2018 Xiaguan/Dayi/Changtai... Sign-Ups towards last pages. Going down February 2018

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Dr Jim said

I got my box today. I’m a happy man.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGztC-9JnW9/

Hoálatha said

Cake!!

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Who has finished any of the cakes from this buy?

I’m getting down to the end of the Mengku Spring Tips. I broke up the last 100g or so a couple of weeks back, and am having some this AM.

I have maybe 30% of the Haiwan cake still intact and am thinking about leaving it that way for a couple of years. Not sure what is my status with the Changtai Yiwu, maybe half the cake.

Dr Jim said

I’ve only drunk about 50 grams out of the 1500 that I bought. I’m a hoarder. Sounds like we bought different teas anyway.

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So… I want thinking about doing a pretty large TB order with my tax return… would anyone be interested?

I so much more knowledge when it comes to Taobao/Tmal/others now. It’s things like the 2013 Love Forever XG and Yang Pin Hao Glee tuo to start with. Not to mention Chen Sheng Hao’s TB site that has some nice gems.

I know when I did this order I didn’t have the experience that I do now.

and for those who are just seeing this like ‘what the heck is this’… well it was a group buy resulting in https://www.instagram.com/p/BGc6y16RYAy/

Still have little to no feedback as to how the this went for everyone thus far now that it has been some time

Dr Jim said

I went back and looked at my tasting notes. I liked the Lo Man E and the Wuyi. Everything else was basically daily drinkers, and I have too much of that already. Still, for the quality of the tea I thought it was great value. I’m ambivalent about whether I would do it again, since part of the problem with Taobao is that the teas are totally unfamiliar to me, whereas shops like Tea Urchin and W2T have recognizable styles. Knowing myself, I’d probably find myself doing it again. You have a good track record with me overall.

Ken said

Id be interested in a tabao buy in. I really liked the 7542. And the las vegas tea group gets bigger and bigger every week. And Im still getting the hang of trying to do tabao myself.

Could be.

I’ve drunk most of the stuff we got in the go-around that started this thread. I thought the deals we got then were pretty good: the tea was not super-special, but then I was buying for daily consumption.

I’d be really interested in some Dayi 8542, 2007 or earlier, if it could be at a reasonable price. Say $60/bing, after agent gouging & shipping.

Not so interested in $10/bing stuff, but there were a couple of cakes that we got for a steal last time (the Haiwan “deep mountain gushu” and the Changtai Yiwu). If you think you can smell out any more deals like that I’d be down for it.

Not sure how much I’d want of $200+/bing tea.

I’ll see what the interest looks like… but let me just say this

@ Dr Jim, I am highly confident in saying that I have a much better ability to pick up gems from TB. I’ve spent the last year sampling from some higher end places. I actually have an Excel sheet that breaks things down because I’ve watched some trends with Dayi and I want to try and predict stuff on my own since I’m learning all this stuff for my MBA; all info for me, I have no expectation to place it anywhere.

@ Ken, with Dayi I would probably be looking at stuff like the 2016 Bada or 2017 Under the Stars. Sadly the 1701 is still over $200 a cake so that isn’t happening. But I would be glad to help out : )

@ aardvarkcheeselog Last time was the first time I did something like this so sticking to the cheaper stuff made most sense. I will say that the 2007 Mengku for $14 (total cost with fees and shipping) was a steal. There were a few that were eh, but again… I was comparing them to other stuff that probably wasn’t fair to do. I like how you made a suggestion, that will probably be the best way to gauge what I do. The one issue I would have is make sure that I am not providing stuff that other shops have curated into their shops; I would feel a bit odd doing this.

nishnek said

I’d be interested if you did this again. Of the last run, I really liked the Lao Man E as well and the Mengku was indeed very solid at the price point. The rest do not stick out in my memory, so I might have to go through my stash to try them again, heh.

The other specific thing I could suggest would be some Changtai Yiwu, of which they seem to have made a lot of different grades/varieties/flavors in the early 200x timeframe, which is what I’m most interested in.

I’ve got my eye on quite a bit of stuff. If we all brainstorm I can start to build a template for what people want and price limits.

