2018 Sheng Olympiad Questions ; edit *sponsors?*
Friends, I am in need of a little feedback here as I continue to work on the ever growing Sheng Olympaid!
Feel free to answer anything I list here with disagreement, suggestion, or excitement.
1, I have decided to cap the event from here on at 100 slots per year. It’s been amazing to watch the puerh community grow and see all the interaction between new friends, but I have learned to not overextend myself.
2, I am somewhat concerned about cost for this event. While it will not be listed until December… as many have known, good tea from 2017 has come at a price. With my standard being that of the 2016 Sheng Olympaid, I must ask if people would find $50.00 for the one time event to be too much money. I know what I generally provide last a decent time, but I’ve always tried to stay under the $30 mark; not possible. Please let me know what you think, personally I’ve thought about getting some testimonies in regards to the last two years and the value that each has provided.
3, In case you didn’t see… I am including a little YQH for every single slot. This is special because it was thought that this cake would no longer be sold but retained for collecting.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX6Sy-JAYYq/?taken-by=liquidproust
Does anyone think that 12g would be too little?
4, I need some real creativity here…
I have 200 Jingmai selected tree balls that are exclusive to LPT for this event see here https://www.instagram.com/p/BV5fjIEgaYo/?taken-by=liquidproust
Here’s where I need your help. These all look the same, but for six months (which isn’t long) I am storing 100 different than the other 100.
What suggestions do you all have to make it known what is what? I thought about just ripping a piece of the wrapping because I’m not sure what I could use to mark them and all my other thoughts was too much time at 100 pieces.
5, I generally tease with pictures… but for now, how about some words? Do you like the idea of 2017 Slumbering Dragon balls? Well, I do and they are on the way!
6, W2T has something special and unique in store for us all… I haven’t even been granted a glimpse yet.
7, I’m trying to think of an ethical system to sell off the extra material from the maocha I purchased up front for this event… but I am unsure how to do it! This isn’t even a question… on to eight.
8, I have obtained a lot of what I call 200x ‘A’ from Hong Kong and I wasn’t sure if adding some older medium to high humidity raw would be offsetting for the experience. Please let me know what you all think.
Feel free to ask or say whatever you’d like!
Thanks everyone, just knowing that I get to participate in something so amazing makes me smile
LP / Andrew
I think 200x ‘A’ is well aired out for a humid stored tea, and would be a good intro to the genre for the uninitiated.
Awesome. I really wish I had the same cake from dry storage to compare, but I really hope this will provide an understanding of what higher humidity conditions can do to raw puerh over time. I am going to be bias to the tea which is why I really want this feedback. Thank you. I will see if a few others like it as well and probably do a mini write up on why I’ve included it.
I bought in last year, and I do not think that $50 would be too much all things considered.
For the dragon balls can you add a second twist tie that is a different color? It would be quick, cheap, would not smell, and you may be able to leave the initial one on there to save time. The only other thing I can think of it buy some sumi ink at the art store, put some in a bowl, and just dip the tip of the paper in before shipping.
AHA! I could do this with the ‘tail’ of the wrapper! How long does that ink take to dry? I might have to put all the balls out on some cardboard until they dry and then back to dry crock storage.
You might need to experiment to find that out. The biggest factor is going to be the amount of ink per paper, since the water in the ink will need to evaporate. If you get a cheap brush you can use it to paint the tails, which I theorize will put less ink on the paper, and take less time to dry
An alternative is liquitex acrylic ink. I use it for art and it dries really fast. (or even liquitex basics paint, comes in loads of colours for matching to puerh)
How about something like food coloring in a spray can? A light mist is all you’d need. I’m assuming it would stain paper… And as a bonus, it’s Certified Kosher!
http://www.joann.com/wilton-color-mist-food-color-spray/xprd635681.html
This reminds me that I need to get some tea over to you…
Yeah yeah! Somewhere is an email in regards to all this. I’ll have to search for it this weekend and then let everyone know we have BLT in the olympaid as well.
