admire the dynamic, engaging nature of the teas together. White2tea’s teas are probably the most complex and interesting to analyze of the lot.
On the flip-side none pass the speed test for myself. The teas aren’t casual or cheap enough for daily drinking and I’d usually rather drink a Liubao or a raw with some age, even with less dynamism. That all being said, from a sheer let’s talk about tea the fancy W2T teas are fun and interesting..
2024 W2T Machine of Loving Grace (6.6)
Decent, but unexciting tea. Rich, creamy, with some bitterness. It reminds me of a fancier Bawang with a bit more texture to enjoy. Hints at some citrus. It’s kind of stuck in no man’s land, where it is expensive for what it is but not as interesting as W2T’s more expensive ripes.
2023 W2T Reading Room (7.5)
Interesting in the sense that this is far more fully fermented than a lot of the other high-end W2T ripes. As a result, this feels a bit more settled and is indeed quite tasty. Rich, full flavors. Perhaps some sort of Menghai/Bulang blend made of good strong robust material. It feels like a very good version of classical ripe. Rich, vanilla cream. Throat leaves a good aftertaste. There’s a lot of fun complexities to this but this is ultimately an easy tea to understand and enjoy.
2022 W2T Lich Tears (8)
Probably the most interesting W2T ripe and definitely an asskicker. Very complex. It is quite tasty now, but also should get even better. Unlike Reading Room, this is clearly a lighter fermented ripe. It has a very active protracted mouthfeel and small amount of silk texture. Flavor is coco, rich, vanilla cream. A lot has been made about this tea’s bitterness and it definitely has a sturdy vein of pill bitterness flowing through it, but I don’t find it overwhelms the other flavors. It’s definitely not the most bitter tea of the month. The bitterness is most pronounced in steeps 3-5, before fading away. It is also accompanied with some nice sweetness. Very hard to rank as it clearly hasn’t hit its potential.
2021 W2T Reckless Daughter (7.8)
This was the surprise hit of the W2T batch for me. Had it once and liked it a good amount and subsequent sessions cemented it as a very solid and promising ripe.
Reckless Daughter is clearly lighter fermented, but feels cut from a different cloth than W2T’s other ripes. Lighter leaf and brews a dark red hue. It is more regal and refined than the more rambunctious asskicker types. There is bitterness but it’s not the pill sort. Very dynamic, thick, satisfying. Good aftertaste. Set aside a session for Denny later. This is good stuff and different from something like Lich.
2020 W2T The Nameless One (7.2)
Vanilla cream, some bitterness. Coco. This seems to fall in the fancy Bulang (Lao Man E/Banzhang) blend. I initially liked this a bit more, but in the context of other high-end ripes it stands out less. It is still complex and a very good tea, just not as gripping as I originally thought when I recorded an inbetweenisode a few years ago. I would personally pick Lich Tears or Reckless Daughter over this.
Yunnan Sourcing (& Hailang Hao)
Compared to W2T, Yunnan Sourcing and Hailang Hao lean a bit more conventional with their fancy ripe cakes. They aren’t as wildly blended or as dynamic, but have more straightforward easier to understand profiles. Generally speaking, this is my preference even if it might not generate the Thinking Denny memes quite as effectively. They also generally fit neatly into the two popular boutique ripe profiles, asskicker (Lao Man E, Xin Banzhang) and refined (Yibang).. I’d also say, that YS current year or last two year cakes are easily the better value (the HLH cakes get expensive quickly!).
2024 YS Lao Man E Old Tree (7.1)
This fits exactly the image I have of Lao Man E ripe. Pill-like bitterness. Thick vanilla cream. A bit of citrus. Gradually it gets even more bitter before it tapers off. I braced for this profile and found it thick and satisfying. Sometimes tea is helped by certain expectations. That is the case here. If I expected a more conventional ripe, I would hate this. Bracing for the bitter, allows me to appreciate this quite a bit more.
I think this is just a little too bitter for my tastes currently but I do get the appeal. Probably would brew way too strong in my big blue pot (did not attempt).
2024 YS Xin Banzhang Offering (6.8)
One of the less expensive teas of the month. Basically the budget ass kicker profile. Has a nice bittersweet profile, its bitterness is definitely a bit more balanced with other material. Decent amount of tips. My memory of the 2023 is that it got a bit more bitter.
Second session with this had it performing a bit more like a slightly less bitter version of the YS LME/Chawang. Sturdy profile, expansive mouth feel, pill-like bitterness. It’s not overly strong but has a clear and if you’re ready for it pleasing profile. Probably the lowest cost way to get this sort of profile of the teas featured .