I know for sure I’ll be looking at the 2013 Love Forever from XG and the Chen Sheng Hao mini products. That’s just the very beginning of it all :)

Glad I have a few who are interested. I assure you all, this next run will be epic. I will caution that I’m going to try and make sure none of these are currently being sold in the Western market and if they are I will make sure I’m not damaging anyone’s potential business. As far as I’ve seen, Xiaguan cakes only have maybe a fifth of their products offered to us here; in 2016 they released a cake that took material from 2800 meters up from old trees then aged the maocha prior to pressing… going to scope that one out too.

A Google Docs may help. I’ll keep brainstorming.

Sqt said

Mini cakes! Ordered some right after that conversation :)

Finding good stuff on taobao takes some effort, so I appreciate the work you are offering to put into this.

Chris said

I would almost certainly be interested in participating in this :)

Ken said

Of course im interested, I have a growing tea club to feed!

Myraan said

I would love to participate aswell!

mrmopar said

I am in for the 2 XG’s we spoke about as well as the Love Forever cake.

AllanK said

I’d be interested to see what the cost of this is. If I have the money I may be interested.

It’s been a really good year with my promotion at work so since I am looking to do a serious haul next year, I went ahead and did a silly order and I have samples from multiple stores on TB on the way. Imagine how many samples I’m about to run through with $120 worth from TB! For those who have had something recommended from me or have had any of the sheng stuff I’ve dealt with… you kind of know what I’ll be looking for within the session.

I could potentially make 1 package of samples if someone wanted to go along the crazy journey with me.

Me!?

@ a bad pasty
Let me know if you want to help with the cost and have time to go through them. It wouldn’t be much because some of the cost is 50g of old growth trees in YiBang that this one family picks yearly and I was given their direct contact from somebody ‘well’ known in the community… I suppose that means that this isn’t 100% TB but it’ll be great stuff : )
Still waiting on the rest of stuff coming in, but it would take me a little bit to create a cheat sheet notecard for the stuff and all

p.s. excited about the samples from dc-tea.taobao.com

Yes and yes! Just let me know when you have a total and I’ll paypall asap.

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Malcolm95 said

Hey @ Liquid Proust, sent you a message on instagram. Might be interested with more information, please keep me in the loop. :)

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I should have some aged YangPingHao and young Vesper Chan cakes coming in that were $40 to $60 a whole cake so I bought full cakes instead of samples. If anyone is curious on tasting it would be expected that you’re doing so to help the group find out the best value. Please just drop a comment here… I kind of pulled the trigger when I saw the prices on 11.11 for these cakes…

p.s. Xiaguan Naka is a 100% happening for this order too… other than that a bad pasty and I will be putting some samples to the test so it won’t just be me :)
Also in discussion with some folks about some hidden gems.
I really think this will be more epic than last year.

Below is a public video of me opening up the box from last year, forgot to post this here
https://www.facebook.com/andrewmr1/videos/vb.714617360/10153649846462361/?type=3

p.s. Dr Jim and I will work on a spreadsheet with the cakes available based on what is chosen and people can pick what they want and all. Not doing more than 7 of any given cake.
p.p.s I’m still unsure if I will do the 2013 Love Forever from XG because I don’t want it to get awkward with shops since they are selling them… I will think through this.

Forgot a new thread…
Liquid Proust
Dr Jim
Ken
aardvarkcheeselog
nishnek
Chris
Myraan
AllanK
mrmopar
Malcolm95
Matu
meowster
sqt

Matu said

Potentially interested as well, good sir.

Dr Jim said

If you let me know in more detail what you’re looking for I can put the spreadsheet together on Google Sheets and we can all access it.

mrmopar said

You know I am in.

Dr Jim I shall : ) I’m in week 7 or 8 for my quantitative analysis class so give me a few weeks and we can build it up!
Might even be a good thing to put comments/remarks from myself and a bad pasty on the ones we chose too. There’s some great potential here and I’m really excited.

Dr Jim said

Sounds good. I’ve put in the names on the list above and added two columns for comments. The trick to the comments is to read it in the input box but only a small portion will show in the spreadsheet. This saves space and makes for easier reading.

nishnek, Chris, Myraan, Malcolm95: Please follow me. When everyone is following me I’ll send out access to the spreadsheet. Then Liquid Proust can add teas as he wants and he and a bad patsy can add tasting notes. Eventually we can use the spreadsheet to place orders.

meowster said

interested

Sqt said

Interested.

