Sheng and Shou TTB?
Has anyone on here ever done a strictly puerh traveling tea box? If, not. Would any one be interested in getting one started? This would be something I would definitely want to be a part of. Have nothing but shengs and shous. Have teas from different companies. Misty peak teas, Mandala, Crimson lotus, yunnansourcing, puerhshop, etc. I would love to organize it but have never done a TTB myself. So if anyone out there has TTB experience and has great knowledge of puerh, maybe you can make it happen for all of us on steepster. Any opinions?
Would love to do this! I don’t have the personal collection to support starting one, but would be willing to do the administrative side of stuff.
Same as everyone else. I would love to join but most of my pu-erh is sample sized (50g and under) and I wouldn’t have enough to start one. Maybe some companies would be willing to donate? I know it’s been done for previous boxes.
That would definitely be of great help. I myself have been looking at all those companies sites for months looking to buy stuff but have not made the jump. Maybe a box like this would most likely push me right into hitting that checkout button. Lol
There has been talk in the past but no one had enough pu-erh to make it work. Finding people who want to participate would be easy once someone gets the ball rolling. I know I would love to do it!
I’ve run TTBs before. It’s not all that difficult. The biggest issue is to get together a couple pounds of tea to get started.
So Dr Jim, would you like to be the organizer? :D
I’ve thought about starting one, but don’t have enough pu-erh yet. I don’t want to get into contacting companies – not my thing. One possibility would be a mixed pu-erh and unflavored tea box. This would also permit folks who don’t have that much pu-erh to get involved.
Another possibility would be a small box – on the order of 20 oz. This would save postage but might not have a lot of variety.
I’d definitely be interested! I have quite a few cakes to share as well :) I’ve got several solid older sheng and shu for you guys to try. I can help some with administrative stuff too.
I’ve been thinking about this and it strikes me that a pu-erh box has some unique features compared to other TTBs:
1. Most people use 7-10 grams per pot rather than 2-3 grams
2. A single pot can last all day vs tasting 6-10 teas per day.
Since pu-erh doesn’t get stale, we could let people keep the box longer than the 7-10 days that is the usual limit. But this would mean that people at the end of the list might have to wait 6 months for the box to arrive. Alternatively, we could ask people to just grab samples of what sounds interesting then send the box on immediately.
In previous TTBs I’ve been involved in, many people put in a lot of 6-12 g samples. This would amount to only 1 or 2 tastes for pu-erh. The answer is either larger samples or faster turnover. It also has implications for what you put in the box. I look at my stock and hate the idea of adding anything from my large stock of samples, since I feel that the minimum to add to the box would be at least 14 grams, and that would represent 100% of many of my teas. This means I only want to donate from something I bought an entire beeng, brick, or tuocha, and there aren’t all that many of those.
It seems that everyone may be in the same boat: 6-10 teas they’d like to share but not the critical mass needed to start a box. There are several ways we could handle this:
1. Just go with a small box, 8-12 teas, and have high turnover
2. Build the box as we go. If we have 3 people with significant amounts of teas, they could go first and add more tea than they take. We could extend the life of the box so that all of the early contributors get another shot at the box.
3. Have people mail stuff to one person who then starts the box out as a full box.
I’d be fine with a smaller box and a high turnover – more different teas to meet! I’d be also happy send tea to the box starter, or plan on a big contribution for a build a box when it gets to me.
We would be happy to donate a nice quantity of 2+ puerhs to the box. The only issue, is that the teas would not be purchasable at a later date. Message me if you are interested.
Thanks. I’m sure we would be interested, but we still need to organize the box, which could take a while.
If you figure out who will hosting the box within the week, I would be happy to send:
2-4oz of this: http://steepster.com/teas/butiki-teas/46170-1989-suncha-blend
a cake or most of a cake of this: http://steepster.com/teas/butiki-teas/46439-2009-banchang-tree-puerh
At least a half of a cake of this: http://steepster.com/teas/norbu-tea/12937-2006-feng-hua-qi-cha-sheng-pu-erh-tea
I had every intention of starting a pu box and talked about it before the holidays. I have another box I should start going again. I have, ahem, a lot of puer. What I don’t have is any time. As far as amounts, you CAN do a taste with as little as 3 grams (many people do way more – but you can work with 3) so with 12 gram samples you could get 4 goes, but people would really need to weigh things out and leave some for others.
Of the ideas above, having a person with a lot to share to start or have people send theirs to one person to start with a bigger box seem like good ways to start.
I’ve also been thinking of starting a box, but at the moment could only start with about a dozen teas. I’ve got a big order coming in from TuochaTea, but I chose the cheap shipping option and I think it’s still on a boat somewhere. I’m now about 8 weeks into the 6-10 week estimated shipping time, but with the west coast dock thing going on, 10 weeks might be optimistic.
I’m semi-retired, so have plenty of time. Just need to get the tea to arrive. BTW: I only use 2-3 grams per tasting, but most of the reviews I read seem to use more like 7. The variability in serving size should probably have been on my list of differences.
I’d be fine with that. Or we could wait until my order arrives. Or both? I guess this means I’ve volunteered to run the box.
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