2023 YS Lao Man E Old Tree (6.7)
I think I may’ve had a slightly off session. The session lacked the clarity of the 2024 or the Chawang which I’d had the day before. Definitely hints at the profile of the 2024 or 2023 Chawang, but feels a bit different in a way I can’t quite put my finger on. Gets a bit bitter, but not to the level of the 2024 or the Chawang.
2023 YS Chawang (7.5)
Basically should be treated like a LME ripe-base. Greener nose than expected. Hints at fruit, but is sturdily bitter. Definitely of the pill sort. Light wood, vanilla cream. Strong, thick mouthfeel. I knew it was coming and I very much enjoyed it. In my limited experience, this is my favorite of the YS asskickers.
2021 YS 5 Villages Bingdao (6.6)
The charms of Bingdao and northern tea are somewhat lost on me. I’ve yet to be enchanted by many raw tea from there. Sadly this ripe falls into the same camp. It is decent enough and essentially presents as a very clean and decent ripe with nice texture and some mouth cooling. Compared to the asskickers it isn’t particularly potent and its charms don’t live up to my more preferred refined tea.
Hailang Hao
2019 HLH Lao Banzhang (7.5)
Fits very neatly into the asskicker category. It is a very solid and sturdily made tea. Not quite as bitter as the Chawang or some of the LME. Thick, vanilla cream, protracted mouthfeel, very potent brew. It also lasts for quite a while.
2018 HLH Gaoshanzhai (7.4)
I probably enjoy this equally to the HLH LBZ. Caramel, brown sugar, antique wood, nice throat aftertaste. It is also sufficiently thick and oily. After getting through quite a few high-end ripes, this one still managed to stand out. It’s not as textured as the Dragon Brick, but has a greater depth that is very appealing.
Despite being more in the refined category the GSZ is notably lightly fermented. In a mug in my normal morning parameters it packed more of a punch than I anticipated. If we compare this with other of the more refined teas there’s a sharper edge to it than something like the 2012 Xizi Hao Dragon Brick which was likely lightly fermented but aged longer and partly in Taiwan.
2017 HLH Junai (7.2)
Rich, sugary aroma. Vanilla cream, decently heavy pill bitterness. Solid, clear profile. Nothing too dynamic and wild.
I like this just a touch less than the LBZ. The longevity isn’t as good and it feels a bit less thick. Still if you want to get the gist of that tea, I think this is a reasonable substitute and doesn’t cost over $1,000!
Other
2024 CSH Lao Banzhang (6)
Smells of Wo Dui. Thinner and watery compared to the other teas. It does thicken up. I am definitely drinking this too young, and overall it’s OK, but it is fairly disappointing for such an expensive ripe.
I had this as a big mug brew the next day and unfortunately it still didn’t impress. Perhaps it needs to settle. I gave the rest of my sample to Denny who said it was fantastic. Tea is inconsistent sometimes.
2016 Denong Commemorative (6.4)
This is an OK enough tea, but a disappointment as a higher-end ripe. I find this to be perfectly decent, but kind of dull. I don’t doubt there’s quality material here but it doesn’t seem to have a clear purpose or the cohesion like the better teas.
Tastewise it is lighter fermented, has a slight silk texture and a decent body. Otherwise a fairly standard ripe profile. Brewed in the big blue pot it more or less confirms what my gong-fu session. Maybe a bit cooler than a standard ripe. I would guess, likely not Menghai County material..
2012 Xizi Hao Dragon Brick (7.3)
Brighter nose. Complex, antique wood. Very nice texture. Not super thick. Definitely a more refined sort of tea despite having that familiar vanilla cream taste. I’ve heard that some people think this is small leaf varietal, which is believable for me. Compared to something like the HLH Gaoshan Zhai this offers more texture and a bit less depth.
Overall pretty enjoyable and assuming the 2013 is similar, one of the better value buys.
2007/2008? Chenyuan Hao (6.4)
Only had a sessions worth left. Sweet, has a nice antique wood aroma and a moderately oily body. It’s not watery like the CSH, but doesn’t really stand out that much when put against other fancy ripes. We liked this quite a bit when we had this for an episode, so maybe I just got a lesser session at the bottom of the sample bag.
2008 Xizi Hao Xishangjiaxi (8)
A late addition as I had forgotten about its existence, but I own two mini-cakes of it which I discovered while clearing out my old shu cabinet. In my memory this was a good tea, but didn’t remember much else.
