Yancha lovers?

[aet]

I've got some samples from farmer. The prices are quite high , some very high....yet not that high for Chinese market.
My question is , if foreigners wiling to spend such a money for tea ( I guess that's never ending "?" for every vendor sourcing tea from China
So , I was wondering :
1) what is the cheapest Yancha you have bought and was satisfied with price=quality? ( price, name, seller..if you want to name )
2) what is the most expensive Yancha you have bought and was satisfied with price=quality? ( price, name, seller..if you want to name )
3) what is the price and name of your YCH daily drinker?

thanks for sharing!

[Bok]

Interesting question.

I don’t think Yancha of acceptable quality qualifies as a daily drinker. It’s a luxury.

The affordable stuff is atrocious and still too expensive.

Yesterday at a friends we had a Laocongshuixian that retails at 50000RMB for a jin in China... don’t think anyone would pay for this with the price increase to retail in the West.

P.S. that tea was delicious - the highlight of that evening of 12+ teas. Teas to taste, savour and then best forget about them...

[carogust]

Today I drank an oolong made in the style of yancha. It doesn't count as yancha as it was made from material outside of banyan. I enjoyed it. It had good flavor, the body of an oolong and made me feel good, so it satisfied my craving. Got it from chawangshop and its cultivar is "Hong Mu Dan". At ~0.1 $/g it's an amazing daily drinker. I think it is the cheapest yancha style oolong I've had. I've been drinking it for quite a while now.

The most expensive I've had is from EoT and it's their "Ai Jiao". I think its an amazing tea and "taught" me what yancha can be. I do realize it is more of a tease but I'm still satisfied with having it.

I am really happy that I've not been caught on the hedonic treadmill as much as others seem to be. Maybe it is better to be satisfied with what you've got and can afford painlessly rather than sulk at what you do not have. I think that having any tea that is even decent should be thought of as a luxury. Of course, if you can afford better and want better then you should buy better. Not trying to be spiritually superior.
But your own mindset can really destroy this hobby if you're not careful.

[aet]

Maybe it is better to be satisfied with what you've got and can afford painlessly rather than sulk at what you do not have. I think that having any tea that is even decent should be thought of as a luxury. Of course, if you can afford better and want better then you should buy better. Not trying to be spiritually superior.
But your own mindset can really destroy this hobby if you're not careful.

good way to look at this alright. It is common , at least among of good tea vendors , to teach / educate their customers. Means , if customer order some cheaper range tea, you give him a sample of better stuff ( of course more expensive tea ). But unfortunately with foreign market I've found out that mostly people just buy based on their budget , so next time buy just another cheaper stuff.
As probably most of the vendors , I'd be happy do sell some high end stuff, but it's just not doable for foreign market .
Thanks for your feedback.

[aet]

Interesting question.

I don’t think Yancha of acceptable quality qualifies as a daily drinker. It’s a luxury.

The affordable stuff is atrocious and still too expensive.

Yesterday at a friends we had a Laocongshuixian that retails at 50000RMB for a jin in China... don’t think anyone would pay for this with the price increase to retail in the West.

P.S. that tea was delicious - the highlight of that evening of 12+ teas. Teas to taste, savour and then best forget about them...

yep, I've heard about something like that. My samples are not in that range, yet I think it's bit pricey. Of course the ability to sell is also about the Name ( who sells those gems ) .
Cheers!

[carogust]

good way to look at this alright. It is common , at least among of good tea vendors , to teach / educate their customers. Means , if customer order some cheaper range tea, you give him a sample of better stuff ( of course more expensive tea ). But unfortunately with foreign market I've found out that mostly people just buy based on their budget , so next time buy just another cheaper stuff.
As probably most of the vendors , I'd be happy do sell some high end stuff, but it's just not doable for foreign market .
Thanks for your feedback.

I don't think I've ever received samples that are more expensive (dollar per gram) than what I bought. Usually it is actually cheaper and I just think of it as a gift.

