TeaChat

shah82 wrote:There is no picture of the actual cake. Automatic fail.

There are, actually, kinda some pictures. If you look at the big pic of the wrapper under the tabs, you'll see small thumbnails you can click on the right to enlarge. However, those pics don't really show you much beyond a not-highly fermented shu and ... well, that's that

Oh, I was looking for them at the top of the page, and not where those little tabs were this time.

Well, it looks alright, but I'm still shocked by that price. There's just no way that it's possible for a 2010 shu to be worth so much. Literally, no way. Gotta be moneylaundering or favor-trade, or something like that...

I suspect it's a trophy product whose main purpose is to boost the brand's image.

And to act as expensive gifts

MarshalN wrote:And to act as expensive gifts

And that

The pics of the close-up leaves look quite good, actually. Makes me want to brew a shupu now, but I'm having a scotch (12 midnight now). Maybe in the morning.

shah82 wrote:Gotta be moneylaundering ...

I knew those 500 shipments to a customer in Chongqing last month smelled fishy...

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=14233195010

Not puerh, but...

This is a "special grade Dahongpao". 118 RMB for 250g, so it works out to about 0.5RMB (or about 8 cents) a gram. Just tried it a few days ago - a medium roast DHP, not bad, not the greatest, but at that price, a pretty decent buy. It's about the price of a Sea Dyke brand DHP and certainly better than that.

It would be awesome if this thread took off a bit more with some specific recommendations (thanks Marshal!). I'm not sure sure how many TC members order from Taobao regularly. I just did my first order, and I was surprised by how painless the process was through an agent. I've spent a pretty ridiculous amount of time browsing the site over the last couple days

Bob_McBob wrote:It would be awesome if this thread took off a bit more with some specific recommendations (thanks Marshal!). I'm not sure sure how many TC members order from Taobao regularly. I just did my first order, and I was surprised by how painless the process was through an agent. I've spent a pretty ridiculous amount of time browsing the site over the last couple days

Looking forward to hearing about your inaugural Taobao purchasing experience.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=12511968307

Buy. Not the greatest thing ever, but for the price it's pretty damn good. I'd drink this every day as an easy to drink, somewhat aged thing. Brews a dark red.

MarshalN wrote:http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=12511968307

Buy. Not the greatest thing ever, but for the price it's pretty damn good. I'd drink this every day as an easy to drink, somewhat aged thing. Brews a dark red.

Picked up a cake of this - definitely a bargain at that price. Good mouth and throat feel, easy, aged, and drinkable. Price is very very reasonable.

Also bought their 2003 XG Tiebing. Still very astringent, but otherwise fun, and for 99 RMB, you can't make too many demands.

Is taobao the Chinese version of ebay or something? How does one order from there if you can't read Chinese?

itsgoingtorainsoon wrote:Is taobao the Chinese version of ebay or something? How does one order from there if you can't read Chinese?

Taobao is in Chinese. There are some agents who you can order through, there is a fee involved though. If you can read Chinese and have a Chinese bank card, you can order yourself

http://bit.ly/VdaGJV

Nice wuliang for les than $15. It's like a thinner and cleaner kunlu, no funny aromas. Very nice taste and aftertaste for the price. it's good to drink now and you can push it it won't get bitter. sample available for 2 rmb.

Picked up M's cake and some pu samples, as well as the special DHP.