If you follow what gets said about prices each year, you would end up with the impression that the average price of tea has gone up. But more specifically the price at the most sought after regions (say Lao Banzhang, Bingdao) have gone completely through the roof. A lot of this narrative is anecdotal. Tales of rich Chinese buying up all the top-end product from X area. Part of it can also be seen when someone in the Sinosphere posts the maocha prices per location. These lists come with all sorts of contextual caveats, but the trend seems real. I don’t see any red flags to really doubt this storyline, but I was curious if it’d show up by looking at some of the data of prices on production by western facing vendors.
(more…)Tag: Yunnan Sourcing
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Aging White Teas & Aged Whites w/Char (Oolong Owl) [Inbetweenisode 211]
In this episode, I have a conversation with Char, best known for her popular blog Oolong Owl. This is a longer video and we cover quite a range of material. We begin by talking about the the different types of white tea and their aging trajectories, where the aged white tea has been aged thus far, and finishing by discussing a few of the different school of thoughts on aging white tea and how a hobbyist might decide to do it.
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2017 Yunnan Sourcing Yiwu Rooster Ripe Pu’erh [Episode 330]
This episode, Denny and I drink a really nice ripe pu’erh from Yunnan Sourcing. This tea is well-above average and is along the more refined, elegant end. Thanks Scott!
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2017-yunnan-sourcing-yi-wu-rooster-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake
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2018 Yunnan Sourcing Lucy Ripe Pu’erh [Inbetweenisode 209]
This episode, I drink a tea named after the most famous dog in the western pu’erh scene, Lucy. The tea itself is a blend of Menghai and Lincang which gives it a pretty varied and interesting character. It’s clean, woody, with hints of fruit, and a nice rich character. Good tea, great canine.
Another solid product by YS.
Rating: 6.1
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2016 Zhengyan 105 Wuyi via Yunnan Sourcing [Episode 320]
This episode, Denny and I drink a mildly unusual Wuyi. A fun change of pace vs. more typical mineraly Yancha.
Thanks to John for sending in this sample!
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Five Things I Like and Dislike. Quick Judgements, Tea Chat Rooms, Condensed Descriptions.
Five more things I like & dislike…
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2018 Yunnan Sourcing Serendipity Ripe Pu’erh [Inbetweenisode 202]
A quick episode on the Yunnan Sourcing ripe production, Serendipity. This is my latest ripe casualty and another pretty decent, well-balanced blend produced by Scott.
Rating: 5.9
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A Look at Prices From 2011-2018 Through Nine Yunnan Sourcing Productions
In 2012, Yunnan Sourcing released a spring Wuliang tea that sold for $23/400g. Since then, Scott has pressed five more spring Wuliangs, most recently in 2018. This time it was priced at $43/400g, an effective price raise of 87%. This post is an investigation on how the release price of nine different tea productions by Yunnan Sourcing have shifted over the years. It is another data-centric way to look at price change over the years. It’s more simplistic than previous investigations but is intuitive and easy to understand. (more…)
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Tasting From Deep in My Storage. Pu’erh Progress Report 2019 [Inbetweenisode 193]
This episode I talk about a series of tastings I’ve done with teas deeper in my stash that I purchased in 2014-2015. Most of the teas have been stored in my storage but I also drank a couple from fellow Washington state residents, Garrett (guest collaborator) and Geraldo. I discuss how the teas have been progressing and a few thoughts on storage in my climate.
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Tea Progress Report – Washington State Stored Tea 2019
This is an extremely overdue tea drinking report. It was conceived for two reasons. (1) I recently reconfigured my storage into a larger setup. (2) I have a yearly tradition of picking some teas out of deep storage to retry and note their progression (or lack thereof). The latter allows me to get a better feel for my storage and pick out anything going wrong with the teas. This year I picked eight teas from my own storage as well as a couple extras from tea friends, all of which have been stored for a significant chunk of their lifespan in Washington state. (more…)