Help identifying vintage of a tong!

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


User avatar
Oct 21st, '12, 22:21
Posts: 2061
Joined: Mar 15th, '06, 17:43
Contact: MarshalN

Re: Help identifying vintage of a tong!

by MarshalN » Oct 21st, '12, 22:21

ImmortaliTEA wrote:
MarshalN wrote:Well, did the guy offer you a price, or did he give you a "name your own price" option? Then we have something to work with.

If you are talking about 25 years old dry stored 88Qing, one cake will set you back $1000 these days, USD. Wet stored 90s? At least a few hundred bucks a piece, depending on where you buy it from, what condition its in, etc etc etc. So, unless this guy is asking for $1000 a piece, you're not going to be overpaying.
Yes it was a name your own price type of scenario but at first he was trying to sell me the entire tong for the same price he paid for it 7 years ago ($500) because he is a native of Anxi and only drinks medium roasted Anxi Ball oolongs and knows nothing about Puerh tea, until I told him it didn't seem as old as he was told at which point he said to name my own price and I told him I would buy that first cake for $100 and seek further knowledge about it on the internet (you guys) to back up my hypothesis based on the tasting. He promised to hold on to the rest of the tong exclusively for me when I found out more information and decided whether or not I wanted the remaining 6 beengs. Now I am stuck in a moral battle with myself because a part of me wants to inform him that he has some tea that's worth a pretty penny, in which case I wouldn't be able to afford anymore cakes. However, the other part of me thinks that all of this happened to me for a reason and since he doesn't know what he has his hands on, I should just buy the entire tong for $600 more. What would the true tea master do in this situation? (Subjective but curious nonetheless). Thank you!

ImmortaliTEA-
Was the cake worth $100 to you, the one you bought? It sounds like it was.

How you want to deal with him is up to you, I guess. Purely as a tea trade, taking out the human element, I'd say the tea sounds like it's well worth the money.

There are a few stores in Hong Kong that sells teas are what are sub-market prices because the owners, like the guy you talked about here, believes only in oolongs and thinks puerh is crap, so they don't sell it for much because they don't value it. That's their choice, and since they label their teas with clear cut prices, one can pay whatever they ask for. I don't pay them more, because that's what they wanted in the first place. It's the same when I go to Taiwan and find aged oolongs sometimes for cheap. They know there are people who sell the tea for more out there, but they don't want to do it. They're happy, I'm happy. Win-win. In this case, it might be that you have an ignorant seller. At the same time, just because there's a price out there doesn't mean he'll find a market for it - it's not like he's going to haul the tea back to Hong Kong and then try to pawn it off here (and if he were to do it, he won't fetch a very good price anyway). So selling to you might not be such a bad thing after all.

User avatar
Oct 21st, '12, 23:12
Vendor Member
Posts: 510
Joined: Mar 19th, '12, 02:49
Location: Frequently Moving Around
Contact: TwoDog2

Re: Help identifying vintage of a tong!

by TwoDog2 » Oct 21st, '12, 23:12

TIM wrote:Well, do you enjoy and like this tea? If you do, paying for what he asked for and have something in the collection that you can always enjoy is the way to go...

This is the question. You said it had explosive qi and came near an immortal nectar. If you are using the words immortal nectar in a sentence describing a tea, you should probably buy the damn tea. $100 is a paltry sum to pay for a tea that gave the experience you described.

User avatar
Oct 22nd, '12, 02:13
Posts: 223
Joined: Apr 12th, '12, 21:28
Location: Sunrise, FL

Re: Help identifying vintage of a tong!

by ImmortaliTEA » Oct 22nd, '12, 02:13

Thank you all for the great responses and I do see where you all are coming from but I'm afraid I'm going to have to go with my original gut feeling (that this tea was drawn to me or vice versa with the help of the flow of the Tao), which also coincides with Tim, MarshalN, and TwoDog2's responses and I agree totally with the fact that he has a different preference for a specific type of oolong and this tea holds little to no value to him as he doesn't drink it and doesn't have even the slightest knowledge about puerh or the puerh market, so my answer is going to have to be yes to buying the rest of the tong and not letting a wonderful opportunity pass me up. I greatly appreciate all of your wonderful responses and hope to sit down to a peaceful and tranquil gong fu cha session of the immortal nectar, wherein we ride atop the sweet breeze as the cool wind raises up our sleeves, on our way to Penglai Island.
唯覺兩腋習習清風生。
. 蓬萊山﹐在何處,玉川子乘此清風欲歸去。I apologize if this translation isn't exact. Thanks again everyone and I'll end with a great quote by our friend Tim of MTR (I hope it's ok with you): "As long as the tea is in the pot, the moment is always right".

ImmortaliTEA-

User avatar
Oct 22nd, '12, 04:25
Posts: 2061
Joined: Mar 15th, '06, 17:43
Contact: MarshalN

Re: Help identifying vintage of a tong!

by MarshalN » Oct 22nd, '12, 04:25

I believe you now owe us samples of this immortal nectar.

User avatar
Oct 22nd, '12, 04:54
Vendor Member
Posts: 510
Joined: Mar 19th, '12, 02:49
Location: Frequently Moving Around
Contact: TwoDog2

Re: Help identifying vintage of a tong!

by TwoDog2 » Oct 22nd, '12, 04:54

MarshalN wrote:I believe you now owe us samples of this immortal nectar.
I have always wanted to try immortal nectar!

I would like to see pics of the wrapper, neifei, cake, etc. for curiosity's sake - not for "proof". It really doesn't matter where/when it was made, as long as it has value to you. If there is a tea that truly captivates you, that is rare and to be enjoyed.

User avatar
Oct 22nd, '12, 14:25
Posts: 223
Joined: Apr 12th, '12, 21:28
Location: Sunrise, FL

Re: Help identifying vintage of a tong!

by ImmortaliTEA » Oct 22nd, '12, 14:25

MarshalN wrote:I believe you now owe us samples of this immortal nectar.
I would be glad to send a few samples out to the people who responded to this thread and helped me out a great deal. Please pm me with your information if you would like a sample, although I won't be able to send it out for about 2 weeks or so. Also, to TwoDog2, I will take detailed pictures of every aspect of this cake so you as well as anyone else who is interested can see it. Thanks again for all of your guys' great help I really appreciate it!

ImmortaliTEA-

User avatar
Oct 22nd, '12, 23:43
Vendor Member
Posts: 510
Joined: Mar 19th, '12, 02:49
Location: Frequently Moving Around
Contact: TwoDog2

Re: Help identifying vintage of a tong!

by TwoDog2 » Oct 22nd, '12, 23:43

ImmortaliTEA wrote: I would be glad to send a few samples out to the people who responded to this thread and helped me out a great deal. Please pm me with your information if you would like a sample, although I won't be able to send it out for about 2 weeks or so. Also, to TwoDog2, I will take detailed pictures of every aspect of this cake so you as well as anyone else who is interested can see it. Thanks again for all of your guys' great help I really appreciate it!

ImmortaliTEA-
That's pretty friendly. Look forward to the pics

+ Post Reply