Rasseru said

How much does Puerh change in price?

I know its a bit like asking how long a piece of strong is, but just as a rough guide or or some examples?

like I can see different years of the golden needle white lotus and how much they go up, but things like the sheng that LP just reviewed, its now $140, how much did that start as? and is the price relative to how many are left or the age or any other factors?

54 Replies

The current market trend for puerh in China is about +15% yearly. :-)

But note that what you are paying for is storage. If a retailer is storing their stuff improperly, there’s absolutely no reason for them to increase the price, and in fact it should go down in bad storage.

Rasseru said

interesting, thanks

With most the vendors I buy from, I’ve observed around 15 to 25% like WP said. More respect when the seller warns everyone about the price increase so we can go buy before hand.

I know one seller that doubles their pu price each year, that’s freaking crazy.

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AllanK said

Puerh will go up in price by as much money as the vendor thinks he can get for it generally speaking. Higher quality tea will of course be the tea that really increases in price. Something like the 2010 Golden Needle White Lotus I got for $65 about two years ago. If you find someone selling it now, probably $100 to $120. That’s if you can even find it for sale. I don’t know of anyone selling that year’s tea at all. You can still get the 2008 year on Aliexpress or EBay. You pay more on EBay than Aliexpress.

Rasseru said

wow ok, so it has doubled over two years, this is because its famous and also if you cant find any for sale it must have been sold out?

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with my knoladge, puerh can differ in price because of:

A. age

B. number of cakes tuo’s ect. made

C. company.

D. recipe.

E. quality.

F. ratings and fame of tea name, recipe, company name ect.

G. gram amount

this is what i know and understand

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Rasseru said

Yeah they are two completely different teas though, I meant the same sheng

i would assume then for one type of sheng alone age and quantity is a factor

AllanK said

It is not always true that more expensive is automatically better tea. Sometimes a tea will go up in value far more than it is worth. I remember Yunnan Sourcing put up an Instagram post on what they were drinking. When I asked if they would be selling it he said they were long out of stock and the one seller who had it was charging more than $500 for it. It was tea that was maybe worth $40 when new. But because no one had it it became pricy.

that seems over priced! :( scott the owner of ys should only be drinking the teas he sells instead of teasing us :/

allank, what was the year of the 500$ one?

AllanK said

I don’t remember but it was not especially old.

the price was a rip off then

AllanK said

Much in the way of older puerh isn’t better tea. It is just older and they rip you off. This is the nature of most older tea that is still around. The stuff that was better is mostly gone. The stuff that is left is not as good but still more expensive. Very little in the way of older tea was spectacular tea in it’s youth. They charge more money anyway.

AllanK said

A good example of this is a 1995 Menghai Tea Factory product sold by purepuer.com. It is sold for $1300. It is not gushu. It is most likely plantation tea. It was not a special blend. It is just old so they are getting a fortune for it. I’d provide the link but their page isn’t working right now.

i understand ya

AllanK said

And the older stuff that is truly better is mostly in the hands of private collectors who if they will sell it want real money for it. A possible exception to this is Yangqinghao tea which are not in my understanding in the hands of a private collector although I could be wrong about that. They are older teas that are more expensive but considered higher quality.

interesting

are there any shengs that dont have a lovely honey/spices taste?

mrmopar said

i cry scam on that cake

AllanK said

Mr Mopar that’s the one I was talking about but at the time I couldn’t get the link to load. It is not incredibly higher quality puerh, just incredibly higher price. It was no better in quality than a $50 Menghai Tea Factory raw puerh made today is. But because it’s twenty years old they get a ridiculous price.

AllanK said

I think purepuer takes the attitude that if their teas take forever to sell that’s ok. They have some very good teas but some of them are just overpriced.

Wow :O

AllanK said

It’s questionable if Lao Ban Zhang is worth what they charge for it. On the lower end of the spectrum you are talking a few hundred a cake on the higher end thousands. I have samples some genuine LBZ and it was very good, I’m just not convinced it’s worth some of the prices. King Tea on Aliexpress has some LBZ that is in the three and four thousand dollar range and that is not for old puerh by any stretch of the imagination.

do they think people are stupid enough to pay over 1k for a tea?

AllanK said

There are collectors who will pay that price. That is why someone like King Tea on Aliexpress will list LBZ at $3000 or $4000. There are people who have the money and will pay the price. These are mostly not people in America but collectors in places like Hong Kong etc.

i hate that idea! makes me mad

AllanK said

There are people out there for whom money is not a factor. Just think about it would someone with Donald Trump’s money care how much he spent on tea. It would be nothing to him. The people who would spend that amount it is nothing to them.

a great way to go into debt

Ginkosan said

I agree with this sentiment… Yunnan Sourcing sells several cakes that are imho superior to the HLH LBZ, eg Da Si, San Ke Shu, Bang Dong.

