Official Pu of the day

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


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Jan 8th, '12, 19:16
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Re: Pu of the day

by Drax » Jan 8th, '12, 19:16

What a great weekend...! I started with the 2007 Mu Ye Chun 002 yesterday and today had two Xiaguan offerings -- the 2009 Gray Crane 'iron cake' and the 2008 FT "Happy" tuo. And I enjoyed them while reading the latest Yotsubato book.... awesome! :D

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Jan 15th, '12, 21:01
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Re: Pu of the day

by debunix » Jan 15th, '12, 21:01

2007 Rui Cao Xiang sheng from Yunnan Sourcing this evening, a young, aggressive sheng that continues to require very delicate handling to bring out the floral sweetness and avoid the bitterness that lurks beneath.

Jan 16th, '12, 10:34
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Re: Pu of the day

by auhckw » Jan 16th, '12, 10:34

2012 Dayi Dragon Zodiac Raw - Light smoky sweet kind of taste. Good saliva flow. Not strong.

If compared to the previous zodiacs,
-Tiger (y10) is much stronger (barely able to drink from brew 3 onwards without soaking).
-Rabbit (y11) is slightly weaker

Dragon comes in between Tiger and Rabbit.

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Jan 16th, '12, 10:34
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Re: Pu of the day

by auhckw » Jan 16th, '12, 10:34

2011 Dayi Daughter Raw - Tasted this after Dragon, and it gives more character and has deeper after taste.

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Feb 2nd, '12, 10:21
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Re: Pu of the day

by bryan_drinks_tea » Feb 2nd, '12, 10:21

I just had the 2010 Hengfu 'Lao Hei Cha'. It has some good flavors, like dark berries, wine, and sweet soil, but it fades quickly. I got five cups from it overall before the flavor was gone. some of the leaves are quite large, but don't look like the cheap leaves you see in some oriental market pu.

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Feb 7th, '12, 16:23
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Re: Pu of the day

by debunix » Feb 7th, '12, 16:23

Having a very nice session with some of the last of the 2010 Shi Tou Xin Jai, Nan Nuo mao cha from Norbu, and after sharing several cups around the office, I'm well into the lingering wonderful 'sweet water' phase. Mmmm.

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Feb 11th, '12, 07:05
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Re: Pu of the day

by brandon » Feb 11th, '12, 07:05

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2008 Mengku Bing Dou, I think a special order.

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Feb 12th, '12, 00:03
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Re: Pu of the day

by debunix » Feb 12th, '12, 00:03

2004 Shen Shan Lao Shu by Haiwan Tea Factory

I got a small sample of this puerh with an order from Jing Tea Shop. It came in a tiny bag that kept slipping to the bottom of my puerh box, so it was overlooked, quite literally, for a long time.

I set up a first infusion series this evening without remembering to weigh the small piece of leaves first—d’oh! It was likely between 1 and 2 grams of compressed leaf, set up in a cheap 60mL yixing pot. Water was heated to 205 degrees.

I first flash rinsed, then set up my first infusion and….forgot about it, for several minutes. I did sip that one momentarily, but though it had very promising anise and caramel notes, a strong bitterness on top of that made it undrinkable.

I managed the next half dozen infusions better. I put a splash of cool water into the cup while preparing a flash infusion of the tea, and the little bit of cool water drops the temperature when I add the tea so that I can drink it straight off, without waiting for it to cool. The liquor is anise-caramel-sweet, with a mild earthy undertone, delicious. Gradually I’m increasing the time for each infusion, up to about 45 seconds now, and while I think I’m going to get another half dozen infusions easily, it’s sad to think of how many I missed due to that first mistakenly long infusion—probably a good 6-8 more infusions were lost.

Fortunately, even the small sample should provide 2 or 3 more small sessions like this one.

Feb 16th, '12, 11:03
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Re: Pu of the day

by auhckw » Feb 16th, '12, 11:03

2011 Dayi 1kg raw - Strong (unique) smoky taste that last many brew. Smoky but yet plesant and leaving good after taste.

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Been very busy lately with new job... Gotta work hard and slow down tea hobby :cry:

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Feb 16th, '12, 12:11
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Re: Pu of the day

by Drax » Feb 16th, '12, 12:11

Wow, that brewed tea looks like it's almost glowing....!

So that was a brick wrapped in paper and then wrapped in bamboo...(and then a sack/bag)...?

Feb 16th, '12, 18:46
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Re: Pu of the day

by auhckw » Feb 16th, '12, 18:46

Drax wrote:Wow, that brewed tea looks like it's almost glowing....!

