The sad part about it is that a lot of people do not even want to hear these facts. They much prefer to be lied to it seems.
Raw Pu-erh from 2020 costs more than Raw Pu-erh from 2016
Thank you for these recommendations.m. wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 2:43 pmI don't want to recommend teas that are outside of my buying price range, no matter how excellent. Most puerh.uk teas fall in this category - however if you are into sheng puerh then the early CYH and BYH productions are i believe very worthy of tasting a sample.
From the current TWL lineup, this CYH jincha is a very decent tea and a good value
https://teaswelike.com/product/2011-che ... ai-jincha/
also at
https://puerh.uk/product/chen-yuan-hao- ... ai-jincha/
Still a bit young and could use few more years of aging, but it has some good qualities.
I'll read more about them and check them out.
Balthazar wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 3:05 pmCertainly. For the last years almost all of the puer I've bought have come through Taiwanese FB auction pages. But I would definitely recommend sticking to ordinary "western facing" vendors until one has a proper understanding of one's own tastes. Another reason to stay off the auction pages in the beginning is the possibility of scams and/or horrible storage (it can be a huge time investment to find out which sellers to trust).
There are many good vendors to choose from, but it's hard to give specific recommendations without knowing more about what you're looking for and within what price range.
My "favorite"(s) are very situation dependent. Right now I'm on parental leave and have no time for focused sessions. Which means quick brewing, larger vessels, sudden session breaks with resumption hours later.
Under these circumstances I have been greatly enjoying (and the speed test supports this) a Taiwan dry (relatively) stored 2005 Xiaguan T8653 (January/February thick paper version) as well as some 2003/04 Changtai productions that had a decade or so of HK storage before moving to drier Taiwanese storage.
I'm afraid I wouldn't know, I'm not in a situation where it would be appropriate to hunt for the best quality product possible. I wouldn't worry too much about this in the beginning anyways, the very best stuff can rarely be appreciated very early on. I'd rather try to get an idea of the general categories (age, storage, factory etc.) I'm into before going white whale hunting.
Thank you for this comprehensive answer.
I'll definitely look at the mentioned teas, who knows I might also like them.
aet wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 9:37 pmIs Bing Dao worth it's price?
( assuming we are talking about the BD Lao Zhai )
Please note that I'm expressing only my opinion based on my current experience and current situation in China.
I have kinda definition / formula for tea ( probably more likely the most suitable for puer )
quality=value=price
I explain in details in blog here https://www.pageoftea.com/choosing-tea
but to make it short here: There is no something like that BD has some higher quality tea than other places. In fact , stuff from small trees you can get much better from other Mengku villages in much better quality and taste ( of course individual opinion ) , and for much much lower price. We all know that BD is the most hyped puer producing ( now not only puer actually ) village aside with LBZ and so the price is where it is ( coz don't forget China has a large population and lots of rich people willing to pay ).
But here comes the value variable! Is it worth it?
There is some market value of course but it's applicable to you ( as a drinker or vendor ) if you can exchange that for item in same value ( presumably the money ) . If not ( assuming you are not a vendor with such a clientele or not having enough trust / being known ) , you can just hype your EGO that you have tea worth of 10k , but should you try to sell it , you might get only 2k ( as the buyer would just judge a taste and giving the price based on comparing with other teas ) .
Personal value is something what comes with mentioned ego , but in China apart of that , there is another aspect :
If I was a owner of big company in Shenzhen ( just an example ) , I wouldn't mind for special business meetings to invest for tea honoring the name of fame, giving a big Mian Zi ( google it ) and lasting XX steepings which will "guarantee" me that before the reaching the end, I'll close the deal
So keep in mind that you are in competition with such a people for this kind of tea.
I've been to BD something like 6 - 7 years ago. My wife was making a marketing strategy plan for Mengku Rongshi and so we were invited ( she was, I was a additional baggage ) to Mengku and we spent there around a week ( mostly at their factory ) . She was working and I was drinking old teas with the founder ( he passed away couple years ago ). One day they took us to BD to show some old trees they renting there. We tried the tea of course and I have to say , I could get 10kg of nice tea ( in my taste preference ) of any other village for the price the half kg was sold there.
So for me , as a vendor ( not specializing on hyped products ..in fact avoiding them , as I do avoid other marketing stuff ) this tea has no even half of the value of what is it asked for on Chinese market.
For those , who are eager to buy LBZ , BD , 1000y old trees , very old puer , all that hard to get stuff .......ask your self a question . Is it personal value or personal EGO what makes you spend those $ ?
Thank you for this comprehensive answer. A lot of food for thought.
Such answers help to understand this realm of tea better and probably faster.
Such an answer sure deserves its own thread.
I just linked above,some web explaining that. Sorry, I thought it would be like clear on 1st google page
I also describe one personal experience from market here in my blog.
6. Tea for “Mianzi”
https://www.pageoftea.com/puerh-tea-business
aet wrote: ↑Sat Sep 10, 2022 8:49 amI just linked above,some web explaining that. Sorry, I thought it would be like clear on 1st google page
I also describe one personal experience from market here in my blog.
6. Tea for “Mianzi”
https://www.pageoftea.com/puerh-tea-business
This is the answer to my other question from other thread on the forum.Tea from the very expensive place like Lao Ban Zhang or Bing Dao. Which , in my opinion , is not much as targeting rich customers but more for the prestige , therefore marketing.
Had I read this article of yours before I wouldn't have probably asked this question in the first place.
That's an interesting way. Never knew that tea is still used as a sort of money.The company offers to shareholders a puerh tea cake instead of the “piece of paper”. That strategy is based on sort of security that if company bankrupt , the shareholders are not going to be left behind with useless paper but have some tea which has some value ( and if aged sometime , it also has an additional value ) .
Only after reading your blog was I able to understand what you'd meant by saying "..giving a big Mian Zi"Tea for “Mianzi”
Both of the links were very informative.
Thank you.