Pubertea Group Buy, Aged Puerh

240 Replies

I just scanned through this thread in case I’d missed something and it seems like not. Is there any information about that zhongcha? My packet says “BTTC” but if I should know that I’m drawing a blank.

Thanks for the info.

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Since I am working overtime tomorrow and Friday, I have to do the 2017 Sheng Olympiad post tonight so I’ll be drinking the 2000 Yai Yuan purple from Essence of Tea.

If anyone wants to Skype/call, let me know and we can drink together : )

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I’m just getting started on drinking these teas. What’s the story with the ‘05 Hong Tai Chang? Where’d you get it, if that’s not secret? Do we know where it was stored?

:)
What a great question. It was an add on and very unique. That particular tea is from Thailand! All done and stored there, so it is its own thing. I find it to taste quite nice and it has aged properties to it that seem older than it is while not being funky.
Look forwars to hearing your thoughts on it.

I googled the name and gathered that it was Thai. I wouldn’t have guessed that it wasn’t from Yunnan. It’s very much like 10-12 y.o. puer, stored someplace not-too-wet but not really dry either. Maybe a bit less green in it than similar-aged Guangdong-stored puers I’ve tried. I’m on the 10th or so steep, and getting a kind of fruity aftertaste similar to one I find sometimes in raw puer and Yunnan green tea, almost like bergamot. It’s decent stuff.

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Matu said

Tried the 2000 Kai Yuan Purple Stamp today! It was good but not great – got a decent bit of sourness for most of the session. Will try the rest of my sample in a gaiwan rather than the Jianshui to see what difference that makes :)

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US people!!! 1 package up for grabs https://www.instagram.com/p/BRKGMXEAIaG/

1 week and then I’m drinking it :)

I’m probably down. How much for the package?

Oh yeah, that’s important: $64

Sold.

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I did this around my birthday last year and as I think about it, I probably will do this again because I wanted to do an aged tea drinking party for my birthday!

So… August 2017 : )
Going to keep this one under the radar a bit because I probably will only have room for 15 people with a higher weight of each tea which also means a decent buy in price. For those interested please let me know; I plan to have a discussion with everyone about a few unique options.

p.s. this is going to be done 100% personal since Liquid Proust Teas is shutting down

Wocket said

I would provisionally like in, once I can hear the details and cost.

Thanks for setting these up!

I’d be interested. I really enjoyed the previous one

Ken said

id be interested once all the details and pricing is posted.

Yes! I trust you LP, I definitely want in.

Matu said

I’m interested, depending on price and everything. Certainly would like to be part of the discussion :)

Sqt said

I’m interested!

jwicked207 said

I’d be interested as well.

Add me to the list, please.

Psyck said

Interested

Awesome. Tonight I will put together a message with everyone so we can discuss a few things.

I already have tea stored in Hong Kong and Malaysia picked out. Going to choose another Thailand because the last one was unique and enjoyable.

Please continue to comment if you want in, I may end up not posting a thread and doing just messages.

Discussion will address price and then the following; Sunsing, Wistaria, YQH, CYH, HLH, EoT… Yeah, this is going to be splendid. Pushing for late 90s raw, but realistically for money as well as quality, it’ll be early 00’s

Dr Jim said

If it isn’t too late, I’d like to join as well.

I’m willing to go to 15 people so no worries:) still room for sure. Tonight I’ll grab everyone in the comments and start a discussion via messages

I’d be happy to give the CYH a miss, TBH. Unless there’s something a little less Xiaguan-ish on offer than that previous one. Everything else, yes.

EDIT: Ignore this, I realized I was thinking of something else.

Alex_fred said

I’d love to be on the list provisionally if you’re not to 15 yet!

Ag select said

Tentatively interested!

nishnek said

Interested, although I’m guessing I might be wait list status at this point, ^^;

Inkay said

Also interested, though I see the list is already quite long!

I’m interested if you have any more spaces available.

