TeaChat

I just bought two small cakes of one and two-year-old sheng, not cheap, and the vendor said it won't taste like what we drank in the shop unless I first break them up and put them in tea caddies for 2 - 4 weeks. My question is what do you think of my caddy? Aesthetics aside, will it do the job? Does yixing clay have advantages besides being so awesome to look at and touch?

Looks nice!
I use plain porcelain gaiwans to air out my teas - don't know if thats the best way to do it, but I can say for sure that this already improves most of them very much. So I'd bet that this caddy does the trick just fine.

IMHO, the vendor is trying to intimidate u into buying "tea accessories" OR just sold u bad tea. does not make sense to force u into breaking up a cake so it taste better. it only means that it taste bad in the first place.

Quikstep, getting him to buy caddies might have played a role, but some cakes do taste better and have better aroma after they've been broken up and rested.

quikstep wrote: [..] just sold u bad tea. does not make sense to force u into breaking up a cake so it taste better. it only means that it taste bad in the first place.

+1.

.. and that the two teas, are not the same.

According to my (albeit short) experience, a good tea can become a bad tea if not stored properl, but a bad tea will never become a good tea.

Thanks miig, much appreciated
Quikstep When I asked about the beautiful yixing caddies they had for shop use they discouraged me from ordering through them because they so often break in transit.so I showed them a photo of mine and they said it's just fine. If you search this site you will find conversations including our most experienced members who use caddies to prepare their tea to drink.

Puerlife wrote: If you search this site you will find conversations including our most experienced members who use caddies to prepare their tea to drink.

I also do this, but the use of a caddy to store a tea a few minutes/few hours/few days in order to get a refined aromas and flavours, is definitely different from the use of a caddy to transform a tea into something different.

You should try the tea now. If you find it definitely different from what you tried at the tea shop, I would ask an explanation and/or I would not purchase from him again.

The shop is in an air conditioned mall. They kept the cakes under glass but not in plastic but after that environment some time in a caddy in my hot and humid house seems reasonable. So drop the paranoia about dishonest vendors selling bad tea, OK?

Puerlife wrote:The shop is in an air conditioned mall. They kept the cakes under glass but not in plastic but after that environment some time in a caddy in my hot and humid house seems reasonable. So drop the paranoia about dishonest vendors selling bad tea, OK?

If you are happy with this tea, who am I to say otherwise?

Happy brews with this tea my friend!

Thanks, William, I have a lot of confidencein this vendor, who came very well recommended. The tea they served me they took out of a yixing caddy so they they just told me to do what they did with the same tea.

Puerlife wrote:The shop is in an air conditioned mall. They kept the cakes under glass but not in plastic

Their tea is stored in a low humidity, cooled environment?

The real question then becomes, how does the tea taste at home ?

I generally like to break up tea to be drunk and store in various containers, from metal to yixing. I have a few "ginger jar" type containers too.

More surface area will oxidize quicker than a tightly compressed and compact cake. On a very young cake, that will become more apparent than if it is a significantly aged cake. So, breathing and oxidizing will change the tea in a short period, but on a 1-2 year old sheng, I don't see it making a drastic difference.

So, how is it compared to instore ?

Exempt wrote:

Puerlife wrote:The shop is in an air conditioned mall. They kept the cakes under glass but not in plastic

Their tea is stored in a low humidity, cooled environment?

I don't know how they store the bulk of their stock.

TomVerlain wrote:The real question then becomes, how does the tea taste at home ?

I generally like to break up tea to be drunk and store in various containers, from metal to yixing. I have a few "ginger jar" type containers too.

More surface area will oxidize quicker than a tightly compressed and compact cake. On a very young cake, that will become more apparent than if it is a significantly aged cake. So, breathing and oxidizing will change the tea in a short period, but on a 1-2 year old sheng, I don't see it making a drastic difference.

So, how is it compared to instore ?

The aroma has really come out since being broken up 3-4 days ago. I'd already done a full session this morning when I read your post and decided to do a little session but got sloppy and didn't weigh the leaves, tried to do a small amount and probably used too little, forgot how long the vendor infused it at the shop, and probably made a couple more newbie mistakes I'm not even aware of. I only got the shop taste on one, maybe two infusions. I'm going to let the tea rest for the recommended time and then do a more careful session. The qi was just as good but the tongue cooling was slight by comparison.

Sounds like you're happy, and that is a fine thing.