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I just got gifted this here puerh. All I was told is 2008 shou. Can anyone here with more knowledge than me (all of you) look at these two photos and tell me anything at all? Sorry for the blurry shot. I'm hoping for advice on whether to open it up or let it sit a while, good clay/shape teapot pairing, any translations as to what the wrapper says, or any evaluation as to the quality (I know just looking at a photo makes it super hard to tell, but I figure maybe someone knows something about this source?)...

Thanks, as always all you rockin chatters!

It's a Nan Jian tuo... both from the logos, the phoenix, and the fact that it says it around the bottom. Nan Jian usually makes pretty good tea.

You can see a similar ripe tuo from 2007 over here, although the wrappers look a little different.

If it's really from 2008, then it's probably okay to drink as-is. Give it a smell -- if it smells fishy or ammonia-y, then let it air out, or let it sit for another year or two.

As for brewing, I use a pot dedicated to ripe pu'erh. Or a gaiwan always works as well.

Drax, you rock. Thanks yo!

Tuos from Nan Jian could be very confusing, because there are (or were) quite a few tea factories that produced tuo, and all their factory names include "Nan Jian" and all their tuos have phoenix images that look alike.

The tuo in the photos and the tuo in Drax's link are not of the same trademark, the first is "phoenix brand" and the second is "Gu De" brand. I had some sheng version of the "Gu De" brand and thought it was very good for its price.

Of all the Nan Jian phoenix tuos, in my impression, the one with the best reputation is Nan Jian Tu Lin tuo, with "Tu Lin" as trademark, like this one:http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/cat ... ry=6634695

But Nan Jian Tu Lin factory was privatized last year and it's yet to be seen whether there will be big changes on its products.

Oooh, thanks, gingko! I did not know that about the varieties of Nan Jian, but that certainly explains the wrapper differences.

Looks like 'tu lin' is 土林? That'll be pretty easy to spot.

I like this new subject matter post and hope it becomes a regular! It's like an "authenticate this pu erh tea".

Often we will see a tea label or a wrapper but know nothing much about it. Here's one and hope someone can assist. It's a Taetea raw mini tuo, I was told it was in the 90's, sold in a paper bag. I hesitated not buying it, it seemed pricey for a bag of either a 250gm or 500gm pack.
The liquid had tiny particles like spores in it causing it's cloudiness, it was viscous enough not to let it settle to the bottom quickly. The drink was sugary cane sweet, with some fruity medicinal flavor.
Thanks.

Those must have been some really dry-stored mini tuo's, figuring that something from the 90's would at least be a little darker than that. I hope for your sake that you didn't get swindled, KC.

Oh, they can be that yellow, especially if it's very tippy. No mistaking sugary sweetness, as that can only come from some degree of real age.

bryan_drinks_tea wrote:Those must have been some really dry-stored mini tuo's, figuring that something from the 90's would at least be a little darker than that. I hope for your sake that you didn't get swindled, KC.

shah82 wrote:Oh, they can be that yellow, especially if it's very tippy. No mistaking sugary sweetness, as that can only come from some degree of real age.

Thank you both for the reply. I did not buy any, just took 3 tuo's back home for sampling. These were sold at a Taetea store in Chengdu so it must have been really dry stored. I may also have gotten the year wrong, perhaps early 2000? The thing that stood out was all the fuzz suspended in the liquid making it rather cloudy (could the lack of proper fermentation causing this characteristic?), and it must be causing the sweetness, because it was very sweet for a pu erh tea.
Taetea have names or numbers attached to almost every tea they sell, does anyone knows what this one is? Shen xiao tuo?