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Here some evidence of my on-going dedication not to write off Puerh, haha

In the end, everyone has her/his own preferences i've been enjoying puer for ~13 years and I still find it (together with yancha) the most interesting type of tea.

The advice to be wary of hype is a good one, one needs to be honest with oneself and decide if they actually like the tea or if they're in it beacause of FOMO and discussion on social media.

Bok wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:59 pm

Here some evidence of my on-going dedication not to write off Puerh, haha

nice! What are you drinking?

steanze wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:03 pm

Bok wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:59 pm

Here some evidence of my on-going dedication not to write off Puerh, haha

nice! What are you drinking?

Yes! My current favourite 2006 Gushu brick, I believe you know the one

Bok wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:16 pm

Yes! My current favourite 2006 Gushu brick, I believe you know the one

Ah yes, indeed, I do!

Bok wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:39 pm

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:24 pm

Am surprised that lq/roc pot didnt do it for klepto!

In the end, the best pot can not save a not-so-good-tea... tea quality is still the most important factor.

+1

Bok wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:39 pm

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:24 pm

Am surprised that lq/roc pot didnt do it for klepto!

In the end, the best pot can not save a not-so-good-tea... tea quality is still the most important factor.

I thought he mainly got stuff from TWL.

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:21 pm

Bok wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:39 pm

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:24 pm

Am surprised that lq/roc pot didnt do it for klepto!

In the end, the best pot can not save a not-so-good-tea... tea quality is still the most important factor.

I thought he mainly got stuff from TWL.

I think @klepto might have only got his LQ/RoC pot from TWL. Sounds like his Puerh may have come from D-Boy Donny Mei's magical Gushu tree, which could explain the circumstances.

TeaTotaling wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:07 pm

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:21 pm

Bok wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:39 pm

In the end, the best pot can not save a not-so-good-tea... tea quality is still the most important factor.

I thought he mainly got stuff from TWL.

I think klepto might have only got his LQ/RoC pot from TWL. Sounds like his Puerh may have come from D-Boy Donny Mei's magical Gushu tree, which could explain the circumstances.

Mei leaf? How bad can his stuff be? Wish someone could just spell it out.

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:10 pm

TeaTotaling wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:07 pm

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:21 pm

I thought he mainly got stuff from TWL.

I think klepto might have only got his LQ/RoC pot from TWL. Sounds like his Puerh may have come from D-Boy Donny Mei's magical Gushu tree, which could explain the circumstances.

Mei leaf? How bad can his stuff be? Wish someone could just spell it out.

I don't think his stuff is terrible. I thought it was better than the "top shelf" YS Shengs I've had. The price is certainly on the high end, which is to be expected, so one might get a better bang for their buck elsewhere. Now maybe @klepto was expecting his Puerh to send him on a psychedelic trip, like Don tends to promote, but instead was left with a queasy stomach. Which could be why he fell out of love with Puerh. It seems DJ Don triggers people, and they take it out shaming his tea, I dunno.

On this somewhat tired subject of how good or bad Mei Leaf's teas are, I tried about a half dozen versions some years back, from not long after the brand shift from China Life to Mei Leaf, and some before that. It's possible his teas are much different since then, and much better. But then they were all ok, just not ok in relation to the selling price or the descriptions.

I'd be a little skeptical in accepting an opinion that his teas are better than the best sold by Yunnan Sourcing. To start, Yunnan Sourcing sells a lot of tea. If someone tried a dozen or more of their higher end in-house versions that would be a pretty good sample, but for trying half that luck of the draw and preference for individual aspects really would skew results.

Then from there Yunnan Sourcing promotes a lot of what they sell for more (the $80-100 cakes, versus Impression versions) as arbor or more naturally grown, single source tea, and Mei Leaf is probably selling more blends. It wouldn't work to compare two different kinds of tea like that. There are good reasons for why people are preferring more narrow origin sourced sheng these days, but there are also limitations in that approach. Just as with Lipton, or any other blend, mixing inputs lets you offset flaws and maximize final overall balance. The same general quality level of tea material input can provide better results when blended. Personal preference could easily favor or tend to not regard a more limited aspect range as preferable, the narrow-source theme.

In general whenever people pass on very sweeping, conclusive, objectively framed conclusions about most tea themes (all of what a vendor sells, all of what a source area produces, etc.) I would be wary of accepting that as well-grounded input. Including these comments, of course.
Patterns definitely come up but some people embracing narratives too much tends to skew what they experience. I'm probably somewhat biased against Mei Leaf due to the videos, and clearly wrong information in product descriptions (the "everything is gushu" and drug-like effect themes), beyond having so-so prior experience with those teas.