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Back in 2014, I was one of the people who bought a fake "2011 Jin Dayi" from Dragon Tea House. Eventually the store "refunded" the purchase through store credits. Since I could not spend the money elsewhere, and wanted to try something good, I ended up getting a 25 gram sample of the "1999 Fuhai Yi Wu Zheng Shan" (yesheng/wild tea), at $2 per gram.

I rediscovered the 5-6 remaining grams of this samle last year, and put the bag into one of my crocks. Having spent five years in "natural Norwegian storage" I expected the once brilliant leaves to have faded into something insignificant and slightly sour. Thankfully this was not the case at all. I decided to brew the remains today and am pretty amazed to see how much of its original splendor the tea has retained. It still has that very unmistakable Yiwu sweetness, a thick body, excellent mouthfeel and a warming energy that spreads through the whole body. The dry leaves seemed to be as fragrant and the wet leaves as oily as they were back in 2014. Really glad I didn't throw out the rediscovered remains last year.

On a side-note, I wonder how Dragon Tea House is doing. Offerings such as this makes me doubt there is much reason to give them a new chance in 2020...

Today I'm enjoying Brother Humid from the "twins" sample set of 2003/2004 Changtai Heng Feng Yuan, which Life in a Teacup used to offer. Or do they still offer it? It's still listed at the top of their puer page, but it does't seem like the page is updated very frequently.

This is another "rediscovered" sample I bought back in 2014. I have no idea why I didn't drink it at the time, I probably saved the set for some "special occasion" only to later forget all about it.

In any case, I like Changtai and I very much like Hong Kong storage, so unsurprisingly I'm liking this. Camphor dominates the taste, which remains in the mouth and throat long after the final sip. Another forgotten sample that has survived the years of mostly too dry and too cold storage surprisingly well (it's definitely lost something, but it's still very nice and definitely something I would buy more of).

From my limited experience with these back-of-the-cupboard samples, it seems to me that the degradation under poor storage conditions is much faster with younger teas than with older teas (with some prior quality storage). I was reminded of this yesterday, when I finished another "forgotten" 2014 sample, the 2011 Bingdao (or rather "Bingdao") from Tea Urchin (from the 500g cake that's still for sale, not the 200g one). The storage had really taken a toll on it.

mrmopu wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 4:54 pm

oolongfan wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 7:32 am

Balthazar wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2020 11:35 am

I also just pulled the trigger and ordered a cake of EoT's recent addition, the 2001 Mengsa Old Tree Tea. Couldn't resist the temptation. Seems like one hell of a deal, if it's half as good a bargain as David makes it seem I hope there's any left to be had once I've had a taste. Anyone else ordered this?

I just ordered a cake of EOT's 2001 Mengsa Old Tree Tea as well. Glad to see that I am in good company! Like you, I could not resist the temptation for the same reason. I am back logged on posting tasting notes, but will post my tasting notes once I get this one Would love to hear your feedback after you have tasted it as well. Not sure how much is in stock..and at that price, probably will not last long. This further justifies my purchasing a cake without having tasted it

Add me to the same list. I got the 2003 Zhang Xiang as well.

+1, can’t wait to try it out. I restocked some golden needle white lotus shou as well — best shou I’ve tried. Hopefully the shipping won’t take ages. So far I had more luck with buying and not so much with receiving tea :/.

Had Zi Yin from Wistaria today. Flavorful, and could be brewed forever. The energy on this tea is relatively mild, which was what I needed today

lUKAV28 wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:46 pm

mrmopu wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 4:54 pm

oolongfan wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 7:32 am

I just ordered a cake of EOT's 2001 Mengsa Old Tree Tea as well. Glad to see that I am in good company! Like you, I could not resist the temptation for the same reason. I am back logged on posting tasting notes, but will post my tasting notes once I get this one Would love to hear your feedback after you have tasted it as well. Not sure how much is in stock..and at that price, probably will not last long. This further justifies my purchasing a cake without having tasted it

Add me to the same list. I got the 2003 Zhang Xiang as well.

