cbrace wrote: ↑Thu Dec 03, 2020 2:33 am
Thanks Maerskian. I'll up the RH a bit and let the Caicheng rest for a few more months.
I'm away from home now and won't be back until next sunday... yesterday however noticed that among the teas i brought with me i had - nothing more, nothing less - than this very caicheng !!!!
Just did a 1600ml session with it right now so writing under the influence:
Didn't remember the cake was this dark - almost black - by the way. The dry leaf isn't very fragrant which isn't abnormal .
For this session used ( brace yourselves ) ... 22g and a lovely 400ml Czech stoneware teapot ( not filled to the brim ); used spring water i brought with me from home - the same i always use - inside some glass jars . Did a 20 sec ( long ) rinse which resulted in a really dark brown brew that made me remember 13-15 yr old teas Guangdong stored .
The smell on the wet leaves isn't very intense... but it does have the familiar range of "old" : old coat, leather shoe ( not a brand new one, not the old kind either but one shoe that has been moderately used & aired but still has that particular smell around ) , old book ( not a heavily water damaged one, but the kind you can tell is relatively old ) .
It brews pretty dark brown and isn't incredibly tasty nor the kind to cause a great impact ( like good/high grade teas can ) but it's one point above "nice" ( really suprising based on it's real price that was $7 shipped ) and makes you wonder what could happen over the years.
The dry leaves start looking black, after a few steeps it becomes clear it's a blend with very dark leaves ( purple ) , some dark brown ones and small proportion still looks (dark) green. Around the 6th/7th steep those black leaves finally start revealing their purple nature and some of 'em look suprisingly nice ( once again, for the price it's really surprising ) .
Still, while it's not a shocking tea it has that "something" that makes you think it's better than average teas within their category and worth trying and experimenting with; the leaves used are particular which makes the aging-experiment side even more fun, plenty Dayi cakes use more plain/boring material... this one however could turn out better even if they didn't originally intended for anything special to develop over time... but such is the story behind many cakes that turned to be better than expected .
I've just noticed something the pricing games this vendor undertakes. On Sept 1, I ordered a cake of
2005 Raw CNNP Lao Shu Yuan Cha and paid €35.92. Today it is listed at € 44,95, though apparently sold old. A jump of 25% in three months? Is this normal??
Just read
Bok tried to come with a rational explanation but i can confirm it's not related to it.
Already called 'em out a while ago. I placed... i think three orders total from that store, each time i bought something the prices were raised, sometimes in the most absurd & clumsy way.
There's more to it: when i first found this shop earlier this year i was particularly attracted to their CNNP cakes and messaged 'em asking for some potential information... to reach the conclusion they really had no idea what they had ( note: which is relatively normal given the black hole CNNP cakes are ) .
Their ripe/shu CNNP cake was price below 20€ , at some point they suddenly went crazy ( maybe they sold one ) & marked it as "out of stock" ( which i noticed to be a pattern ) ... and changed the price to a 3 figure number. Shortly afterwards ( not enough time to restock from HK/China ) this particular shu cake was priced around 100€ ( ?? ) and marked as a wonderful "sale" with the price crossed and the sale price being 70€ now ( same price it has now ) .
I got one T8663 shu on my first order priced around 20€ or lower, after that the price was raised; got some more on my second order, price was raised even more; got a final cake on my third order ( using reward points )... now it's even more expensive.
That Dr. Puer Nannuo was priced at 19€ earlier this year then artificially brought "back in stock" at 38€ ... now look at that price. Unfortunately i fell for this one ( aware of the heavy price-rigging, always factoring that my orders always qualified for the 20% off + reward points and doing an exercise of creative accounting to lower the price on those particular cakes ) ... because once tasted those Dr. Puer are horrible .
So yes... they artificially rig their prices and for some magical reasons expect nobody on the internet will notice ( took some screenshots of their stock earlier this year, shame i don't have them around here ); they even offer you teas that are out of stock and - oh the coincidence - they happened to have more around... at twice the original price .
That - potentially fake - Ban Zhang cake ... started at 89.99€ ... few days after it was listed they asked around 100€... the it was "sold out" and came back shortly afterwards at 109€ .
My overall impressions is that they just play silly games with the pricing of their teas and at some point started frothing with the current ongoing situation with EU customs, hoped to be "the place" everybody would get their puerh from and therefore rising prices artificially not based on any particular meticulous or mathematical criteria but just random feelings / impressions.... like me buying multiple cakes of this or that .
All well known shops have criterias to rise their prices periodically, TeaDB made a post about it, some - like Yunnan Sourcing - faced some criticism... still... nothing compares to the obvious greed & randomness going on with this particular store.
The worst part... is that they don't seem to understand the value of their teas... which are average factory teas at best not even the special kind or those high price/value kind or those great cakes that are fairly priced... just average factory cakes that would be a nice option to have if you need some puerh quick... given that they were fairly priced... as they should be for the quality offered... not to mention the more than obvious bad ( ultra dry ) storage conditions .
Now they seem to aim for a position they don't belong to, not on their wildest dreams... for such prices you can go already for boutique tea, good grades or even considering paying extra and jump into amazing teas. Teamania, TdC, Tea-Encounter, NannuoShan, GoodTea.EU, MoyChay, Pu-erh.SK for really high grade ( same as TE ) ... and more shops withing EU or geographical Europe territory... all of 'em offer teas with better prices, better qualities... way more reliable, way more knowledgeable ... there's no possible comparison.
They have been trying to turn their "customs headache-free" into a selling point, even advertisin on reddit that way... not realizing that for the price range they are aiming anybody would rather pay those fees for (much) better tea than pay the same price for something that is... what it is... not to mention the aforementioned hustle-free options .
In the end this kind of artificial & nonsensical pricing policy will only backfire on them.