What HeiCha are you drinking

Puerh and other heicha
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StoneLadle
Posts: 347
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:19 am
Location: Malaysia

Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:30 pm

What secrets? It's a Three Craner...

Tasted a few test brews when it first landed in town about two weeks ago, overdue for a second tasting...

A 90s basket of purportedly the same is drinking pretty fine now on a daily basis...

Wonderfully entertaining documentary there @Balthazar, love the treading scenes and the dude with the family teasure... if i were him i'd be in Korea tracking down my missing two logs....

Imagine doing a Jason Bourne to recover your tea sold at stupidly low price...
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Balthazar
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:57 pm

StoneLadle wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:30 pm
... if i were him i'd be in Korea tracking down my missing two logs....

Imagine doing a Jason Bourne to recover your tea sold at stupidly low price...
I was thinking the same thing. Also, he better guard the remaining log carefully, looked like he just kept it laying around the house. I wouldnt feel safe keeping 2 million's worth of conveniently wrapped and easily movable tea laying around in a village house.

Ah, three cranes, good stuff. I've had some 90s three cranes LB with Malaysian storage, as solid as they come. I can definitely understand the urge to get a whole basket!
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OCTO
Posts: 1120
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Location: Penang, Malaysia

Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:21 pm

StoneLadle wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:07 am

And finally, I think you'll get more out of your LA with the correct clay pot. OCTO might want to chime in here.

I drank an old LA today out of the gaiwan just to see what my late dad had done to this tea and while totally enjoyable the muskiness and medicinal bitterness would have integrated better in a pot to really round off and complete the treasured 'dustiness' or old taste...
I would usually brew my LA in a pot that is able to retain heat very well. It truly brings out the flavour and fragrance of the tea. In a well aged LA, the medicinal value is there, so are the herbal aromas. I personally prefer LA that are aged for approx 30 - 50 years. My experiences with those aged older than that is great but doesn't leave a deep impression. The tea broth is usually extremely smooth... silky I might say, taste and aroma is normally weak, unless I slow boil the LA or keep to a high water to tea ratio.

Cheers!
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OCTO
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Location: Penang, Malaysia

Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:35 pm

TGIF! Having some 2002 LiuAn.... This is when Vintage Pot meets Modern Pot... In the background is the repurposed cookie tin I use to store my LA.

Cheers!!


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StoneLadle
Posts: 347
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Location: Malaysia

Fri Sep 04, 2020 12:23 am

A collector friend has a couple of 1950s era logs, the year being when they were taken out of China post-revolution.

We sawed one open a month or so ago and a chunk like the one in the water pan is currently awaiting tasting.

I sent the links through and we had a good chat this morning.

Let's see, perhaps in a month or so I may be able to document something.

In the meantime... that '02 triple bird is overdue for another tasting...
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wave_code
Posts: 575
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Location: Germany

Fri Sep 04, 2020 2:49 am

cheers @OCTO and @StoneLadle, I feel like I'm learning a lot getting your local perspective on these things.

while I've found a couple of taobao-esque cart sites from Malaysia most of them don't offer international shipping and thats already mostly going to be newer teas. I'm curious, what does something like a 2002 LA basket cost there? roughly. I'm guessing grade, storage, so on makes a difference.
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StoneLadle
Posts: 347
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Location: Malaysia

Fri Sep 04, 2020 7:58 am

OCTO wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:35 pm
TGIF! Having some 2002 LiuAn.... This is when Vintage Pot meets Modern Pot... In the background is the repurposed cookie tin I use to store my LA.

Will be in Ipoh tomorrow for the day. Standby for news....
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Balthazar
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Fri Sep 04, 2020 12:37 pm

I'm taking the liberty to post another heicha segment (while I'm drinking heicha - i promise! - the same jinhua, although this time in a tiny duanni pot which comes in handy when I want to drink tea after 5 PM and still be able to fall asleep at night).

The first 15 minutes are the interesting ones, and go into a bit of detail regarding the different methods of producing jinhua in qianliang and fuzhuan teas (and why the jinhua that can be found in the former is more unevenly spread throughout). (Unsurprisingly, there's no mention of keeping jinhua colonies etc.)

No English subs on this one, unfortunately.

thommes
Posts: 170
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2019 12:11 pm
Location: Central Ohio

Fri Sep 04, 2020 3:53 pm

Balthazar wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:15 pm
I bought mine from this guy, who operates teapals.com (which only features a very small segment of the tea he has). You'll find his email address on teapals.com (bottom of the site). He's also active in quite a few facebook groups (e.g. "Puerh Tea Club" and "Liu Bao Tea Club"), but I'm not comfortable linking to his personal profile page here.

His prices for heicha, particularly newer stuff, are very competetive, some even at or around Taobao prices.

Edit: Also, don't forget that YS has a pretty good selection of heicha 🙂
Thanks. I'll have to look up that guy. I'm really looking to get into fu cha. I don't have any. Waiting for a vendor to add another one to his inventory to place an order. The only non puer heichas that I have came from YS. I have the 803 and I forget the other. Got so much of the 803 that I don't even remember where the other heicha is. Likely in the pumidor.
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StoneLadle
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Location: Malaysia

Fri Sep 04, 2020 7:03 pm

wave_code wrote:
Fri Sep 04, 2020 2:49 am


while I've found a couple of taobao-esque cart sites from Malaysia most of them don't offer international shipping and thats already mostly going to be newer teas. I'm curious, what does something like a 2002 LA basket cost there? roughly. I'm guessing grade, storage, so on makes a difference.
In the open market an ’02 LA should be around USD 1000.00 for a small basket of HKG stored tea.