[Bok]

In Taiwan I get usually treated and teased each time with better tea... so I get lost deeper and deeper in the abyss of expensive but delicious teas. It’s a vicious cycle

[carogust]

In Taiwan I get usually treated and teased each time with better tea... so I get lost deeper and deeper in the abyss of expensive but delicious teas. It’s a vicious cycle

If a tea really costs ~10$ per gram I'd be willing to only drink it with friends, even if I could afford it. The only way to really meaningfully enjoy these kinds of luxuries. That might be another reason why ultra premium teas are not popular in the west.

[Bok]

In Taiwan I get usually treated and teased each time with better tea... so I get lost deeper and deeper in the abyss of expensive but delicious teas. It’s a vicious cycle

If a tea really costs ~10$ per gram I'd be willing to only drink it with friends, even if I could afford it. The only way to really meaningfully enjoy these kinds of luxuries. That might be another reason why ultra premium teas are not popular in the west.

Big caveat - only if those friends would have the capacity to appreciate it!

Expensive Yancha is best in very small concentrated quantities, barely three little cups full. More would be a waste.

[.m.]

What you can sell is not just a matter of the price but a matter of marketing as well.
For example, EoT market themselves as a brand with a narrow but carefully curated selection, not always the best deal, but never a bad one, and a consistently very good quality with occasional bang-for-the-buck products. If they put high $/g tea in their store, most people will trust the quality is there, and those with the means will be strongly tempted to buy some, even if just a small sample to try.
On the other hand, a brand like YS, which is known for their wide selection and a relatively low pricing, is not a place where you look for high(er) end product (even if they may carry some), and so they may have a much harder time to sell a high $/g product, or to create an excitement around it on social media even if they have a large number of loyal clients and followers.
*Obviously I'm speculating a bit here.

Personally, i'm one of those "cheap" people. So for me to buy more than 0.5$/g the tea in a quantity it needs to be in some sense exceptional, and to go above 1$/g it really has to be special. Recently, i've had a sample of a fenghuang dancong tea for 1$/g -- possibly the first time i've experienced a detectable "cha qi" outside outside of the puerh domain. Really nice tea, and perhaps a good deal too, yet i wasn't motivated to try to purchase more.

[debunix]

I haven't bought any yancha for a couple of years, so I'm not sure how my purchases from years ago compare to current price & quality. And I don't think I've ever had the very very best of it from any vendor at any time. But....I found Wing Hop Fung's Da Hong Pao to be quite lovely and, yes, a daily drinker. It has a bit of that rock/mineral taste, especially if I enjoy it more concentrated in a gongfu session, but it often has been bulk brewed because it stays so lovely even after hours in a thermos, and is quite a treat for a long work session away from my tea prep setups.

I haven't had much to compare it to, however, because the varied yanchas I bought mostly from Norbu were gone, and it was also a few years since I'd had bought a few from JingTeaShop.com. The large pouches I bought at Wing Hop Fung's store-closing sale were quite a bargain to boot. But they're running out, and I'm starting to look for other options.

I enjoyed all the yanchas I got from Norbu, and I'm studying the yancha vendor thread to look for other options. But I haven't yet had that transcendant, utterly memorable session like my first time with Dan Cong at Imen's Tea Habitat bricks & mortar store, or my first session with the Hawaiian oolong Victoria gifted me some years back, or the first time with Norbu's 2009 'Diamond grade' Tie Guan Yin, where I keep referencing those flavor profiles and the glow of those sessions in my mind. It might be a good thing that I haven't been 'spoiled' and can delight in the many good experiences I've had with fine but perhaps not sublime yanchas.

[Janice]

The most expensive I've had is from EoT and it's their "Ai Jiao". I think its an amazing tea and "taught" me what yancha can be. I do realize it is more of a tease but I'm still satisfied with having it.

At 100 grams for $62 the ai jiao is not expensive compared to a high-quality gyokuro. The special purchase gykuro from Ippodo is $60 for 50 grams.

