2016 Sheng Olympics (group buy)
Drinking my first, the Jing Gu “Zi Cha” Purple. It has a distinctive flavour, falling into the pleasantly sour camp? Its different, something I get from all the purple varietals I have tried.
On that note, the Purple DHP, Which is called Zi Hong Pao, is also quite a nice way to experience purple leaf
Drinking the 2005 Hai Lang Hao “You Le Zheng Shan”. This is an excellent tea. It is somewhat sweet and somewhat astringent. It has a dark yellow color to it. It doesn’t seem to have aged as much as you would expect. There are no storage tastes of any kind, no wet wood, no off tastes. Just a smooth raw puerh that tastes quite good. This one is worth buying but the price might keep me from it. I do think this one will age into something really nice in another ten years.
It’s the weekend…. I expect pictures :)
I’m also working on a survey for the 2017 Sheng Olympics which will be February 2017. There is no doubt that three different Bang Dong cakes will be in there, but I’m contemplating a few options regarding private buys and what would not be comparable to other teas such as a 90’s wet stored… there are so many options and with months to plan and many wonderful recomndations from everyone, each year should get better :)
However… There is a chance that 2017 could just be a lot of balls… Yunnann Sourcing balls, Finest Brew balls, Crimson Lotus balls, Misty Peak balls, and really random Aliexpress balls.
Been drinking the 2015 Hai Lang Hao “You Le” Old Arbor Raw today & really enjoying it
Interesting as its an assamica varietal.. I’ve quite liked a few of those before.
I’m spending tomorrow with the ’05 :)
yeah the 05 is small/mid size leaf which is really interesting. I loved the 05; it’s a fantastic brew.
Oh no! I just realised the’05 was the first tea I tried, and I lost my notes, was doing them in the browser.. (for some reason I didnt do them vertically, started just choosing ones at random, a bit amateur mistake in hondsight) All I remembered in the morning were honey notes came out.
I know I preferred the 2015 though, I remember the feeling and this one just worked really well, but as day-to-day taste can be different I should have really done vertical.
One thing I have learnt is that sheng can be really difficult for me to pick out the flavour I am tasting. Theres a real melding of flavours on some of these
I blew through these pretty dang quick…
If anyone wants to go into overtime with me I have stuff from taobao, just pm me.
One of the nice things about group buys is potential future splits :)
If anyone is looking at the Tea Urchin cakes, I’d be up for some of that depending on when you’re looking to order; don’t forget, there are over 30 people in this who may hold a key to unlocking that half cake you want to buy because a full cake it too much commitment.
The 2015 You Le’ is also one I will be watching. Verdant is sold out so no need to remark. The purple variation was a bit funky for me. Silver Needle didn’t taste special. Only the Ban Papysi was enjoyable and at the price there is no need to split. The two Crimson Lotus teas were wonderfully light and crisp; however I like their more reserved stuff which sold out last time like Midas Touch, so here’s to being quick on 2016 sales!
Anyways, I was asked how the 2017 Sheng Olympics will be configured. For now, I think there is still so much out there that I won’t initiate a survey. I already know some of what will be included. Those sheng include: Bang Dong comparison, 80’s loose mao cha, W2T bamboo, and Changtai memorial cakes comparison.
Hoping to get to read more remarks and see some discussions that spark questions and lead to learning!
Wishing the best to everyone on their journey; don’t feel rushed, there’s enough here to enjoy a new sheng for hours for the next two weeks at least.
Andrew
I bought zero. Just saying, it has been fun to watch the stock diminish.
I don’t buy full cakes because I don’t store tea longer than three mknths;with the exception of oolong. Anything that old is sent to friends as a gift or sold super cheap.
If anyone is purchasing from Tea Urchin, let me know. I’ve been wanting some oolongs (and maybe sheng) from them but the $20 shipping is holding me back. I’d be happy to split shipping with anyone.
^ I would gladly put my April monies to some of that of anyone wants to extend credit to me during such a split :p
I would be interested in a group buy. I’ve been in the same boat as Cookies, wanting to buy but not enough to pass the $20 hurdle.
Should I just buy all three 2011 Bang Wei and call it the after party and configure the admission price :P
I have $2 per day for my tea budget so I’ll have $60 to put towards this from my April budget. I have 5 cakes I’m eyeying. The best way is for everyone who is interested to let us know and someone to host it all. I have the supplies and stuff, but I do not have the upfront funds this time.
I could probably host it. I do have some stuff that I plan on ordering a whole cake of.
2011 Bang Wei
2011 Four Peaks
2011 Jin Gu
I could split a portion of these, 25% or so if anyone one else wanted them. I would just ask to keep the wrappers. I had a couple of samples I wanted as well.
LP let me know how to proceed if you need me to. I can get the order and have it shipped to you for the distribution.
I’d be up for splitting the 2014 bulang beauty spring, that sounded well up my street. – I’d be in on some four peaks as well.
(or going in on others, i’ll try to think of a budget to add to the pool, if it will work that way)
Im interested because the 2014 rui gong had oolong characteristics & LP mentioned at first he tasted dan cong in the bulang.
I want to investigate these types of sheng, I dont know anything about how or why this flavour & aroma exists in some and not others.
I want an entire cake of the 2013 Peacock (but would be willing to share samples) and at least half a cake of the 2013 Bao Tang (will buy it all if no one wants to share). I’d be willing to go in for shares of other teas as well, but probably not more than 1/4 cake.
@MrMopar: I’d love to take 1/4 of the 2011 Jin gu.
Depending on how the buy goes, I might want a couple of samples as well.
I am good with that Dr Jim. Peacock is a good one. I think the Gao Shan Zhai is coming a bit better. I just re tasted them last week.
