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Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jun 28th, '12, 13:00
by Xell
Looking for a single puerh that has smoky/fruity taste and as little astringency as possible to drink once in a while between japanese green teas. Looking for something not too expensive. Any suggestions? Too big choice of puerh available to select almost without any knowledge.

Probably most what i enjoyed from what i've tried was quite cheap raw puerh, Big Snow Mountain Wild Old Tree, 2007. Seems it was some "no name" puerh, so can't really get it again.

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jun 28th, '12, 13:29
by shah82
Oh, another chance to tout the 2002 Tai Lian International Expo bing. Not fruity, but it does have smoke that I find good. Tends to sweet florals and not quite fruity. It can be slightly astringent, but I find it usually pretty smooth and juicy in texture.

In your general search, I'd recommend that you try to find Bulangs with a bit of age to them. They tend to age fruitier than some other areas, and older Bulangs tend to have smoke...

My recs:
http://www.banateacompany.com/pages/pue ... Arbor.html
Very expensive, but willing to bet it's really close to what you're looking for.

http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea- ... h-mh05.cfm
Relatively cheap 'n decent, and probably close, not sure, to what you want.

Jing tea shop has a new '98 Xiaguan tuo for all you aged tea freaks...

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php? ... cts_id=346
This tea was just restocked, and it generally has very satisfied drinkers for a long time. Good price for what it is.

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... oduct=1366
The TaiLian I mentioned before...

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... oduct=1589
I think there is an okay chance you'll like this

http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/prod ... roduct=204

http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/prod ... roduct=162

http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/prod ... roduct=138

http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/prod ... roduct=107

There is a finepuer Yongde Da Xue Shan from '09 that is good and sorta where you want it. However, the website is down. $58, last seen.

There aren't a whole lot of teas that are smoky in the non-nasty sense, especially younger and cheaper. The preferences outlined also represents a convergence that forms part of why Lao Banzhang teas are so expensive. Smoky floral aroma, smooth, fruity? Eeeeeh... Same for older Bingdao area teas, actually. And since you were so happy with a no-name S. Mengku teas, I suspect all you really need to do is throw a dart at something from 2007 and 2008 and within your price range. Nobody really has a strong awareness of all the stuff S. Mengku puts out other than the things already reviewed to death.

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jun 28th, '12, 14:13
by shah82
Just got confirmation that finepuer and sampletea are still open and it's an ISP spat that keep the websites down...

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jun 28th, '12, 22:33
by Xell
Thanks for many suggestions, already narrowed down quite a lot. Don't have to look through hundreds of different a bit aged raw puerh's :)

Puerh i mentioned had quite nice balance of smokiness and berry/fruity notes, while barely any astringency was detectable. Although i could not infuse it as long, as other puerh's, went up to about 14-16 good infusion only. 2005 – Lao Ban Zhang i tried had similar properties, it was quite nice and i did probably over 30 infusion over a day, but still i preferred that no name more.

I also enjoyed this puerh quite a lot, 1997 – Wild Yiwu Camphor (Zhang Xiang). But seems this kind of taste is popular and will be expensive to get a full cake of decent tea. So i'll stick with your choices of slightly aged raw puerh.

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jun 28th, '12, 23:23
by shah82
Which 2005 LBZ if I may ask?

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jun 28th, '12, 23:32
by Xell
auhckw here on TC helped me to get started with puerh. Collected various samples of different kinds and age, this sure helped to get a proper image of what puerh is :) Don't have any details on that LBZ, expect that it was stored in Malaysia for a while. It was more floral, less fruity and less smoky, than that no name puerh. Oh, i remembered one more detail on that no name pu, it was loose leaf, not pressed.

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jul 2nd, '12, 03:03
by auhckw
Xell wrote:Looking for a single puerh that has smoky/fruity taste and as little astringency as possible to drink once in a while between japanese green teas. Looking for something not too expensive. Any suggestions? Too big choice of puerh available to select almost without any knowledge.

Probably most what i enjoyed from what i've tried was quite cheap raw puerh, Big Snow Mountain Wild Old Tree, 2007. Seems it was some "no name" puerh, so can't really get it again.
Big Snow Mountain Wild Old Tree, 2007 "no name"... I think still available last month. Today I don't know, but chances are high still there :lol:

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jul 2nd, '12, 08:51
by fdrx
It's not the best bing i have but when fruity and smoky come to my mind: http://bit.ly/NdIqke

If you can order on taobao i recommend you this 08 bulang brick: http://bit.ly/MNn1hh
(their shu is fruity and good too: http://bit.ly/KVZAFn and http://bit.ly/N3Xkri)

You may like this very smoky little brick: http://bit.ly/LRRz5Y and you can sample the Cha Wang too, i remember it was very fruity http://bit.ly/KOdfK6

Smoky(?) and not expensive: http://bit.ly/N3TL7I

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jul 2nd, '12, 15:26
by JakubT
I agree that the 2007 Xizihao Chawang is fruity and smoky at the same time. But I can not say that I would think the tea to be very good. Definitely not given the price.

Fruity and smoky - the 2007 Haiwan Purple bud comes into my mind, a quite interesting cake; a reasonably cheap one too.

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jul 2nd, '12, 23:19
by puerhking
you might take a look at this 2010 Dian Yi Hao Naka brick. Is both smokey and fruity...too smokey for me....but I hate smoke in my tea. You can get a sample of this so you can see.

http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/pu ... -200g.html

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jul 3rd, '12, 01:11
by Xell
puerhking wrote:you might take a look at this 2010 Dian Yi Hao Naka brick. Is both smokey and fruity...too smokey for me....but I hate smoke in my tea. You can get a sample of this so you can see.

http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/pu ... -200g.html
Oh, this sounds promising especially considering price. Probably my preference in puerh is a bit odd :) If not Big Snow Mountain Wild Old Tree, then i'll try this first probably

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jul 3rd, '12, 11:47
by shah82
Don't pay too much attention to the name, but...

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... oduct=2139

and this Da Xue Shan may be a product you'll enjoy. I and others have certainly done so...

http://www.finepuer.com/product/2009-yo ... -cake-500g

Re: Good value smoky/fruity puerh

Posted: Jul 3rd, '12, 12:43
by zzenster
I think everyone starts out looking for good value/ good tea. Look where we all are now.. :lol: