2018 Sheng Olympiad

71 Replies
pablito said

im in! super stoked

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Somebody had posted a song they created after drinking 4am which made me have a thought: I’m going to invite everyone to producing any type of art while enjoying one of these teas. Whether you write, draw, crochet, sing… whatever it might be, creating or preforming an art while drinking one of these teas would be a great place for us all to enjoy seeing everyone’s talents and sharing thoughts on the tea while doing so.

Anyways, in case you want to include this interesting mash of music styles with your 4am pill (which you have two of!) please refer to the Soundcloud link here: https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/7booy8/a_song_i_made_inspired_by_drinking_copious/

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Look at this beautiful thing I cracked open for all of you : )

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbVOFI1Ae64/?taken-by=liquidproust

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Someone just messaged me about this having aged sheng and new sheng at the same time.

Curious as to everyone’s thoughts on that matter as I begin the planning steps for the next year; this takes quite a bit of time, thought, and samples.

Is there a ratio of new to old that I should be considering?

I believe this thread will be the one used for questions and discussion so as more things come my way I will make them public to involve everyone in what’s being talked about.

t-curious said

Did the person think there was a problem with this? If so, what? Having both aged and new seems like a good idea to me. Everyone has different tastes and having both covers those that like both, and gives those who only prefer aged or new a chance to try the other side.

meowster said

I agree that there should be both aged and new sheng.

However, I think the ratio should be more in favor of aged. It’s much easier to get samples for new sheng on the market, and one of the main appeals for this event (at least for me) is that I can try samples that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

Just my two cents.

So I understand that Hong Kong storage can throw some off as well as the higher cost for something such as the Yang Qing Hao which is no unavailable for purchase. I am thinking about offering some spots without the aged material for those who have preference for only the newer stuff that places like W2T, CLT, BLT, FLT… have been getting people hooked too : P

Need to think this all through though for next year. I would think the progression for most ends up towards the aged spectrum but that isn’t always going to be true.

There’s a lot of great discussion that will come about next year from everyone as they drink through these. Really looking forward to thoughts on the Hong Kong storage for those who haven’t had it. But I do know that some people only drink aged and others only drink new…

Thought over this and I decided what I will do is offer the set without the YQH and 200X ‘A’ at a lower amount for those who potentially do not have $50 but want to join but also for those who do not want aged stuff at their current puerh journey stage.

I may have sponsors, like myself, who will make the small adjustments to ensure even those opting out will get some 200X ‘A’ because I really think it’s an amazing tea at such a value so I’m passing on the experience.

Lizzibabe said

I’m with Meowster, for myself i’d still like to have the aged because it’s far more difficult to find.

So going forward I think the best way is to think of it in terms of ‘funding’ rather than weight. What would sound best for everyone? 25% of cost being aged and 75% cost being new; and with new I am working towards the exclusive side of things.

I have lots of options for aged at this point, but as a community event I am curious where I should put focus when it comes to planning. I will admit the YQH wasn’t planned, but considering this wouldn’t be available again it was an opportunity to good to pass up; allowing everyone to taste a piece of history when it comes to Yang Qing Hao.

I will admit that in some cases, it will be rather impossible to do vertical tastings with specific areas. I tried to do that with Jingmai and well… 10+ year old raw Jingmai comes at a real price; I should put a disclaimer that I refer to stuff I would be willing to include.

Sqt said

So one of things that I think might help is knowing what the Olympiad is supposed to be about? Is it just a group buy? Or is there something more to it? The name brings connotations of an event or even a competition. However, I’ve never really seen a proper description. When I first learnt of the Olympiad, there was a thread, that referred to an older thread, which referred to another thread…

I know all of this takes an enormous amount of work, but better describing what this is about would help make it more accessible to newcomers. Perhaps delegate and find someone willing to help with this end of things.

With regards to exclusivity and new teas, I do think that this year’s line up is less interesting for a lot of people as some of the teas included are pretty well known already and many have already tried them. Just having it in an exclusive shape (dragonball) isn’t quite as enticing when samples are already available. In fact, for some people the dragonball form factor is undesirable for how they brew. I know a fair few people that would prefer to split up 8g of tea between two solo sessions rather than have it at once.

It may also help with planning if you identify a target audience. Is this targeted at those new to puer? Experienced drinkers? For most newcomers, the $25 cost made this an easy decision whereas at $50 it may be more intimidating.

pablito said

as a relatively new person to raw puerh (i got into it like 3 months ago but got real obsessed so it feels longer!) at $50 this feels like a great assortment of teas to get! im used to purchasing in large batches because of the cost of shipping from china anyway. i guess it would have seemed like more of a hurdle before i ordered tea from china for the first time, but that really just means this is as good a first step as any! mine was the white2tea starter set of four sheng puers, and i threw in a couple more things to justify the shipping and it was over $50 all told, and it was a real eye opener to a whole new world!