I can split a Bao Tang with you as well. I will do a half on that as well.
Super. I got samples of both about a year ago and have been wanting to order but $20 S&H on an $80 order just felt wrong. Peacock seems like one of the biggest values I’ve seen in Puerh.
That would be great if you’d organize. I’m pretty sure I just want oolongs, but if you need someone to take a 1/4 cake to make an even split let me know. I might be interested if need be.
I’d also be willing to organize if that works, though I’m in Massachusetts, so shipping might be a bit higher on average.
@Rasseru: I’d love to swap. I was thinking of buying a sample of the snake.
Mrmopar and I discussed this a bit and I emailed Tea Urchin for their suggestion on doing this so we shall see what they say and I’ll report back.
you can trust my probably very amateur review. expect something like ‘couldnt place the taste, but it was shengy’ or something
@Everyone, UPDATE!
Tea Urchin said they will split the cakes for us. The best way to go about this is to have everyone receive the entire order, which will already be split into the correct portions thanks to Tea Urchin, and then that person will ship out the teas which will probably be around $6 shipping per person. Looking at Dr Jim and mrmopar, either of you want to volunteer? If not, I am here.
I think the most important thing now is to figure out exactly what will be ordered and get all the money arranged before having TU split the cakes. To keep this thread a little less cluttered, we should probably do so via private messages which I will go ahead and initiate right now for those who have responded here already.
p.s. Tea Urchin is reading the reviews and this thread :)
I am a little limited due to the leg so my Post Office visits are only on Saturdays. I can but it may take a while to get it out.
I wasn’t in the original olympics, but LP was nice enough to sell me some small samples of the crumbs. I had the 2007 Bang Wei yesterday and thought it was real nice…about to dive into the 2011 in about 10 minutes. Thanks you all – I’ve been enjoying reading this thread for sure!
Only possible because 4 people didn’t pay or respond back; as well as me having 2 slots and only needing 1. Those issues will be avoided by using Etsy. Though I’ll always have around 4g of some teas laying around in beat up conditions I can off as the scraps of the party :)
Surprised nobody asked for this!
http://imgur.com/jsQcYAV
As it says, I did misplace and maybe even lose three wrappers :(
Well, I was going to make a dress for Miss Sheng 2017… but, I could probably part with them if you are collecting @mrmopar
Indeed as I am always tearing wrappers around here. I normally turn them inside out and re-wrap with what is left of the original wrapper. But if you are making a dress I would follow up with that.
To be honest, I thought MrMopar had a wrapper collection. Some of the TU wrappers are really beautiful. I should offer to trade some plain wrappers for some of these.
You might find the companies have excess & will give you some. I would certainly print a lot more than actual cake stock for obvious reasons.
The Menghai empty wrappers are in a box named “Wrappers of Dayis gone by.” I thought it was a bit catchy.
I love it
If Liquid Proust had a collection It would have to be called “Remembrance of Beengs Past”
It can be quite hard to recognise genius sometimes, I wouldnt blame them for not noticing it :D
My grand-son just looked at me funny when I said this. Of course he is out of school with me today breaking up some tea to ship out.
Mainly Menghai but we are going to do some small factory stuff today so he can learn the difference between them.
Time for a little check up: So, I know that over $1,000 in purchases with Tea Urchin came about because of this group buy and I was curious if anyone would up to a simple task for the 2017 Sheng Olympics.
This is all out of curiosity to see if I do a good job pairing up: Would anyone be willing to record the stock of the teas from the purchase date to 90 days later? Should be really simple and I should be the one doing it, but I’d love to see others getting involved.
In regards to getting involved: I’m also looking for a few people who would like to throw ideas at me for the next Sheng Olympics. I currently have multiple balls, Bang Dong,and 90’s planned which is a very small start but there is PLENTY of time left to plan things out :)
So anyone who would like to help out, even though it’ll be through LPT, I would really appreciate it as it is important to know what others want to see in the next Sheng Olympics.
Lastly, I am still looking for negative remarks so I can work on improving each time.
putting the weight amounts on the sticker would be useful. Sometimes I dont have scales
The vertical comparison was a neat idea.
I just tried some lovely purple puerh, that would be a good addition, and maybe something that is less stonefruit, like some of the yiwu I have also tried recently.
@t ching, will do!
@Rasseru weights shouldn’t be as hard next time. This time included a lot and a lot of learning experience; my girlfriend wasn’t too happy about the 20+ hours I put in, but I assured her it would be worth it for the future adventures I take on (hoping she will help as well :p). In regards to the material types: I am looking to include some of the Camellia Assamica (white pekoe) variation, but I am looking for comments sch as yours to help guide what I end up using whether that be Old Arbor, Big Snow, or whatever… all while leaving options open for the next year, the year after that, and so forth.
The purple sheng Rasseru is referring is unfortunately sold out a long time ago. At the moment there is another purple sheng cske on the way also from Yunnan Sourcing. I still need to taste it.
As to the YiWu cake he mentioned that is W2T 2015 Bosch which some have already tried. Quite nice indeed.
A vertical scale of the same type of cake sounds great. Besides YiWu I am a big fan of Jingmai from where I have almost complete cakes from the same producer for 2006, 2007, 2007 reserve, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. 2011 got sold out before I could get hold of it, so was 2013 apparently. I believe 2014 and 2015 will be on the way sometime in April.
My suggestion would be to consider a premium group order. Call it the Gushu olympics. Aim for perhaps $50 per person and get some high-end cakes like YQH, Last thoughts, etc. You probably wouldn’t get as many people so might wind up with larger samples per share. You’d probably need to do some market research before going this route – make sure there are enough people interested.
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