[Victoria]

I've got some samples from farmer. The prices are quite high , some very high....yet not that high for Chinese market.
My question is , if foreigners wiling to spend such a money for tea ( I guess that's never ending "?" for every vendor sourcing tea from China
So , I was wondering :
1) what is the cheapest Yancha you have bought and was satisfied with price=quality? ( price, name, seller..if you want to name )
2) what is the most expensive Yancha you have bought and was satisfied with price=quality? ( price, name, seller..if you want to name )
3) what is the price and name of your YCH daily drinker?

thanks for sharing!

I really like Yancha, so far I’ve focused mostly on Rougui, so I’ll mention a few based on your query, plus another more expensive Ban Tian Yao yancha.

1) what is the cheapest Yancha you have bought and was satisfied with price=quality? ( price, name, seller..if you want to name )

Adventures in Every Cup: Jing Rougui
60g = $12.00 usd = $0.20g
This Rougui could be a daily drinker to have with meals or right after. Lots of tea dust in 12g paper pouches. Flavor reminds me of a decrepit smoke filled tea house with old men drinking, smoking and gambling all afternoon. Aroma is there, flavor is there, just okay, not bad though, but not wow either.

2) what is the most expensive Yancha you have bought and was satisfied with price=quality? ( price, name, seller..if you want to name )

2088 Tea: 2015 Wu Yuan Jian Ban Tian Yao Handmade
7g = $39 usd = $5.57g
Wild tea bushes hand processed by Ah Wei who is written about in a few articles by Kyarazen. He describes notes of Siberian Deer Musk coming through first few steeps. Was very high quality yancha, definitely for more experienced palate.

3) what is the price and name of your YCH daily drinker?
So far I have not found yancha to be a daily drinker, but am open to idea It would have to be very good quality aromatics and flavor and be less than $1 usd gram. My current daily drinkers are roasted DongDing and Sencha around $0.15 - .55c gram

I’ll add:
4) most memorable and best value for price?
Lazy Cat Tea: Space Cat RouGui
50g = 70euro = $82 usd = $1.64g
This RouGui rocks, it puts me in a good mood. Top quality. Good aromatics, rich liquor, a serious fun RouGui .

[pedant]

lately, i am not even drinking tea daily. when i do drink, i am usually going for memorable, attention-grabbing tea experiences.

• 0.4usd/g: i have a lot of tea like this that i enjoy drinking
• 1usd/g: i am usually reaching for stuff around here, but i don't have hundreds of grams of it stocked up
• 3-4usd/g: i have some tea priced around here that i drink infrequently. special occasion tea.
• 10usd/g: i've bought some sessions' worth of yancha like this. it's good stuff, but hard to say that i get more enjoyment out of it than stuff priced around 3-4usd/g. even 2usd/g can get me into "as good as it gets" territory. beyond that, i don't know that tea is objectively better, just different. something scarce in supply, made by someone famous, or showcasing something peculiar.

whether i'm getting my money's worth is a totally different question. prices in the west are somewhat inflated

1) what is the cheapest Yancha you have bought and was satisfied with price=quality? ( price, name, seller..if you want to name )

i don't expect to find worthwhile yancha at less than 0.3-0.5usd/g

2) what is the most expensive Yancha you have bought and was satisfied with price=quality? ( price, name, seller..if you want to name )

i'll pay up to $50 for an arresting tea session (~10usd/g). similar to what i'm ok with paying for a bottle of wine, though i've paid more.
usually, 1-4usd/g gets me there however.

3) what is the price and name of your YCH daily drinker?

i don't drink yancha daily, but i usually go for stuff around the 1usd/g mark.

[Bok]

With Yancha you never ever get your money’s worth.

You will always get a much, much better tea if you spend the same amount on other teas than yancha.

A cheap Yancha is so much worse than a similar priced other tea.

It’s worth pursuing if - one, money doesn’t matter.

Or - two, you just like that special Yancha taste. The category which I believe most of us here fall into. For me it’s a rare luxury... I purchase very little treats for myself and the rest is due to generous tea friends with better access/wallets

It’ll never be a daily drinker, for those Taiwanese ooongs are just so much cheaper and also much better value than any Yancha...