2016 Sheng Olympics (group buy)
I would NEVER steep a sheng for 30 seconds, but I think I’ll follow some of this information :)
http://deathbytea.blogspot.com/2016/02/verdant-tea-1800-year-old.html
Really thankful for this write up!
edit 2/10
TeaDb has posted a video with a different conclusion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH42mNCSSl0
Now it is up to all of us to decide how we feel about the tea. Of course there are different brewing methods that occur, but it is important to remember that everyone steeps different and has different taste as. Both of these individuals are skillful when it comes to tea knowledge and taste explanation/evaluation.
A few participates responses to Verdant:
http://steepster.com/TeaExplorer/posts/328208
&
http://steepster.com/AllanK/posts/328318
I for am even more excited to try these as I read about the experience that others are having with them. Look forward to others remarks. Not that I have favorites, but I’m looking at you DrJim , haveteawilltravel , and mrmopar. The knowledge, pictures, and overall guidance through acceptance and genuine appreciate for tea and the tea community that these three have expressed over the year’ish I’ve been on here has me excited to see how they respond; if they chose to do so.
It’s almost strange that this was good tea. They could have told the truth and let it stand on it’s own.
Everyone is brewing this differently and I only have 4 to 5 grams of each which means I get one try at it!
Yeah, one try is a somewhat limiting. I hope in future buys you get to leave yourself a little more.
After reading AllanK’s notes I’m going to try the remainder of mine on slightly shorter steeps (5/5/7/10 instead of the 10/10/10/15 I did in my first round).
Got my package today! Thanks again LP for all the time and effort you put into all of this!
So it’s been a little over a week since these have shipped out and I’ll drop some remarks:
1) I’m happy to say that everyone has been pleased which is tied for the best part being the desire to check a vendor or tea out for a personal purchase. That’s one of the main reasons I do these: The selection of teas is intimidating so to purchase all the samples would be tough. Knowing how to brew them would be another thing to contemplate, but this way is like a huge tea party online where I can read the thoughts of everyones and learn while reading!
2) I did receive some gifts from those who participated and I would like everyone to know that nobody is ever treated differently. Only posting this here to be transparent and express how amazing the tea community is which leads to 3.
3) Since I am taste testing for the next group buy as well as working through these, I have a pretty good sense of which cakes I am going to buy from the first session so I’m willing to privately sell small 4 to 6 gram packages of the teas I know I am buying. I’d like others to experience this as well and knowing I will be having more in the future only wants me to allow another the journey. If you are curious, please PM me (that offer can be combined with https://www.instagram.com/p/BBitEHWxYNE/ or https://www.instagram.com/p/BBQ0A3hRYGP/ , yes I keep busy with tea!)
4) Everyone keeps asking ‘what is the next group buy?’… it’s theme is dark. Vendors thus far are What Cha, W2T, Life in Teacup, World Tea Podcast, and others I am taste testing. I’m actually going to be picky with this one because I want it to be hands down amazing.
5) How opposed are people to me doing this through Etsy? It would cut the time down by hour for manually entering and verifying Steepster names and it would open up for Reddit… ect. It would also eliminate paper usage and ink by 1/2 because USPS using 1 full sheet and Etsy does 2 on 1. I have months to figure out the numbers, but it would be a difference of somewhere between $1.20 to $2.00 ‘ish.
6) Still waiting for confirmation on the international orders. This is the worst past, just not knowing! Last update was in Chicago, guess that’s where they fly from, on February 3rd.
7) Seriously everyone, thank you so much. This was not an easy task and I did have two errors that I corrected within 24 hours, but this was a huge learning experience and I have gained new friends :)
I believe we even had new members join Steepster. Overall, I still have plenty of stuff to work through from the 2016 Sheng Olympics and some haven’t even began but I feel as if this was a complete success even with some mishaps on my end (which was shipping stuff :|)
Looking forward to more pictures and write ups!
Andrew
Sounds like this was a great success! Going to enjoy sitting down and reading folks notes on the teas you pulled together. Will wait patiently for an opportunity to join a shou olympics :)
Going to be honest,a full on ripe group buy would be a disaster for shou. This dark one is oolong, black, shu, and others :)
Once again thank you very much for organising this group buy. As my teas arrived yesterday they are resting until the weekend when I intend to try the first one and happy to do a little write up which I’ll copy from my tea diary. Since all these are new teas to me I’ll be sipping them at home where I have more control on parameters over the weekends at a rate of at least 2 teas per weekend.
More than happy to join the next group buys as it gives me a tremendous opportunity to try different teas from the usual ones I buy.
I’m seriously regretting not participating! Definitely will do the next. I have no problem if you organize it through etsy
I feel that whatever works easiest for you would be fine. Thanks so much for doing this :D
Got my package today! Yaaaay, way to go USPS/Canada Post. It arrived in excellent condition – great job with the packaging, Andrew. :) So which one should I try first??
I received mine in the mail today. Thanks LP for all your hard work organizing this.
It’s full of lots of interesting little packages. I’m more than a little intimidated. :)
LOL That’s funny – but I feel like I’ve been handed a platter of raw elephant bits and been told have at it. I’m not afraid to toss some on the grill and see what it’s like. But I feel that I don’t know enough to learn from the experience. I might like the piece I’m eating but I’m not sure I will know if it’s trunk or hoof or tail or shoulder. I’m going to be asking tons of stupid questions along the way….
There are no stupid questions. Steepsterites are friendly (and frequently nocturnal).
Today I tried Verdant tea’s 1000 year old tree sheng. While this is almost certainly a fake and not as good as the 1800 year old tree tea, it was good. It was slightly more bitter than the 1800 year old tree and slightly less apricoty. It was a good tea though. Again, I wonder why they lied about these teas. Have not tried the 300 year old tea yet but I would be surprised if that wasn’t good too.
Allan have you put all these in your cupboard. I’m having issues finding the right tea. I want to be able to read others tasting notes and be able to log mine in the right place, but having issues finding some in the database….
I did not put this in my cupboard as it was only a sample from Liquid Proust’s Sheng Olympics. It is gone so there was nothing to put in my cupboard. Teas that I actually bought get put in my cupboard, unless I just forget. I did put that in the database though even though I did not purchase the tea. If you reference my most recent tasting note you will find the tea.
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/otherfactories/3748-jing-gu-zi-cha-purple-pu-erh-tea-mini-cake.html
Is this the correct tea that was included?
Is this the right tea for “2014 Laos Ban Komaen Black” ?
http://steepster.com/teas/chawangshop/71193-2014-laos-ban-komaen
Everything else I’ve either found in the database or I added it in. I just want to be able to log the teas correctly and be able to read everyone’s tasting notes. I did this as a learning experience (as I’m sure others did) – just trying to make sure I’m not adding the teas to the wrong place etc.
Mines just turned up :)
When a packages arrives to its overseas destination, instant relief :)
I always worry about those.
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