Pat-teaJi said

I’m interested too !!! Thanks

ricegeek said

Interested as well, if there’s still space available!

Keep me updated if there’s a spot :)

AllanK said

Saw this a little late but would be interested if there was a spot.

Sending message soon, going to cap here.

Sqt said

Thank you for organizing this :)

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So even though this filled up within 48 hours, which is crazy, I over purchased from Taiwan, Malaysia, and other various areas because I wanted to taste some of the more budget cakes. All of that is to say: If you did not make it in this round and would be up to getting samples of some other older raw puerh please comment below here and I will draft up a message thread in July/August.

The teas that will be included are not bad… the $1,900 budget for tea vanished much quicker than expected and I already had some pretty good offers and ideas. With my personality, I was like ‘you are breaking cakes for the rest of your life man’

Since I have the ability to provide a little something to some more I just have to :)

I’d be down. :)

jwicked207 said

I’m in.

Babble said

I’m interested too

Count me in. Been meaning to join in on this.

AKuMa said

Interested, but not positive I’ll be able to participate. I’ll check back in in July/Aug.

Luke said

too many good guys at US, we need some at EU :)

First cake for this buy with an invite to IG people https://www.instagram.com/p/BUnKykCggkl/
+5 from IG

I set the goal price at $50. Depends on how many people join in. With this one I’ll take the total $ and total grams divided by people signed up. Details will be finalized around the second week of June with this happening in July

Sqt said

Luke: might be worth it anyway. I’m doing both the original buy and the side buy and I’m in Europe too. Shipping isn’t all that bad really.

igo_cha said

In as well.

I would be interested in this too!

2 spots opened up. $40 + shipping. List will be sent in PM. Let me know if you want in

I’ll take a spot

I am interested in a spot and if there is an opening in the original group buy I would be interested as well :)

Had some drop outs… Anyone want in?

I would like to get in if that is possible :)

Babble said

Dropouts in the original or the side? If it’s the original I’m in. I can add it to the side group buy I owe you.

Right now multiple openings on the side… still waiting to hear back on the original, it’s possible though

emory said

I’m also interested in an openings in either the original or side.

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When would the money be owed by exactly? I know I’m back and forth, but I think I could afford it if you’re still accepting people. haha

Do you want me to just hold onto a package>

Yeah, that works! :) Thank you.

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As this gets more and more interest/attention I really want to ask if this is something people would be interested in each year. I was trying, somewhat trying that is, to step away from puerh because it’s a beast that I leave to others to tackle as a job. What I do here has no profit, but it’s also old/rare stuff. Many of the options are bought out by me which is pretty neat, but I figure if I keep going down this path of doing this each year that I will want to invest in upgrading my storage with fans and an electronic controlled atmosphere thing (whatever it would be called) so I can keep data streaming online for others to see. If that happens I would probably take 5% of the total.

Would really like to know the thoughts from everyone here because this was a community engagement and now it might be an ongoing project that I am willing to reinvest into as it provides memorable sessions that sometimes cannot be had again. Please be honest on your thoughts as I may be over looking something; I’m trying to make this not be a business transaction, but it’s hard to do if it continues…

mrmopar said

You need some compensation. I would agree with that. In terms of free samples maybe you need to recoup some postage so you don’t go in a hole as they say.

I think that with the effort and the time that it takes to track down all of this great tea you deserve a fee. I was thinking more around 15-20%. That would allow you to upgrade your equipment and maybe in time be able to grab something great on a moments notice.

@Tony with these being $2000 I think 5% is plenty, I’ll always be upfront and I hope to have a business partner next year too ;)

I really want this to stay community based and provide the same level of value that it does now. Hopefully everyone continues with me when it comes to these crazy adventures!