Already following you Dr Jim.

Let me just point out… in like 26 hours or whatever… Dayi will be having a sale on the 2017 8582. Seven cakes will drop to 899 Yuan.
https://detail.tmall.com//item.htm?spm=a1z10.1-b-s.w5003-17490997219.9.11964c75hORagm&id=559309777854&scene=taobao_shop
This means it wouldn’t be an issue getting these for $25 each and holding onto them until I put the whole list together for the larger packages. This would be an investment piece you know? Not a significant amount of money, but there’s a solid trend for Dayi’s aged market and quality of their blends…
Now I have to decide if I pull the trigger or not… because come February this will not be the price :p
p.s. this is Dayi’s TMall and storage with me for 2-3 months would do little to nothing

p.p.s. I wish I had my tax return now… look at what a deal this will be!!! https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a220o.1000855.1998025129.1.d4823ccn3rteU&abtest=AB-LR32-PR32&pvid=e4706ed8-3916-4ff7-a130-48eec13f4d2a&pos=1&abbucket=AB-M32B12&acm=03054.1003.1.2431317&id=560167733859&scm=1007.12144.81309.238640
(you got to copy and paste that)

Malcolm95 said

Could always just make it an extra big haul if the deals are good.
If you needed some help i’m sure some of us could send you an advance on the order.

Were you planning on waiting for February to see the lunar new year sales?

I am going to pick up the 7542’s just because I don’t want to stretch out my money tooooo much.

@Malcolm95 I’ll do this every two years for a ‘tax return’ gift to myself :p
It just seems to be time apart from sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday but also before new stuff drugs for Spring production

mrmopar said

Good pricing on both of them. Doing any of the other stuff?

I did what I was comfortable with :)
When Dr Jim and I figure out the spreadsheet there will be potential for people to pay up front for some of this stuff which will open up the ability for me to offer the stuff that a bad pasty and I will be sampling; those teas are a bit more risky or higher end.

I have plenty of cross referenced research invested in this project and I am really confident in my selections. I found a 2013 cake that cost $34 since last year and kept it in my bookmarks and it dropped to $7.27 (pre shipping/ fee) so that was an easy buy. I also picked up some dry stored 2005 Jinngu/Banzhang blend for under $10 a cake as the whole tong price was really appealing; shipping on this will be a bit higher but it’ll still work out for what I guess will be less than $20 a cake and it’s from the factories official tmall!

edit I will also say that this stuff is going to go FAST when the spreadsheet goes up. I kept cakes to a single tong or 4 to 5 of any given cake.

p.s. I made absolutely no personal purchases today so the shipping rate is not in favor of me but everyone splitting. I thought about it… but considering I bought stuff I myself want as well, I’m going to be quite happy.

mrmopar said

I am in when the spreadsheet comes out….drooling….

I’m going to have to make rules because I know when you all see the price of the 2012 Spring of Menghai from Dayi… someone is going to try and pick them all up :p

mrmopar said

I got one but would like a China stored one to compare.

Once I get chris to follow me back I will send the link to everyone. I will include some instructions for those who haven’t done this kind of thing before… really excited. There’s 58 cakes just on the 12.12 order I placed, I’m not sure if one box will work… let’s see, this shall be interesting!

Malcolm95 said

Is this gonna be another Snoozefest where i have to stay up till midnight to make sure i get a cake, lol. :)

WHat is that 2nd one at ¥ 1469.00/tong?

mrmopar said

@aardvarkcheeselog 2017 Menghai Wei Zui Yan or literally Strongest Taste.

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Ken said

Im so excited to try this!

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t-curious said

I’m not 100% sure I’ll be able to participate due to funds but please include me. —Thanks!

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One of the shops was offering a Banzhang/Jinngu blended raw from 2005 for $120 for 7 cakes but it sold out quickly because they listed only 3… got a refund though :/
Was super excited for the price, oh well it’s all learning : )

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Potentially taking 1 or 2 more if you want to join. Would require a 5 minute phone call to catch you up to speed.

