TeaChat

debunix wrote: 青砖

砖 will be different if the tea is a different shape (e.g., bing, tuo), however, don't assume that because the tea has 青 or 生 anywhere in the name that it's raw.

This thread had some good info, though sadly, some of the image links seem to have died a while back.
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=6518

Thanks for the link.

I think there's a great opportunity here for a smartphone app: scan the chinese characters on the label of tea, and translate on the fly--would return the most tea-centric translations of ambiguous terms....

debunix wrote: I think there's a great opportunity here for a smartphone app: scan the chinese characters on the label of tea, and translate on the fly--would return the most tea-centric translations of ambiguous terms....

This exists, though not tea-specific. Pleco has a pretty good app that does this, for iphone at least. My wife has it, and it works pretty well... sometimes even on hand-written characters.

COOLEST. THING. EVER!

(pleco, that is. puerh is HOT stuff!)

2011 – 大益龙腾盛世 – 青普洱 – 357g 饼
2011 – dà yì lóng téng shèng shì – qīng pǔ ěr – 357g bǐng - 9 pieces









Nice Toong box. Nice Beeng wrapper. Nice dragon watermark. Tea? Should have been better...

Edit: Though this tea is meant for Dragon year (y2012), but the packing date is Dec y2011, so it is a y2011 tea.

I suspect these teas from Taetea are limited "boutique" series, as it is not available in most Taetea distributors in Maliandao Beijing.

I only bought one each, no tasting tho'.

Part 2 [attachment=0]IMG01083-20120218-2244.jpg[/attachment

All these are raw teas. Not for instant consumption, Need to let it go through the natural fermentation.

Kc can you post some picks of the cakes unwrapped or are you not opening them. Did you at least get to taste them in the shop?

gasninja wrote:Kc can you post some picks of the cakes unwrapped or are you not opening them. Did you at least get to taste them in the shop?

Hi gasninja, Sorry, I am not able to show you the innards. It's been packed up to be sent back home. I have tried the Jin Feng and Yi Yuen a while back.
I've been told (and i don't know how much is true) from distributors that Taetea has a few thousand tons of old teas from all around Yunnan, so making a blend is not difficult. The key is what to mix with what...and they've become quite good with it lately.

2011 Spring pick Yiwu and Banzhang blend, camphor tree leaf placed in the middle.

1 kg and 1.5kg bings, the 1kg has smaller leaves and is flowery, the larger 1.5kg has older leaves that has more mouth feel and sweeter.
Expensive for a 2011 bing, because it is "hand made".

Both tasted bitter sweet and need it to age over time for it to be really drinkable.
Also tried the 2012 Yunnan green tea that was freshly picked less than 30 days ago. Left me feeling woozy and hyper ventilate, it was way to strong for me!

THE FIRST TAETEA RELEASE FOR 2012. 7552 Ripe - last released in 2005 and 2008.
Chen Xiang taste, not as strong and less sweet and does not retain the flavor as the 2011 Dragon Pole which have higher quality leaves. Still, it's good value as it is about 1/2 the price of the Dragon Pole.

Early next week, expect the arrival of the 2012 Taetea Ripe Golden Needle White Lotus and Raw 7542.

Also next week, store owners in Maliandao whose roots are from Yunnan will be flying back home for a month to start sourcing and producing all the fabulous teas for 2012!

ENJOY!

They have some of those boutique Dayi cakes up at redlantern. Including a few of the ones KC just posted on. Not that horribly expensive either.

If your into that sort of thing.

I just bought these two bricks - I have no idea what they are. I don't want to open them just yet, but wondered if anyone has any ideas on what they are. (I want to leave them sealed to get them through customs)

The first, looks like it might be a pre-2005 brick as it has no info on it that later tea wrappers do. Through a tiny tear, the leaf looks very dark. I did not get to see the tea or taste it. The guy showed me an open cake labeled 1990 and seemed to indicate it was the same, but have no idea. I can see the neifi a bit through the wrapper and it is not the zong cha colored one, but has the paragraph in black ink.



The next is a brick - weighs at least 500 g if not more. The seller indicated is was very good - using her hands to indicate lots of chi. I had a cup and it was very dark, expresso colored, no wet smell or taste and had a pretty big black twig in it. She had brewed it before I got there, so I did not see any of the tea. I am in taiwan and speak no chinese and the sellers speak no english. So it is an adventure.



in any case, these might be horrible cakes and a waste of money, or turn out to be nice. I will update once I get home and can open them and look at the leaves and brew them, but right now I am pretty curious as to what they could be.

If I had not just checked out the koreanware topic, I would have thought that was *all* the loot you're dragging back home...

Surprised you only got 100g of the 1994 sheng. If it's any good, it should be more than $175/bing value.

But wait there's more

Note sure of the vintage - but once again - I thought it was worth a punt

As always whenever I have multiple tea orders they always seem to show up on the same day.
pu-erh.sk
2011 Manzhuan, Bada ,yibang and modern zhuni pot
Sunsing
99 raw teacake box 86 spring buds box, 05 CNNP 7532, 04 406 7532 menghai, 03 yi chang hao xiao bing, and 03 bada cake, and 96 purple dayi broken cake,
Ebay vendor cbring630
98 yi wu spring buds brick, 2000 tian zi brick, 98 8972 brick, and 99 keyixing brick