In terms of storage etc, it's kind of a moot point for me as stuff like this when it comes on the market, is normally well kept and maintained. We never buy before tasting and perhaps due to vocabulary or indeed cultural differences, things like mustiness, and storage smells may not bother some of us, as these things all indicate something about the tea and in most instances, can be corrected with some work...
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Balthazar
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Sat Sep 05, 2020 2:07 am

thommes wrote:
Fri Sep 04, 2020 3:53 pm
Thanks. I'll have to look up that guy. I'm really looking to get into fu cha. I don't have any. Waiting for a vendor to add another one to his inventory to place an order. The only non puer heichas that I have came from YS. I have the 803 and I forget the other. Got so much of the 803 that I don't even remember where the other heicha is. Likely in the pumidor.
803 refers to the liubao, right?

Let us know how your venture into the world of fungi-bricks goes.

Personally, I'd probably start getting a bunch of 50g samples from YS. E.g. the 2017 Gao Ma Er Xi "Liang Bai Dan", the 2018 Gao Jia Shan "Fu Rong Mountain" and the 2013 Bai Sha Xi "Run Zhi Fu". Shipping is going to cost less, and you'll have a better idea of what's out there (these are three big brands). Perhaps throw in one or two qianliang samples for good measure (unless jinhua is a must for you, you're not guaranteed to get any of it in a piece of qianliang).

Then, with a better idea of what "house style" I prefer, I'd let the bulk purchasing begin :mrgreen:
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Balthazar
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Sat Sep 05, 2020 11:28 am

Another rainy autumn weekend, perfect heicha weather. Trying the very affordable 2018 Gao Ma Er Xi Jingzhi Heizhuan (2018年高马二溪精致黑砖) today.

GM2X is not for everybody, but the taste profile certainly suits my taste. There's a sweet smokiness, pine wood, malt and a hint of puffed rice.

After 10+ decent steeps I simmer (with approximately 200 ml of water) the leaves for about 30 minutes in a cast iron pan. Delicious, very sweet and a distinct hongzao-taste I did not taste in the earlier steeps. I do this with most Anhua heichas after the leaves are spent, and it almost always turns out a really delicious brew.

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Also, on the topic of GM2X... :
Balthazar wrote:
Sat Sep 05, 2020 2:07 am
2017 Gao Ma Er Xi "Liang Bai Dan"
Yunnan Source actually sells this one for cheaper than I've been able to find it on Taobao. This listing at CNY 658 is the cheapest I've seen it there.

GM2X's home page doesn't list a price for the 2017 version, but the 2018 one retails at CNY 638.

Image

This is a reminder that not every tea you buy from a western vendor will be more expensive than the "local" market price. Without having done many other comparisons, my impression is that several of the YS heichas are very reasonably priced. Perhaps Scott has forgotten to do annual price adjustments on these :)
thommes
Posts: 170
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2019 12:11 pm
Location: Central Ohio

Sun Sep 06, 2020 5:52 am

Balthazar wrote:
Sat Sep 05, 2020 2:07 am
803 refers to the liubao, right?

Let us know how your venture into the world of fungi-bricks goes.

Personally, I'd probably start getting a bunch of 50g samples from YS. E.g. the 2017 Gao Ma Er Xi "Liang Bai Dan", the 2018 Gao Jia Shan "Fu Rong Mountain" and the 2013 Bai Sha Xi "Run Zhi Fu". Shipping is going to cost less, and you'll have a better idea of what's out there (these are three big brands). Perhaps throw in one or two qianliang samples for good measure (unless jinhua is a must for you, you're not guaranteed to get any of it in a piece of qianliang).

Then, with a better idea of what "house style" I prefer, I'd let the bulk purchasing begin :mrgreen:
I'll keep this in mind. The fu cha that I've seen on sites though is so cheap compared to other teas it's like why bother getting a sample. To be honest, I've sort of stopped buying samples after the first couple of orders. I found that some vendors will send free samples and they are typically the only samples I buy, unless I hear about this incredible cake that goes for $$$/100g or more. Then I might buy a sample. YS I typically have been trying to stay on the .us site due to shipping times lately. Even BC-19 time from China was a roll of the dice on which year it showed up.

Thanks for the rec on the fu varieties. I'll look them up.

The 803 was the liubao. Actually in my cup right now. The stuff is like the energizer bunny. It keeps going and going and going.
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wave_code
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:10 pm
Location: Germany

Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:20 am

803 is a big favorite of mine.

Unfortunately YS doesn't have much hei cha on the US site and it all seems sold out right now, but maybe if people express interest that will change. Maybe it will switch back at some point but last time I tried to order from the normal site Germany wasn't on the shipping list- they told me they were having so many bad experiences with German customs coming from China they only will ship to Germany from the US now. A real drag, but I can't say it surprises me. The whole things from China = bad/dirty prejudice is strong here for sure. I had a package from another vendor strangely go through the port here with no clearance or tax on it so it got sent to the local customs office and I had to go pick it up in person. Super unpleasant experience with them making me to open all the packages and them sticking their dirty fingers and noses in my tea saying how "it looks dirty" and waiting while they researched the price of every individual thing as if they could understand what it was anyway or it wasn't already on the order form to ultimately charge me 13euros. Bored bureaucrats in need of a bit of excitement. :roll:
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StoneLadle
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Location: Malaysia

Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:51 am

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A modest haul from a visit to my home town, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia...
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