I’ll help if you need a little backing

Sqt said

I would definitely be up for this every year or even a few times per year. Based on my personal experiences from arranging other community based events, I can tell you that when you aim to break even you almost always end up about 5-10% in the hole because of random expenses here and there. So I personally feel that 5% is too low and maybe 15-20% is more realistic, and I would be perfectly fine with that. The goal being that that you are not in the red at the end of it. When it is announced upfront, people can choose whether to buy in or not.

Dr Jim said

At a minimum, your share should be free. I also agree with Sqt that you always seem to get hit with extra expenses, and/or throw in freebies, so you need to cover that as well. I’d recommend 10% plus a free share. If you feel you’re making too much you can put some into the next year’s batch (or the puerh freebies, or any of the many other things you do for the community).

BTW: I absolutely love your group buys. I know it’s a ton of work but as long as you keep doing them I’ll keep buying them. You find the most interesting teas!

Sqt said

I agree with you about the free share Dr Jim, I was just thinking about framing it differently. In this particular buy a free share would have been about 5%. So I’d just recommend phrasing it as a 15-20% organization cost and leave it at that, because as soon as we start talking about anything “free”, there will doubtless eventually be someone who will make a stink about it.

Babble said

In my opinion you should be able to charge whatever you want without having to disclose specific percentages. Even if you’re taking a 30% cut – who cares? As the buyer, we only REALLY should care about what is this gonna cost me?

If people really wanna make a stink about it, THEY can organize their own group buy and see how much work it is.

AllanK said

I organized a lot simpler of a group buy and it was a lot of work. I can only imagine how much work goes into this one.

Thanks for the input everyone. I talked to my gf about this because one day it would also involve her if I continue.
It seems that some money being made off of this will be important in regards to any unexpected cost, possible samples, and then a small pool of cash flow for the following year as I build up.

For whatever reason, I am just incredibly passionate about people getting to enjoy very rich experiences that are hard to come by… this second Pubertea was a clear reminder to me of what can happen when people come together; CYH, YQH, XZH (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154665567072361&set=gm.1406577952767236) … quite top notch stuff and at least 4 of the cakes are sold out so rather than one person being lucky with it, as a group we get to partake.

So it looks like I’ll continue to network and keep providing this event for those who want to join in. What I am facing now is all these amazing deals that may not be there in a few months if someone else finds outs, but unless I have some weird business partner I need to learn patience.

From here on out it’s just seeing what everyone is wanting to try before it’s too late or what would be really unique… as connections grows and my own knowledgeable expands, maybe some adults (80s/90s) will find their way in with these teens ;)

I really appreciate everyone’s remarks, it truly does help me rethink all of this from multiple perspectives and I think the correct one would come from the perspective of a seller: if I’m willing to pay $xxx why would their margin matter?
Even understanding this, I want to be fair and upfront about everything that goes on.

Sqt said

Liquid Proust: totally agree on “I think the correct one would come from the perspective of a seller: if I’m willing to pay $xxx why would their margin matter?”

Couple of ways you can go about this: a) just give a flat price and don’t explain your margin (b) be totally transparent and go ahead and publish the total cost breakdown after each group buy. I am fine with both though I think (b) could be a very interesting way to grow a community in the long run, as opposed to becoming more of a vendor/dealer.

On a different note, I highly recommend that you require payment within 24 hours of signup or people forfeit their spot to the next in line. This would likely make the logistics of it all a lot easier for you. And you can always give people a heads up a month in advance in case they need time to get their finances in order.

I’m very grateful for what you are doing as it means I get a chance to try some higher end teas without having to spend hundreds on full cakes.

Dr Jim said

@Liquid Proust: You have to realize that you add a lot of value, beyond just splitting the cakes. You have contacts and experience that most of us can’t match. This has more value than you realize and I have no problem paying a premium for this service. I also suspect that in your searches you wind up with more than a few duds. You shouldn’t have to eat the cost of the failures.

Think about all of the “Western facing” retailers in Yunnan. We are certainly paying a premium for their expertise, and do it gladly because otherwise those teas wouldn’t be available. You are pretty much in the same boat.

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