pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
OK, you smoke lovers, here is one for you. Got a sample of this from Life in Teacup. They don’t try to say it is a real ban zhang. I pulled this out at random from a box, and Lo and behold, it was another smokey tea like yesterday’s White Whale. It is very much in the same vein as that tea, maybe with a bit less smoke and a bit more wood and mushroom. Very sturdy and held up to a lot of infusions. I didn’t like it, but you smokies probably will!
hi, this is kind of off-topic but you guys/gals are my best bet for this question.
has anyone ever bought a Yixing from Life In Teacup? I’ve been eyeing their pots like crazy recently and was wondering if anyone could vouch for the quality of them. I probably won’t use the pot for Puer, since I drink Yancha more often.
Good quality. I like Origin Tea slightly better, but I’ve bought some decent enough pots from Life in a Teacup! Some interesting teas too.
jschergen: What pots have you bought from there? What about Origin?
Cwyn: I was considering commissioning a piece from Petr, but I want to get a yixing first.
Really? Is that possible? I want one of those burnt ash Binzen/Bizen style teapots, small.
I use the Hui Bun (Vintage Teaware) for Yancha and have been pretty satisfied with its performance, the only complaint (and it isn’t one for me) is the messy pour. If you pour straight down it works great, and it is also an extremely quick pour.
I’ve also purchased a couple small, cheap Chaozhou pots from them. Everything has been decent for the money.
Origin Tea, I’ve bought four pots and use them for pu’erh and aged oolongs. I don’t think any of them are available any longer but have been very satisfied as well!
Both vendors have great customer service, so I’d highly recommend shooting them an email and I’m sure they’d give you a solid Yancha pairing.
I was going to buy the Little Bun for Yancha! Sounds like a good pot for me.
I’ve been looking at Origin’s selection, none of the current pots appeal to me that much. I’ll have to check when they put up the rest of the pots.
http://www.origintea.net/teaware/early-90s-yixing-qsn-doucai-xi-shi-85ml http://www.origintea.net/teaware/early-90s-yixing-hongni-doucai-xishi-80ml
These were the two I liked. I like the bun better though, it just appeals to me visually.
I love the Little Bun, so cute! Did an EBay search, I can find Bizen ware there. I also had bought a Celedon crackle travel set from a new EBay seller in China who really wants to build up positive feedback and get their business going. Asked the seller to find me a pot under 90 ml, they are going to try.
As long as you are OK with a less than perfect pour I think the Hui Bun would suit you well. The pour is an issue also relevant for Origin Tea’s pots.
Those Origin Tea pots are decent enough pots but in my uneducated guess, I’d suspect the Bun might be better for Yancha!
It is all tradeoffs. If you want something handmade and old, then a “dripless pour” is very difficult to find and ridiculously expensive. You can get dripless pours from modern pots but the clay is not the same as the older stuff.
Imperfect pours and dripping can be largely mitigated by using suitable pouring techniques.
A good read: http://www.marshaln.com/2014/01/things-that-matter-things-that-dont/
Personally speaking, I prefer the older stuff.
Just realized that you’re THE JAMES FROM TEADB. What else would you recommend in terms of Yixing dealers?
Also, is the Hui Bun the same pot as the Little Bun? Just making sure we’re on the same page here. Thanks
Sampletea has an excellent selection of teapots. They have both modern and older teapots. I bought one from them not too long ago for yancha… really happy with it.
The two vendors you mentioned would probably be my first choice, especially if you are US-based.
And yup, Hui Bun = Little Bun. I did manage to get it on one of Life in a Teacup’s flash sales so I didn’t pay quite as much as the asking price now. We used that little pot in a couple Yancha episodes if you want to take a closer look at it.
I think the two you mentioned would be my first choices. Others people have been satisfied with: Jing Tea Shop, Sample Tea, Chinese Tea Shop. Essence of Tea also has decent pots but I think they are too expensive given the other options.
Yes it is me :). I hardly deserve such attention. Just a couple guys with a website.
Sir James of Teadb does deserve such attention. There is an old pot I want to buy mainly out of curiosity, and because the old pots have mojo. And I am also a big fan of Swedish mid century modern, like Stig Lindberg and Gunnar Nylund, the Rorstrand potters. But otherwise I am perfectly happy with a new pot.
You’re right, you don’t deserve attention like that – you deserve more. Your articles have helped me learn so much over the past couple of months. I’ve never been steered wrong by a recommendation (Origin Tea, Jing Tea Shop) and you guys put out quality consistently.
I was mentioning this book to another Steepster member with a strong interest in puerh and I thought I would go ahead and share it with all just in case others are not aware of it. I’ve not read all of it yet but I really appreciate the depth of knowledge revealed.
Puer Tea: Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic (Culture, Place, and Nature)
http://www.amazon.com/Puer-Tea-Caravans-Anthropology-Environment/dp/0295993235/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405969847&sr=1-1&keywords=ancient+caravans+and+urban+chic
Sorry if I am repeating something already mentioned here but I became aware of the book through another tea discussion board and I do not recall seeing it mentioned on Steepster.
If apt’s comment is correct (no reason not to believe it), I owe you a thank you for my efforts to accumulate knowledge have been enhanced by the videos. So thank you!
OK pu-people, is t weird that I ordered this????:
Has anyone tried this? I thought I would try it for travel…
I’m not either mrm. And Cwyn is right – I pasted the description for the raw – but it describes ripe. They sell both and these are in the green foil wrap for the raw. They are tiny. Unwrapped one and it’s this hard, shiny little square pellet.