I’d like to be counted in on this if I may. $50.00 sounds OK to me. I’ve been drinking puer for a year, mostly sheng and trying to get a little deeper into the whole thing this year.
Probably should have put something for newer drinkers. Here’s last year https://steepster.com/discuss/14654-the-sheng-olympiad-of-2017
Sign ups will be announced towards the end of the year and it’ll work through Etsy which makes everything smooth : )
Can’t wait for this year!! I am fine going up to $50/slot
Thanks for the input! Trying to stay under $50 but just being up front regarding where it may end up.
I would happily do $50 even with the shipping cost to Europe coming in addition.
I want to do a flat $12 international shipping… Still playing with the idea, but it wil depend if the total volume of tea is under 150 grams before material weight. I have yet to even consider all this math, but it’s a great reminder for me
If you can make that work it would be great, but I’m in regardless and the $50 price point isn’t a problem :)
I think I can! I will do my best to figure out the cost of materials and then average out the last years shipments for international orders and then ‘somethingggggggggggggggggggggg’
On the other hand we now that around $20 will ship 2lb to europe, which would allow me to possibly throw in some of the other samples on etsy. The only downside of the samples you’re doing now instead of pubertea, is that its a bit tougher to make the international shipping cost worthwhile.
Anyway, whatever you think the flat rate might average out to, add on a dollar or two to prevent spending your own money on it.
As always, I trust your judgement. Even if everything isn’t to my taste (like wet storage) the experience is tremendous and it’s good to be able to try small quantities of things I don’t normally try. In response to your specific questions:
2. $50 is no problem for me.
3. 12 g would be 3-4 sessions for me (I steep small and long)
7. I always thought the cook got to lick the bowl. :)
8. I’m not into wet storage, but always happy to try something new. If the sheng olympiad is about broadening people’s tea experience, this is a good way to do it. I would add it.
Just thinking about the sheng olympiad makes me (and 99 other lucky people) smile.
Glad you are open to trying new things! Sometimes it limits many to possibly finding something they enjoy that they thought they wouldn’t. That was me with humid stored tea until over time I had better aired and higher quality stuff; but it is definitely not for everyone!
1) good for you for setting limits! (But I’ll be damned if I miss getting a spot).
2) price increase is fine with me. After all you now offer some interesting experiences on etsy for a smaller buy in rate.
3) 12g seems good
4) maybe just clipping off some of the end? Or using a wax crayon to make a wax mark on the tail. Not sure if that would smell much.
5-6) sweet
7) ethical how? Because it’s paid for with our share cost?
8) the more the merrier
7, this is really hard to explain in few words… so the whole goal of this would be diminished if I put out exclusive stuff for sale by itself because I had to purchase ‘x’ amount and only ‘y’ is going to be used. Of course I keep a little to drink when I do the following year, but that amount always leaves some extra.
Maybe I answered this myself by waiting until the event is over and then making sure that certain parts that are over are not available elsewhere; i.e. the wild kunlu balls from CLT will be offered in cake form, but as many know this sells out each year so eventually it shouldn’t be an issue.
I’m merely wanting to recover cost without doing so by putting a higher margin on what I’m doing you know? While doing that keeping in mind that ultimately this is to promote the awesome vendors making it happen you know?
Hopefully this all kind of made sense. I think I answered a lot of it myself which is great because I didn’t sit down before and type it out.
@liquidproust you certainly seem to have put a lot of thought into this…I’m glad you think you’ve resolved it on your own because I don’t believe a lot of us has thought about the finer implications of anything other than “take my money and give me tea”. ;)
I agree. I keep telling Liquid Proust that he ought to get some benefit for the great service he provides, even if it’s just “leftovers”. Breaking cakes and mailing stuff is a lot of work!
1.- 50$ is fine
2.- 12g/sample looks enogh… except if I really like and then realize that the full cake is truly expensive ;→
3.- Agree with the option to paint the dragon ball cues with a cheap pencil and water based paint. Should be quick enough and dry fast withoult leaving odours.
4.- Thank you for your initiative.. .and count me in!
Login or sign up to leave a comment.