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..
(more…)Tag: Yunnan Sourcing
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2019 Yunnan Sourcing Last Laugh Ripe Pu’erh [Inbetweenisode 218]
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.
Rating: 5.9
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2020 Tea Progress Report
I’ve stored tea for around six years now in Seattle and while I’ve fussed a bit over a few small things, the methodology has been overall consistent. The pu’erh has been stored in an enclosed container with Boveda packs to ramp up the humidity to around 65RH. Airflow is low. Most people would call this a pumidor. Every year I look at my spreadsheet and decide on pulling a few teas to retry.
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2011 Dayi Jade Dew Ripe Pue’rh via YS [Inbetweenisode 215]
This episode, I drink another tippy, premium ripe blend, the 2011 Jade Dew. The tea like the Golden Needle is made by Menghai Tea Factory. Shoutouts to Carl for turning me onto this tea.
Rating: 6.2 .
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2018 Yunnan Sourcing Balance Ripe Pu’erh [Episode 351]
This episode, Denny and I drink a 2018 ripe pu’erh from Yunnan Sourcing’s line, the Balance blend. The tea has a solid body and is a great, enjoyable drinker. Thanks to Char for giving us the sample! https://yunnansourcing.com/
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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 prices looked about the same as the previous year. And when and how much the price has gone up depends on how we look at this and there’s a handful of different ways to look at the data and options available (I do three here).
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Aging Whites & Aged Whites. What I Learned From Char
Recently, Char (Oolong Owl) joined me for an inbetweenisode to discuss aging and aged white tea. Aged whites have become a topic of increasing interest in the west, and while Denny and I have brought a few onto the show it has not been a principal area of interest for us. Here’s a few of the big points and takeaways I had from that conversation with her. I highly recommend checking out Oolong Owl’s blog and reading up on white teas. She’s written as extensively as any English-language blogger on different aged whites. I recommend watching the original video for those interested in this topic. This is my summation and interpretation of much of the material discussed in the video.
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2019 Yunnan Sourcing Spring Morning Huangpian Raw Pu’erh [Episode 336]
This episode features an inexpensive, but flavorful huangpian production. If you like the flavor, this is an excellent value coming in around barely over $0.05/g. Friendly but not weak, this is a solid young sheng to enjoy.
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6-Year Aged Gongmei White Tea Yunnan Sourcing [Episode 335]
In this episode, we drink an aged Gongmei white tea from Yunnan Sourcing. The tea is semi-aged and while it retains younger white tea characteristics it’s starting to develop other flavors. I particularly enjoy the later, stronger steeps.
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2017 Yunnan Sourcing Huirun Ripe Pu’erh [Episode 333]
In episode 333, Denny and I drink a high-quality ripe from Scott’s 2017 line. The Huirun has been a blend Scott’s made since 2011. The tea is nuanced, flavorful, and complex with a fuller range of notes than you’d expect from an average ripe.