+1, can’t wait to try it out. I restocked some golden needle white lotus shou as well — best shou I’ve tried. Hopefully the shipping won’t take ages. So far I had more luck with buying and not so much with receiving tea :/.

Peer pressure is real. Gave in and ordered mine :-/

Today I'm drinking Yishanmo from last spring. A great tea with a good taste/qi balance. Though I'm feeling a little under the weather, so whatever qi I'm feeling could be from something else

Its 1:00am and I found a puerh sample I bought from Tea Urchin back in Feb. It is the Yiwu Snake Blend 2013 Spring, and the fishy smell left after the rinse(yay!). I brewed it @ 194 F. It reminds me of some depression era recipe where you take shoe leather, honeysuckle and bread to make what sounds terrible into a surprisingly good sandwich . After 3 steepings or so I started to sink, felt like I was falling through the floor. Interesting effect(cha qi??) there. All in all I enjoyed it and there was this strange texture that stayed on my tongue and wouldn't let go. I can still taste it. My first successful puerh sample!! huzzah!

Watch out, Puerh may steal your (tea)heart...,

debunix wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 1:44 am

Watch out, Puerh may steal your (tea)heart...,

I'm already looking at a raw puerh sampler, but I need to work through my gigantic stash atm .

I didn't know about the raw puerh probiotics. This morning my stomach was acting like I drank a pint of apple cider vinegar. Super cleansing time!!

klepto wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 1:18 pm

I didn't know about the raw puerh probiotics. This morning my stomach was acting like I drank a pint of apple cider vinegar. Super cleansing time!!

Must have been young stuff.

klepto wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 1:18 pm

I didn't know about the raw puerh probiotics. This morning my stomach was acting like I drank a pint of apple cider vinegar. Super cleansing time!!

That’s why people drink it usually more aged to avoid getting ones body ransacked

I’ve been drinking through a few teas from Wisteria over the past 5 weeks.

03 Zipin and 08 Blue Mark are both excellent teas. Ive already consumed half a cake each so I’m seriously considering taking advantage of the 10% sale they are having right now. It seems like there are massive shipping delays right now so I’ll prob hold off until June right before the sale ends.

I’ve also been powering through the 04 Bulang from TWL. I think I prefer this one over the 01 iron cake so far. The 01 feels like it needs a bit of airing out broken up before it’ll show its true colors. It sorta reminds me a bit of XG T8633-07.

Chadrinkincat wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:49 pm

03 Zipin and 08 Blue Mark are both excellent teas. Ive already consumed half a cake each so I’m seriously considering taking advantage of the 10% sale they are having right now. It seems like there are massive shipping delays right now so I’ll prob hold off until June right before the sale ends.

I didn't even know Wisteria offered global shipping. I've been interested in getting a cake of the 03 Zipin for a while myself, might just pull the trigger if the shipping price isn't too bad.

Balthazar wrote: ↑

Fri May 01, 2020 2:24 am

Chadrinkincat wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:49 pm

03 Zipin and 08 Blue Mark are both excellent teas. Ive already consumed half a cake each so I’m seriously considering taking advantage of the 10% sale they are having right now. It seems like there are massive shipping delays right now so I’ll prob hold off until June right before the sale ends.

I didn't even know Wisteria offered global shipping. I've been interested in getting a cake of the 03 Zipin for a while myself, might just pull the trigger if the shipping price isn't too bad.

Shipping is expensive since it’s lightning fast DHL. Min for US is around $50.

On a slightly different topic than drinking Pu’erh I wanted to ask if anyone uses a wine fridge to store Pu’erh...as a pumidor?

I’m picking one up used locally this weekend. I have around 10 cakes, might add a couple more in the next few months but I’m not looking to significantly age the tea. Despite trying a couple other methods I can’t keep the humidity about 60 and it has been due to lids on containers and such that don’t seal well. So the bovida packs I’ve been using haven’t helped. I have a hygrometer.

Anyway, tips with the fridge? I’m going to have a good inhale of it before I buy it...