1998-2006 were bad years for pu erh?
I have read about the pu erh bubble (and that as a consequence the tea from those years was not really good), but I can see that there’s much tea of those years standing in the market.
Now those teas are at least 10 years old, so, do you think that are worth buying it?
Just because some years are in fact considered bad years for puerh, and I’m not sure about the years you list, doesn’t mean that all tea produced in such a year was bad. There will be good tea and bad tea produced every year. It is more a matter of sampling to find out which is the case.
The point raised in the post is very different and more specific than general good and bad years for tea. The puerh boom in the specified period leading to over plucking of leaves and poor tea quality is well known and documented. The bubble eventually burst and from 2008, Pu’er prices dropped dramatically.
I see.
The thing is that I have read that that were the pu erh boom years and as a consequence tea trees were harvested much times and produced worst tea.
Ginkosan, I’m looking for some sheng (not too expensive).
I would sample them first if possible. A buddy of mine was ripped off big by an Aliexpress site called “Long Time Puer.” They were old and cheap, but most were undrinkable; probably wet storage gone horribly wrong. If you need old sheng at a reasonable price, I’d strongly recommend W2T.
I have seen a lot of puerh advertised on Aliexpress as very old at incredible bargain prices. I have avoided them based on the theory that they are not as they would claim. Anyone who claims to have 1970 puerh tea and is selling it for $10 is doing something not right. I suppose it could be two things, either much more recent than 1970, or be so bad to be undrinkable and they are willing to take anything for it. Or both.
I would rather go for good quality and OK value rather than good value and so-so quality; so I agree with the advice given by others – buy from trusted vendors and always buy samples first and then decide.
Agreed. In fact, if the value seems good, but the tea is only OK, then it wasn’t actually a good value to begin with. Better off going with someone you know you can trust when it comes to aged teas. Just because it has a few years on it doesn’t mean its good.
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