So that was a brick wrapped in paper and then wrapped in bamboo...(and then a sack/bag)...?
Yeah :)

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Feb 24th, '12, 02:07
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Re: Pu of the day

by debunix » Feb 24th, '12, 02:07

2007 Rui Cao Xiang 'Wu Liang Wild Arbor' Sheng, enjoying the long, sweet, earthy finish of this one.

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Feb 24th, '12, 23:34
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Re: Pu of the day

by bagua7 » Feb 24th, '12, 23:34

OK, three different shou cakes I enjoyed:

1. Two Menghais:

- Secret Aroma '07. I will keep this for consumption. Good but not extraordinary.
- Dragon Pole '09. I will store this. Too expensive for daily consumption, $45, so back to the cabinet. :lol: Thanks sha82 for recommending me such an amazing shou. One of my faves. Top stuff!

2. One Yi Wu:

- Phoenix Tour '11. Even though is a newborn shou it is amazing the number of layers and high level of Qi of this cake. Glad I purchased two cakes: one for consumption, very cheap for such a quality, $12, I will store the other for ageing. It's already in my faves list.

Feb 25th, '12, 13:17
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Re: Pu of the day

by shah82 » Feb 25th, '12, 13:17

While not making any further judgements, I will say this:

Adjusting for inflation, somewhat, you should never purchase shu that is more expensive than about $30, unless you have money to throw away. Once you start going up there into the $40s or so, there starts to be competition from reasonably good sheng, and shu made from sheng-worthy materials, like what Nada made last year, or XZH Nannuo gongting at Houde.

There are a *ton* of good shu out there, and the difference between different good shu can be pretty narrow, unless we're talking lightly fermented stuff that's aged a good while. You just have to find it!

One of the things that interests me about Puerh, is just how much increased supply, overall, indirectly increases the prices of the higher quality in a peculiar dance of giffen/experience good dynamics. The more decent yiwu people have access to, the higher the price of the best yiwu. This phenomenon is even easier to see with Lao Banzhang. The first few were reasonably affordable in the early 2ks--even the XZH 05 and 06, with cakes on the front cover of glossy magazines were only $20-$30 more than other expensive cakes (but everyone thought they were soooo expensive because that $20 or $30 was double) until early 2007. Today, ChenShenHao LBZ, 500g from the 2011 harvest, is about $500, and everyone is selling mostly bad examples of pure LBZ for $200-$300.

Contrast this with the effort surrounding the promotion of Mansong tea as being from an elite grove. I don't really get the sense that it's taking in the sense of pure Giffen good demand dynamics. People have generally reacted in the sense that Mansong tea is great! So is this Guafengzhai I'm drinking now! There's no sense of focus or monomaniacal demand. Now, let's contrast again, with Bingdao and Xigui. People promoting these teas have had much more success, even though, practically speaking, the amount of supply is about equivalent or a bit more than Mansong. What is the difference? Bingdao is faked more. Much more. The fakes are marketed to specific consumer brackets at prices just beyond what is reasonable for them, for mini-Giffen tantalizing purposes. The supply creates its own demand, and the insecurity about whether it's fake or not inflates the prices of pure and mostly pure leaves. LBZ is grossly overpriced, but there is a kernel of truth in the sense that good LBZ is really, really, good. Bingdao, on the other hand (and Mansong, I suspect), is well down the list of "produces mindblowing tea". It might be hard to get a great LBZ, Yiwu, Jingmai, etc, but the best of these areas will generally crush the best from Bingdao. Therefore, the prices that people manage to get for Bingdao is a true marketing success. If Nada wants to make a lot of money from his stash of Man Nuo, then he needs to bribe people to fake Man Nuo, with some Bada Bings, of course, have a bunch of Taobao shops offer those "Man Nuos!!!!!11!", and coordinate that with a nicely targeted viral marketing campaign. Voilá! $250 a bing made with $30 leaves. Piracy in AV materials also mostly *helps* rather than *hurts* sales, in the sense that marketers can easily advertise value-added secure products (that pirates are unlikely to work to add, for free or cheap). It does hurt low-value materials such as bubble pop music or bodice rippers. And who really wants to drink Longyuanhao these days?

Supply creates its own demand, but not always in the way you expect it. Walk into a supermarket aisle, check out how the shampoo is organized. Not by active ingredients, or having all of one brand together, or anything sensible like that, but by shaping your intuition such that your heuristics, say, higher priced item is better than lower priced item, does not work as well as it should, AND that it's laborious to look for active ingredients, allergies?, serving size, total amounts, and all the other necessary information. If there was only a few, distinct, choices, you don't make purchasing errors, and you're not tempted to see if a similar product will do a better job. Bad for the store, easy for you to walk in and out with few impulse buys, and fewer errors. Of course, consumers have reacted, slowly, but surely, by turning to the Internet, and buying many things online, with fewer people trying to scam you with marketing schemes, and the 5 zillionth time of piped in Eye of the Tiger...

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Feb 25th, '12, 16:25
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Re: Pu of the day

by the_economist » Feb 25th, '12, 16:25

by and large, there are no such things as giffen goods.

i think you're referring to veblen goods. but nevermind me :)

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