What Pu'er Are You Drinking

Puerh and other heicha
maitre_tea
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Tue Sep 15, 2020 3:05 pm

Going through a dozen samples of Changtai from KTM - most were duds but I'm really like the 2006 Chang Tai Hao Menghai Qiao Bing - Ji. The Bu Lang taste is very apparent, the tea liquor is thick and complex, and the cha qi is going straight to my head. I'm thinking of buying a few cakes of this - has anyone tried this before? It's been a while since I've mass-sampled pu'er, so I would like some reassurances about my gut feeling.
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mrmopu
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Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:08 pm

maitre_tea wrote:
Tue Sep 15, 2020 3:05 pm
Going through a dozen samples of Changtai from KTM - most were duds but I'm really like the 2006 Chang Tai Hao Menghai Qiao Bing - Ji. The Bu Lang taste is very apparent, the tea liquor is thick and complex, and the cha qi is going straight to my head. I'm thinking of buying a few cakes of this - has anyone tried this before? It's been a while since I've mass-sampled pu'er, so I would like some reassurances about my gut feeling.
I tried a couple of the older ones. I was lucky and got a BanZhang cake before they were sold out. Did you try the 2005 Jinggu wild one?
maitre_tea
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Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:14 pm

@mrmopu

I had one go with it, but I wasn't super impressed - wasn't the worst out of the bunch but wasn't my favorite either. I have enough to do a second round with it, so maybe the second time might reveal a little more about it
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mrmopu
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Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:49 pm

maitre_tea wrote:
Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:14 pm
@mrmopu

I had one go with it, but I wasn't super impressed - wasn't the worst out of the bunch but wasn't my favorite either. I have enough to do a second round with it, so maybe the second time might reveal a little more about it
Ever hear of the 2003 Bamboo Spring from them? Hobbes reviewed it a while back. I know where a few are.
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TeaTotaling
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Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:44 pm

vuanguyen wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 6:21 pm
Spiritual stuff aside, it appears that a lot of people like GTH teas. The prices seem much lower than other vendors though. Are they legit as an honest tea seller?

TeaTotaling Do you have any good experience with their other teas sir?

I told myself not to buy anymore teas, but their website about the late 1990's teas makes them very tempting.
I have not been disappointed with the selection I have ordered from them, but I am still very early on into my tea journey. I still have much to learn. Like @StoneLadle mentioned...taste, taste, taste. I'm still in the beginning stages of understanding the nuances of tea.

It's tough sifting through the Western facing vendors. Ordering high quality product farmer direct would be ideal, but not exactly realistic.

What attracted me to GTH in the first place was their belief in sourcing "living tea". Cleanliness and quality matter very much to me. While I don't need to drink tea to be healthy, I certainly don't want to be harming my health in the process.

Being an intent researcher, I was made aware from an inside source that Henry Yiow sources a majority of the tea for GTH. Mr. Yiow is the owner of Cha Zhi Ji teahouse in Malaysia. @StoneLadle would you happen to have any intel??
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TeaTotaling
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Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:53 pm

pantry wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 7:23 pm
TeaTotaling Did you know Wu De was from your state? :lol:

I like most Taiwanese oolong I purchased from GTH, but maybe Bok can get us better stuff ;)
I did! Aaron Fisher is an Ohio boy :)

The Oolong's I have had from them have all been good. I don't think they are spectacular, but definitely solid daily drinkers. I am after the spectacular, though.
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TeaTotaling
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Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:58 pm

StoneLadle wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 9:55 pm
TeaTotaling wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:13 pm
StoneLadle They were recently discussed in an article about "beautiful tea" 😂 🤣 🙃
I just checked it and the price is not bad. Do you have pictures of your cake? Would be curious to take a look before I order.

Will also get a Malaysian stored example and try to get my hands on a HKG one.

This gonna git gud....

Don't need discounts just need good tea.

The current discussion on price and aged Sheng cakes are also interesting. It is difficult to assess without tasting and unless one understands firmly where one wants to go or what one is looking for, it's a maze. Taste taste taste, and taste again.
@StoneLadle I'll take some pics for you before the end of the week. The pictures on their website are pretty accurate, though.

I'm still getting a handle on aged Sheng. My experience is very limited to formulate any sort of recommendation. I'm the new guy 🤓
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StoneLadle
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Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:53 am

@TeaTotaling many thanks...

Thought I'd just elaborate on why this particular tea piques my interest, regardless of vendor...

The Masterpiece replicas are highly regarded and generally, at this time they are becoming properly aged...

The Blue Mark replica released in 2000 is drinking exceptionally well, and I have been crunching through a tester cake I had acquired earlier this year. The bonus is that the cake had seen some decent traditional storage (as defined by MarshalN numerous times). With that ideal combination of traditional storage and subsequent dry (read either Taiwan or Malaysian warehouse) , one can readily anticipate certain traits...

...I've tried a few samples of the Red but this is a good opportunity to compare cakes and perhaps also storage...