2009 Mengku Jade Dew sheng, sample provided by Mandala Tea. All I can say is Bravo for the spectacular aging of this particular cake. Bought two cakes immediately and feel I like I stole them for what little Mandala is charging for 400 g’s. What shines here is what excellent storage can really do, over and above the cake. I need some pu-forum hounds to clear up a teensy, weensy dating confusion I put in my note for this cake. Thanks!
2006 Special Dark pu’erh from Mandala has become a daily tea for me. The wet leaves make me think of decaying leaves on moist, rich dirt in late Autumn. It has a deep flavor and a lower viscosity, for a shou, but this tea is most certainly more for the experience. I can sip this tea and meditate after work as it warms me up from one cup to the next.
2012 YS Qiu Yun Wild Arbor Sheng
I’ve been enjoying this tea all day. This is a very fine sheng for everyday drinking. At $17/ for a 250g cake, it is fairly priced for wild arbor YiWu leaf. Quite young for a sheng but amazingly smooth and sweet.
The cake has light compression making it very easy to pick off the dark dry leaf. A fairly high number of stem pieces found so I wasn’t too sure about this one at the start of the session. The tea soup is a very light gold color and appears clean and clear in the cup. Sweet fruit aroma from the wet leaf. The taste is smooth with only the slightest bite of astringency. There is definitely the sweetness of raisins and stone fruit. Smooth mouth feel and a nice Qi. In later steeps there are the beginning notes of tobacco.
Frankly, if I had tasted this one blind, I would assume that it was at least five years old (not two). I’ll drink this cake now and I just picked up another one for aging because I am really curious to try it in 5-7 years. I’m a big fan!!
I think I have two of those aging. I found it a little boring when I drank it a few months ago… hoping it ages into something a bit more exciting lol. Have you tried it lately MrMopar?
2012 YUNNAN SOURCING “SHANG CHUN” RAW
This tea is quite likeable. It has a nice flavor, some sweetness, a nice bit of astringency and even some huigan, but was still easy to drink at this young age. It could be just a little stronger, but it’s not too bad at all. It held up fairly well to a number of infusions. Stimulation factor: medium. It’s a nice blend, I think it might age like a good Dayi. I am going to order a cake.
1999 Kunming Factory Dry Stored Red in Red
it’s great I love it
it’s my only sheng as well
I like that tea too. After having alot of tea stored too dry (Kunming) that tea makes a great contrast!
White2Tea’s 1998 Dry-Stored Yiwu is another great example of dry storage and is probably better than that tea.
It is on the pricy end of things though :(.
yeah i was eyeing that a lot…i’m on a budget though. all i can do is cross my fingers and hope he throws a sample in with my order.
by the way James i’ve been meaning to ask you…what teas are in that last Origin Tea order picture? does he even stock that much tea?
Oh man. So much stuff. Alot of it was private stash type stuff (mainly aged oolongs and a little traditionally stored pu’erh). I was also able to buy a bunch of his stray samples, which are the random packets in the photo. Stuff that was on the site: his 2014 Taiwanese oolong lineup, some yancha, and the mid 1990s Red Mark.
In the case of Origin, I at least put my wallet where my mouth was!
wow! what aged oolongs?
i’m starting a blog soon which will focus on aged oolongs so I’ve been very interested in them. I’ve already acquired a couple “private stash” aged oolongs. there are a ton of them out there.
Yeah. I think aged oolongs are one of the more interesting genres of teas. Most of the stuff I’ve acquired in any sort of quantity are Taiwanese oolongs from presumably Taiwanese storage.
There’s some stuff floating around behind the scenes. It makes sense given that aged oolongs lack the labels/wrappers of pu’erhs (and alot of the resale value) and are mainly modestly sized batches.
The blog sounds interesting, good luck!
aged oolongs also lack the fame of puerh. 3/4 of the aged oolongs I’m going to write about at first are Taiwanese. one is a great quality one that my friend bought from a Taiwanese puerh shop. The roasting is barely noticeable and gives way to a nice aged taste. The second is an aged Baozhong, unroasted, from the late 80s, which is still in the mail. the third was given to me from the personal stash of an online shop that specializes in Taiwanese Oolong, a 1954 oolong of some sort that was reroasted often. Haven’t tried that yet.
I like aged oolongs because they can have much of the same flavor as puerh and are MUCH cheaper.
Cool. The unroasted stuff is quite a bit more interesting in my experience than the roasted and aged oolongs. The roasting must be done very precisely over the years to not damage the original character.
Agree on them being cheaper. The other thing that really intrigues me is the possibility of aging oolongs in the west where our cold and dry climate can be used to our advantage.
Do you have any specific recommendations? I saw your aged oolong article, it wasn’t much help to me as I don’t plan on ordering from CS. I was thinking maybe Floating Leaves.
I haven’t tried them but I’d check out the two aged oolongs from Tea Urchin. They’re expensive but I’ve heard positive stuff about them. Other then that, I’d email alot of the Taiwanese-specialized vendors. I suspect at least a few of them have private-stash/off-the-shelf stuff that they don’t sell on their web storefront.
Haven’t tried the aged oolongs at Floating Leaves or heard much of anything about them. I’ve been meaning to stop by her shop, I’ll let you know if I do. There’s also J-Tea, their 1979 Oriental Beauty was pretty interesting. I’m doing another tea of the month report in September on aged oolongs, will hopefully have more to report then.
Would you want to exchange samples or something? I saw the ones at tea urchin, I emailed them about samples of it and never heard back.
Drinking some Da Xue Shan 2011 Spring from Tea Urchin. I’ve really enjoyed this one. I like this type of tea for calming down, it has a honeyed sweetness and mellow floral tones with a medium body. Some astringency is present after the 3rd or 4th but it isn’t aggressive to the palate. There’s also some faint tobacco notes, but it is usually far in the background.
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