In the end, it’s amongst my favorite brews of the month. Definitely in the refined category of shu. Far more of an aged taste than anything else this month, with menthol, antique wood notes. Coats mouth and throat very well and has better depth than most other teas here. In my previous sessions I had noted berries, which have aged out. Flaw-wise it is not ultra thick, but that is nitpicking as this was a perfectly satisfying session.
CYH/XZH must’ve been pretty early on these special products. I haven’t seen many more as early as this.
2007 Dayi Anxiang (8)
We got a big factory RINGER!!??? What’s a ripe report without some Dayi! Bought a cake recently from taobao. The cakes from the Dayi store came drier stored than I had expected. For the raw this was not exactly what I hoped, but for this cake I think it’s pretty ideal as it maintains a good deal of complexity.
Complex, thick, light mouthcool, antique wood. Coats the mouth nicely. Moderate thickness. It’s tip heavy and falls off a bit fast. This is great stuff. It confuses me how this is still relatively affordable! Perhaps there’s just not too many pu-heads into more serious ripe and the ripe drinkers would never spend this amount on a cake? Either way, this is worth a buy if you are a ripe drinker who wants the good stuff.
Recommendations
If you really want value for your buck. I think the older teas are better. The serious tea world has never seemed to take ripe as seriously as raw, and the prices haven’t risen as fast as raw has. I am surprised at how cheap you can find things like the Anxiang (I bought mine for around $100, $0.25/g). Similarly the XZH Dragon Brick is also a good ripe and can be bought in the US domestically from Liquid Proust for $0.40/g ($400/1000g). This is also a very good price when you put it up against anything made in the last few years.
I haven’t really had any asskicking type ripe older than the 2017 HLH Junai so it’s harder to find this type for less. This is too bad as I think these probably significantly improve with age. For those on a budget the 2024 YS Xin Banzhang offers the basic profile without being too expensive. Probably the best bet here is something like the 2023 YS Chawang, which I preferred over YS LME products and I find to be reasonably close to the more expensive HLH products.
In terms of overall recommendations, I think Reckless Daughter and Lich Tears represent their respective categories of modern boutique ripe very well. They are markedly pricier than the value recommendations but if value is less important I think they’re worth checking out.
Buying these is of not the only way to buy pricy ripe. You could also buy older factory tea from the 2000s or 1990s. These teas are often thought of as superior to their more modern cousins, mostly due to the factories having access to better material.
Value Recs:
2012 Xizi Hao Dragon Brick
2007 Dayi Anxiang
2024 YS Xin Banzhang
2023 YS Chawang (not really cheap, but significantly less than HLH/W2T)
Other Recs:
2021 W2T Reckless Daughter
2022 W2T Lich Tears
Takeaways
It is nice to drink pu’erh without considerations about processing and aging. Drinking ripe tea is more straightforward compared with the vigorous debate about which raw teas are better and will age. Perhaps it’s because all the oxygen is sucked up during those debates, or there’s just less to discuss on the more gradual transformation of ripe.
Is there space in my tea diet for these teas? Frankly I’m not sure. In the past, I’ve historically reached for something older or traditionally stored when I want something in a darker, fermented profile. That being said, the selection we have available now is better than it has been in the past. I do indeed like most of the teas here. So perhaps I’ll report back in a couple years. At worst, for the more refined types I can drink them up in the big blue pot in the morning as an overpriced casual brew.
Ripe narrows the bandwidth of teas compared with raw. In typing up these notes I realized how similar each tea sounds to one another. Even teas that are fairly divergent from one another like the HLH LBZ vs. HLH GSZ will have a fair bit of crossover on notes. I also think I’d burn out of these faster if I drank too many of them. Now… Before I type vanilla cream for the 155th time and am forced to add Masochist to another tea report, I will move on.
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 that there’s a predictable vendor drop with the harvest, sometime in late Spring/early summer or in mid-Autumn. This generates demand and buzz amongst the tea community. The second is that young pu’erh makes up the vast majority of raw pu’erh being sold to the west. If you put together a list of the five most popular western pu’erh-centric vendors and listed all of the teas they’ve released in the past year and randomly picked 10, you’d likely end up with ~8 or so being young pu’erh. You actually need to be pretty intentional about not picking young pu’erh if you want to try a different category of raw pu’erh..
I drink a ripe from Yunnan Sourcing’s 2019 line here. The tea has been my morning brew for a week or so and is partly creamy and woody and well-balanced.