If done well, this would make an excellent benchmark for good aged Sheng, as the Blue Mark 2000 is, as far as I am concerned anyways... A properly traditionally stored Sheng that kicked this off in the first place....
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klepto
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Wed Sep 16, 2020 4:59 pm

2006 ChangTai "Long Ma Rui Ming" (Dragon & Horse Ruiming/Bangwei) Sample
The tea was dark red and extremely cloudy. It came out of my gaiwan like it was a bordeaux.
Chopped up leaves were cluttering up the lid of my gaiwan. :x
Noonie
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Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:09 pm

I ordered some aged ripe (90's) that I had sampled a couple months ago. I really enjoyed it, but initially didn't order it was it was above my normal price range (it is .40/g). I'm going to treat myself 1-2x a week to it, when I have time to sit and enjoy it without multitasking. I figure at 6g a brew it's still less than a lot of things I could otherwise waste my money on.

My question, maybe more for yixing thread...but I opted for here instead, is if I'm only having it say once a week, and if on the other days in that week I'm using my yixing pots for other teas, should I just brew this tea in a gaiwan?

When I sampled it previously I had it in a gaiwan, and obviously I enjoyed quite a bit or I wouldn't have bought it. I guess I can do a side-by-side with a yixing pot, and then decide based on how that goes (maybe a small investment in an extra 6g of tea to see if the yixing wins me over). Thing is I usually use a yixing pot with a particular tea for at least a couple of weeks, working through part of a cake that I've broken off and moved to a tin. Then I rinse well and move onto another tea in the rotation. So this would mean going like 6 days with one tea, a 7th with this aged ripe, and then back to the tea in rotation.

I know I'm over-thinking it, but hey, it's a tea forum (we're likely all doing a little over-thinking on things!). Thanks :-)
DailyTX
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Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:21 pm

Noonie wrote:
Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:09 pm
I ordered some aged ripe (90's) that I had sampled a couple months ago. I really enjoyed it, but initially didn't order it was it was above my normal price range (it is .40/g). I'm going to treat myself 1-2x a week to it, when I have time to sit and enjoy it without multitasking. I figure at 6g a brew it's still less than a lot of things I could otherwise waste my money on.

My question, maybe more for yixing thread...but I opted for here instead, is if I'm only having it say once a week, and if on the other days in that week I'm using my yixing pots for other teas, should I just brew this tea in a gaiwan?

When I sampled it previously I had it in a gaiwan, and obviously I enjoyed quite a bit or I wouldn't have bought it. I guess I can do a side-by-side with a yixing pot, and then decide based on how that goes (maybe a small investment in an extra 6g of tea to see if the yixing wins me over). Thing is I usually use a yixing pot with a particular tea for at least a couple of weeks, working through part of a cake that I've broken off and moved to a tin. Then I rinse well and move onto another tea in the rotation. So this would mean going like 6 days with one tea, a 7th with this aged ripe, and then back to the tea in rotation.

I know I'm over-thinking it, but hey, it's a tea forum (we're likely all doing a little over-thinking on things!). Thanks :-)
@Noonie
I drink ripe pu about once per week. If your yixing enhances your tea then go with yixing. I have a thick wall modern zini about 200 ml which I dedicated for ripe pu (the daily drinking grade). The pot is somewhat medium-high fired, so I didn’t notice much of muting. I got my pot from the HK Flag museum during a visit. I noticed Red Blossom Tea has the exact pot with roughly the same price I paid. I am not sure if it’s the same batch. I quite like my pot for size, brew, lid tightness and strong water flow. Here is the link

https://redblossomtea.com/products/yixing-621
Noonie
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Thu Sep 17, 2020 3:11 pm

@DailyTX

Thanks for the recommendation. I have a couple yixing pots, and I drink ripe daily. So while I dedicate a pot to a particular ripe, for a couple weeks at a time as I drink through a batch, the idea here is then I'm all of a sudden adding a different ripe tea and possibly using a pot that otherwise has only seen another ripe for some time. I don't want to add a new yixing just for a once a week tea. But if I don't notice anything negative in switching ripe teas used in a particular yixing, then I may go that way. Otherwise, I'm fine with the small gaiwan I have.
DailyTX
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Thu Sep 17, 2020 9:21 pm

Noonie wrote:
Thu Sep 17, 2020 3:11 pm
DailyTX

Thanks for the recommendation. I have a couple yixing pots, and I drink ripe daily. So while I dedicate a pot to a particular ripe, for a couple weeks at a time as I drink through a batch, the idea here is then I'm all of a sudden adding a different ripe tea and possibly using a pot that otherwise has only seen another ripe for some time. I don't want to add a new yixing just for a once a week tea. But if I don't notice anything negative in switching ripe teas used in a particular yixing, then I may go that way. Otherwise, I'm fine with the small gaiwan I have.
@Noonie
I just have that pot for all my ripe puerh. It seems like you are doing 1 pot per cake? :shock:
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Bok
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Thu Sep 17, 2020 9:59 pm

1993 Xiaguan. Tastes like dusty cardboard to me.
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StoneLadle
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Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:19 pm

Bok wrote:
Thu Sep 17, 2020 9:59 pm
1993 Xiaguan. Tastes like dusty cardboard to me.
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😆😆😆

How is the mouth feel and finish??
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