Dr Jim said

I had thought that the Pubertea was the group buy for older teas and this was more of an opportunity to try a wide variety of teas currently available. That also provided different price points, since the older teas tend to cost more, and perhaps be more obscure.

Awesome conversations here. I am going to think about everything said and think through the different perspectives. I want to make sure that my reply reflects exactly how I feel and think regarding everything said because this is an important to me

Sqt said

Take your time LP. My comments are from the perspective of what might make the event more attractive to newcomers, and those that didn’t buy in this year, as opposed to what I would want myself.

Lizzibabe said

I’m a newcomer myself, but from everything that I’ve read and bought from LP and sampled from other places, I trust LP’s judgement and I’m happy to have whatever he sends me. I really haven’t found a tea that I’ve disliked. Maybe some teas that I wasn’t quite ready for, in which case waiting will fill and I’ll feel differently about it later

1. The name of the event just kind of sounds cool, but that isn’t a good reason to keep it. I’m not sure what else to use… Andrew’s Sheng Showdown; ASS 2019! I’m really not sure what to do here and that’s about where I’m at.

2. More people express the price point is okay, but… maybe I will try to do planning farther than a year out to give myself the ability to try and look for more budget options that’ll help drop the price point; however, I feel as if the community grows the demand could eventually follow which is why it went from 50 to 100 in the past few years.

3. I also think aged has an important part in this. Thankfully this year there’s some HK storage and Yang storage which is much different than the YS aging or TU aging that was part of the past few years. I will add that Pubertea has ended, this will be my only group buy. I am investing into my own shop to create a yearly Pubertea with options you know? Working with Sunsing, Wistaria, The Best Tea House, and others is in the works just as I have done with Yang Qing Hao and Chen Yuan Hao.

4. I can talk to vendors about private runs of blends and what not, but then it would be something that may not be able to purchase and many wouldn’t like the idea of two tries and it’s gone forever. I understand the different views on the ball form, but I have had excellent experience with them myself. It’ll be nice to hear what everyone thinks about the W2T flat pill like things.

Lots of really good stuff to think about and I’m thankful for all the feedback. One day I might try to network and get a partner because it isn’t the easiest thing to do all on my own… but maybe that just means I declare limitations.

Sqt said

Re #1: Name is OK to continue with if properly introduced.

Re #4: fair point about limited stuff that can’t be purchased again. Perhaps a compromise would be to focus on and highlight newer blends from vendors, as opposed to stuff that’s been around for a few years?

A lot of this may be premature optimization anyway, as it may turn out the Olympiad sells out fast and everyone loves it… which would suggest that it’s working well as it is :)

Dragoran said

For what it’s worth, I just got around to purchasing (inertia on my part) and, although I don’t really like dragon balls that much, I appreciate the general mix of teas. I’ve been drinking with varying degrees of seriousness for the past six years, but I’ve not gotten much of a chance to try out most of the vendors here (I’ve been a White2Tea fanboy since the get-go and I’ve got one cake of YQH Teji, but that’s it). I’m always up for trying more aged stuff as well, so the mix works out pretty nicely for me, anyway.

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Liquid Proust said,
“1. The name of the event just kind of sounds cool, but that isn’t a good reason to keep it. I’m not sure what else to use…”

Personally I love the name, it’s so you…. a keeper. :-)

Dr Jim said

Not only is it cool, but it is also a recognizable “brand”. I would keep it.

Awesome! I will try to do a better job when explaining it though!

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Update
1
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcJT-NuARzi/?taken-by=liquidproust aka there are 11 spots left as of Dec 1st and I may begin shipping December 9th.
2
Check out the list of countries in which have participates : )

Poland,South Korea, Germany, Singapore, Australia, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Canada, Norway, Spain, Ireland, Sydney, Hong Kong, USA
^ if you’re not in the US and want to join, message me… I can hook you up with better shipping cost

3
forgot to link the video, but the Yiwu Mountain Tea has arrived! https://www.instagram.com/p/BcAfYPjAxJf/?taken-by=liquidproust

4
I’m excited!

Today was wonderful, I’m starting shipping next week regardless of how many are left to be purchased.

meowster said

Any updates on what will replace ‘AAA’ and maybe Alter Ego for me (and other sponsors)? :3

Honestly, I have 91 packages to mail out and while I’m open to doing it… I’m pretty sure once I get going I’ll just be putting labels on and heading to the post office. Trying to remember whose I need to pull out to swap it out is probably going to be rough for me. I can give you my number and you can call me on Thursday and remind me :p

meowster said

I could text you or message you here.. :P

Messaged you : )

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Remember these words: my printer cannot print red at the moment and I’m not letting this slow me down… just, remember that so when you get this…

Wes B said

cant wait to get these

When you get the package… this is why: https://imgur.com/a/uPiR8

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Sancaiii said

Order sent!

Yup! The shipping has begun:)

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Lizzibabe said
Cwyn said

looks like a fine deal, can’t afford the buy in this year tho

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olliebass said

I got mine. thank you!

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