This is going to be absolutely insane :)

bebop0812 said

Do you still have a spot open?

There is some room, but you would need to give me like 10-15 minutes to go over everything that has been discussed. Phone call, Skype, or Facebook… just let me know : )

Inkay said

Dang, I could have sworn I’d left a note to participate in this but apparently I didn’t. Interested if there is any more room, if not, no worries!

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Been reading up on the recent new releasing that will be coming out as well as looking through some deals. Xiaguan is about to drop an 8 year BangDong, and then the following have my eyes on them: Octagon Pavilion, Yushuwan, Caicheng, Dian Cha, Douji, Haiwan, ect… I’m pretty much the stuff that’s around $.08 to $.15 a gram that has some serious potential to age. This run won’t be anything like the others, more or less, looking for people to sample through them and then discuss our findings; however, the BangDong cakes, when they are released, will be full cake purchases for sure.

obritten said

I’m down to help out with this LP

tperez said

What’s the price look like on the 8 year Bang Dong? I might be interested.

mrmopar said

I’m in.

@tperez unknown, Xiaguan released information that says the age of the material and that it was pressed in June 2018 and that it will be released soon. Depending on the price in the very beginning I may pick up 28 cakes so no worries. I should have done this with their Naka and Banzhang/LaoManE blended cakes… but I acted a little to slow.

I’m not sure about buying samples, but could go for an XG premium cake at a reasonable price.

obritten said

Have u seen the price on the new XG LBZ?

$1,300 usd. I was doing some IG videos of new releases for fun. Haiwan has the game down well! I just bought 25 cakes… not saying much more now, but I have the hookup for you all.

mrmopar said

And only 5000 of the XG LBZ made. I see a quick price increase on that one.

I generally skip even looking at anything that calls itself “LBZ.” Anything I can afford is pretty much bound to be disappointing, AFAICT. When I say “premium cake” I basically mean “not one of the numbered recipes.”

The madness begins. I picked up 10 cakes of something I won’t talk about in the open, but I will say it’s a 2001 to 2005 blended cake that’s special. That being said, I am going to open 8 spots total. Samples will only be through four places now that are higher end, not messing around with anything that could be underpriced just due to time and opportunity cost for now. A few of the cakes I purchased are in presale status and not yet pressed so this won’t be until August time anyways. Still waiting on the XG Bangdong cakes, was going to get some 2018 CNNP YiBang but it’s claimed to be ‘gushu’ and cost 2600yuan:/. If there’s less than 8 people here by August I’ll gather interest on IG at that point.

in: Ganesh , obritten, tperez, mrmopar, aardvarkcheeselog
backups, in case someone passes up on a cake:

Price was released on the 8 year bangdong frim xg. Add in fees and shipping to get stateside I am going to guess right around $39 to $43 based on my experience. Interest doesnt seem too high right now so I may only grab a few for the moment being.

edit my original calculation didn’t take into consideration the actual exchange rate or fees to get it to the US

Ordered the XG Bang Dong cakes. I’ll probably have 5 or 6 that are unclaimed. Looking to be under $50/cake; I’ll do the math once they arrive.
I also have the 2018 ‘Lao Ban Zhang 88’ from Yizhongxiang Tea Factory. The claim here is that they are using 2005 LBZ material to press these cakes. Not going to make any comments on what is being said about this, but I will say that I won’t sell any until I confirm the taste is there and that’ll be soon. I believe I have 6 of these and they’ll be $75/cake (357g)
Other than that, I do have a TON of samples coming in from all over and it would be great to get someone who would enjoy going through quite a few to try these out.

I am also looking to do a private shou run on the Xiaguan Jingmai Gushu from 2017 because it’s the first ripe that really just resonated with me in quite some time. These are around $90 to $110 right now, but I need to figure out how I’ll go about this, just seeing if there’s any interest.

VoirenTea said

I’m in: interested in the samples, the Bang Dong, and the LBZ (pending your taste check!). Interested in tasting something LBZ-ish rather than caring too much about the definitive origin.

Ken said

Im very interested

The Xiaguan cakes are on the way. I have 14 coming. Price break down is now known. Each cake will be $45 plus shipping to you. I thought I would get them a bit lower, but this price is still good.

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