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Here are some things that can make the price spike, there are probably more:
1. The tea’s growing region gets discovered
2. Someone famous talks about the tea
3. The tea turns a corner, say from youngish to agedish
4. The tea’s quality increases dramatically, perhaps due to loosing a masking quality (smoke, wetness, fermentation flavor, ect.) or due to coming out of slumber
4. The tea is a limited production (most Western vendor house cakes qualify) and the stock has gotten low. Big productions turn into limited productions over time.
5. The tea’s vendor gets around to adjusting prices and makes a correction
6. People speculate on tea, in one form or another

you sir are more knowledgeable than i :D

Rasseru said

7. liquid proust goes apeshit on steepster

lol!

AllanK said

Sometimes the seller just irrationally raises prices like I just noticed purepuer did on some expensive shou. It was already overpriced now it’s ridiculous.

that’s sad

AllanK said

Yes I wanted to buy it too but it went up in price by $100 for a 1kg brick. It may be good shou but is not worth the price the seller wants for it. What no seller will admit is that their puerh just isn’t worth what they are charging in these cases. I personally wonder if the Yangqinghao teas are worth the price and I bought a couple of them. I drank them and am still not convinced they were worth the price. This older is more valuable crap has permeated the puerh industry. And it’s not always true.

mrmopar said

Well said a bad pasty. Speculation has a lot and the areas sourced having more traffic as well. If the farmers know the producers are getting more then they want more. A good example Lao Ban Zhang it is like 100 times what it used to cost.
Then comes the overpicking and the the quality suffers.

so sad :’(

Rasseru said

Yeah ive tried some LBZ and I liked it but wouldnt pay that much for it. I’ve preferred other teas a lot more

Dr Jim said

If no one buys the tea, the price will eventually fall. The truth is that we all keep looking at the tea and drooling until we get used to the price and eventually buy. I keep track of my purchases, and my average price per ounce has quadrupled in 2 years. It’s still cheap compared to wine, or even eating at McDonald’s.

Heh, I’m not sure I’m really that knowledgeable, Just spend too much time reading forums/blogs/ect. and occasionally something sticks. Fortunately, for every speculated tea, there are some others that have been mostly left alone to be found.

mrmopar said

I like my tea better than McDonald’s for sure. For a few meals there you can get a nice young tea cake to drink in the future.

AllanK said

I can’t eat at McDonald’s even if I want to. I’m on a gluten free diet. Saves me money right there.

AllanK said

It’s not just Chinese websites that try the older is more valuable bit. Misty Peaks is trying to sell the oldest tea he has left for something like $343 when it is only something like four years old but there are only two left. He is willing to wait until someone pays his price. It doesn’t seem to be selling however. I do like Misty Peaks but not at that price. The new tea at $55 with a 15% discount is more what I like.

AllanK said

The other thing about Lao Ban Zhang tea is that because of the value of the tea it is more faked than a Dayi raw bing. More tea is labeled Lao Ban Zhang than the village can possibly produce in a year. Some is labeled that but sold at rock bottom prices so it is an obvious fake but some is sold as a premium. Sometimes I believe Bulang teas specifically are faked as Lao Ban Zhang because people believe they share characteristics.

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Cwyn said

One thing to keep in mind is the price the seller is asking is what they hope it will sell for, NOT what the tea is worth.

This is true of everything, an item is only worth what a buyer will pay.

People look up stuff on EBay or from an online seller and say, “oh it is worth $120.” No, that is what the seller is hoping to get.

Watch the item. Does it sell or does it sit? If it sits, the real value of probably lower. The price point to find is when it actually sells, not when it is listed. Tea is automatically marked up at regular intervals. This is not a “real” value, but a hoped-for value. Prices can and do get corrected all the time when something doesn’t sell. Very often marked on “sale.” Will anyone bite? Some teas are worth watching, some will sell fast, some will sit. The savvy buyer will know which is which.

AllanK said

Yes there was one on purepuer that was going for $450 for a 1kg ripe brick. Now he has raised the price to $550. I was holding off buying it at $450. I seriously doubt it will sell at $550. It was not even that old, only 2009 I think. In an email a while back he told me he had low stock, something like 9 bricks left. I think very few people will be willing to pay that price for a ripe brick.

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DharmaTea said

It’s also worth noting that some vendors mark up their tea before offering a discount “on sale”.

AllanK said

Yes, that practice does happen. Unfortunately, I don’t keep up to date with prices to know who is doing this. I have heard this is done on Aliexpress.

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Aleen said

I do not think EBay or Aliexpress are the right market for buying fine teas or compare marketing price. In China, fine tea collection’s marketing depends on investors, as we know, there is huge tea-drinking marketing in China, fine teas is never short of buyers there. If you are interested in invest Pu’er, best way is to sourcing the correct fine Pu’er cake with high quality and keep it in good storage, otherwise invest value is less.

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