TeaChat

Has anybody tried these bricks from Hou De?

I picked up a set a couple of weeks ago and was really quite surprised at the result. Extremely tasty, especially for the price. I was also very surprised at the size and quality of the leaves, given the 'brick' status...

Anybody else get to try these yet...?

Got the year of the dragon two pack. Similar flavor profile to the 01 Kunming tie lan yin also the 90's Taiwanese export brick at thechineseteashop.
The Taiwanese appreciate the art of the brick.
camphor leathery Yummyness.

It looks like only 1oz sample available?

WTF! i was just monitoring the stock tonight as i was planing to buy a couple but now they only have singles. Drinking the last of my sample today, nice brick for the price. Its sad i can only order 1 unless i want to pay full price.

I have an older (late 90s)? 500g brick with 'zhengshan daye' brick (different style stamp) from Taiwan which is a bit more expensive, but also older. I think it's really good, and the other folks who have tried it seem to agree.

That brick can be dry as heck. I've heard that the '03 brick is dryer, though.

The '90s brick, most importantly, is not badly stored. It's not particularly wet-stored, and is not that aged tasting, yet. It's something I'd buy to store, because I've been pretty successful at outwaiting roughness here. The original quality of the leaf isn't too high, however, and not too much qi, if I remember right. Despite that, it is something I'd happily drink.

I remember that 90's brick being rather dry. It was too light for my taste but its possible that she brewed it weak for me though. I think i prefer this newer one even though its younger than most of the stuff i drink. I'm slowly becoming fond of early 2000's pu.

Speaking of brinks, anybody try the 2000 Fu Hai brick from Jing? http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-pu-erh-te ... -brick.cfm

G-off-re wrote:WTF! i was just monitoring the stock tonight as i was planing to buy a couple but now they only have singles. Drinking the last of my sample today, nice brick for the price. Its sad i can only order 1 unless i want to pay full price.

D'oh! Maybe we should call it the "TeaChat effect?" They're ALL gone now. The stock had been pretty stable until yesterday...

Given my experiences with other ages of teas, I would have pegged this 2003 as being about 5 years older. Okay, granted we're technically close to it being 10 years old at this point, but I've had other teas from 2003-2004 that are still quite young and not displaying the wood/camphor qualities of this one... (and without tasting moldy).

I've made yesterday a review on my blog (in French) and after buying two more, told to my friends to buy some, there were 11 remining at this moment!

Very interesting for the price. A little bit too "heavy" for me, but this goes perfectly in teapot. Don't like so much in gaiwan. Good complexity, good durability.

G-off-re wrote:I remember that 90's brick being rather dry. It was too light for my taste but its possible that she brewed it weak for me though. I think i prefer this newer one even though its younger than most of the stuff i drink. I'm slowly becoming fond of early 2000's pu.

Speaking of brinks, anybody try the 2000 Fu Hai brick from Jing? http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-pu-erh-te ... -brick.cfm

I'm going to be trying the 2000 Fu Hai pretty soon, G. I'll let you know once I taste it.

I have a brick coming in the mail. I Didn't feel like paying $6 to ship one sample so i took the risk. The picture makes it look rather tasty so hopefully it turns out well.

G-off-re wrote:I remember that 90's brick being rather dry. It was too light for my taste but its possible that she brewed it weak for me though. I think i prefer this newer one even though its younger than most of the stuff i drink. I'm slowly becoming fond of early 2000's pu.

Speaking of brinks, anybody try the 2000 Fu Hai brick from Jing? http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-pu-erh-te ... -brick.cfm

I find she (shop owner selling the brick Will mentioned) tends to brew everything rather on the light side. I find her '98 brick to be rather tasty. I first tried it with Will. In fact, I bought 2 more a few weeks ago but fortunately I have the option of letting them sit and age in Taiwan. I do admit they are rather drying though.

Personally, I wasn't a fan of the 2003 brick. I prefer the Taiwan brick as well as the 2001 Kunming Lan Yin Tie beeng of which I'm fortunate enough to have a couple of cakes. There are definitely some similarities among the 3 though.

TokyoB wrote: I find she (shop owner selling the brick Will mentioned) tends to brew everything rather on the light side. I find her '98 brick to be rather tasty. I first tried it with Will. In fact, I bought 2 more a few weeks ago but fortunately I have the option of letting them sit and age in Taiwan. I do admit they are rather drying though.

The compression [of the late 90s one] is moderately tight, and it's very thick, so I think even with natural storage in Taiwan, the result is not that "aged" tasting, though it's pretty smooth. Given that it's now living in Southern California, I almost wish it had had some wetter storage in a past life, but it's still a nice tasting tea for the price. I think the fact that it's relatively smooth and mild for its age, even when brewed a bit strongly, is a good sign if anything, but each to his or her own. There are teas from that time period which I like better, but most of them are more expensive.

The one which Zomia sells as 1990 is a very similar design (and a much higher price). I don't think that style of brick was made in the early 90s, but I could be wrong. The color of the brewed tea does look slightly darker than I remember from the 1998 one. I'm not sure whether they mean "1990" or "1990s".

As I noted in the 'aged' thread, this brick is back in stock, currently at 8 available.

No, I'm not a spokesman for Hou De...

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