TeaChat

wyardley wrote:I have some 90s xiaguan cakes (also tightly compressed) which are still fairly fresh tasting, despite having some less-than-dry storage.

When you say still fairly fresh, are you referring to a youthful taste? Or a reference to freshness as liveliness? Or a different aspect of the tea?

Catfur wrote:Those pics don't look like 20 year old tea to me. Guess your home storage is ultra dry.

I found the 1992 XG tuocha being sold by Canton Tea Co. in the UK for BP 100. The photo of the tuo on their website seems to indicate theirs has gone through a wetter storage than mine. So much so that Jakub mentioned in his blog that it smelled and tasted like a shupu. Mine however was fragrantly plummy and a bit smokey -- very much a sheng pu.

http://www.cantonteaco.com/loose-leaf-t ... o-cha.html

http://jakubtomek.blogspot.com/2012/05/ ... uocha.html

Here is mine again in larger resolution for comparison with Canton Tea Co.'s tuo photo.

TwoDog2 wrote: When you say still fairly fresh, are you referring to a youthful taste? Or a reference to freshness as liveliness? Or a different aspect of the tea?

Yes, I mean the tea tastes less old.

shah82 wrote: There are Singpore dry storage 1999/2000 Dayi/Lincang Tea Factory tuos that just aren't that interesting.

Shah, do you think I should I move my haul up north across the Causeway to KL? ....not only dry storage, plus the haze from Indonesia forest fires...everything will taste smoky!

Well first of all, I'm the wrong person to ask, ask another person who's been in the hobby longer in Singapore.

Second, my thinking was related to the fact that there aren't enough real variance in weather in Singapore, which would be true of Malaysia as well. But many people like this kind of storage as well.

Third, how much do you want to bet that Hong Kong has endured similar levels of aerial pollution over the years, and still turned out great cakes?

KC Lam wrote:

shah82 wrote: There are Singpore dry storage 1999/2000 Dayi/Lincang Tea Factory tuos that just aren't that interesting.

Shah, do you think I should I move my haul up north across the Causeway to KL? ....not only dry storage, plus the haze from Indonesia forest fires...everything will taste smoky!

Has something happened to KL that it is now dryer (or wetter for that matter) and farther away from Indonesia than S'pore is???

I've been drinking young sheng for the past 3 days or so. When I'm sick with the common cold, shu and aged puerh seem to make my sore throat and congestion worse (like drinking milk or eating a bananna) whereas harsh young sheng immensely alleviates symptoms.

Does anyone have the same experience?

trent wrote:I've been drinking young sheng for the past 3 days or so. When I'm sick with the common cold, shu and aged puerh seem to make my sore throat and congestion worse (like drinking milk or eating a bananna) whereas harsh young sheng immensely alleviates symptoms.

Does anyone have the same experience?

Yes. I'm dealing with seasonal allergy flare-ups at the moment. Shu makes symptoms worse. Young sheng and green teas seem to help. Go figure.

trent wrote:whereas harsh young sheng immensely alleviates symptoms.

Harsh young sheng? Is it sheng that you don't enjoy when you don't have a cold? Is is the harshness or the strength?

I usually don't drink much tea when i have a bad cold. Mainly because i get annoyed that one (or more) of my senses is so dulled. When my throat is scratchy, i go straight for Laoman'e, because it coats so heavily.

It's a shupu kind of day to ease my queasy stomach and a slight hangover from last night's overindulgence with alcohol. It soothes my stomach nicely

This 2005 6FTM Year of the Rooster bing was one of my earliest acquisitions from Yunnan Sourcing LLC. I purchased it back in 2006. As I remember, this was a bitter and astringent tea back then when I first tasted it. It's been forgotten for about 6 years now. How does it fare?

Well, it's not as bitter or astringent as I recall, but I am quite dissapointed by its lack of maturity or progress for a 7 years-old tea. Maybe my storage at home is way too dry after all for pu'er. It's still quite astringent and it gives an unsettling feeling to my stomach the way a lot of very young sheng pu'er teas do. The caffeine hit was quite strong, too. As far as chaqi goes, I couldn't feel much.

Maybe in another 7 years this rooster will fly high...high...highly doubt it.

This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

TIM wrote:This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

Right! Look how greenish the wet leaves still are after all these years. Everyone should learn from my 7-years mistake

135F2 wrote:

TIM wrote:This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

Right! Look how greenish the wet leaves still are after all these years. Everyone should learn from my 7-years mistake

One thing I know when looking at your pics is that they're properly white balanced

MarshalN wrote:

135F2 wrote:

TIM wrote:This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

Right! Look how greenish the wet leaves still are after all these years. Everyone should learn from my 7-years mistake

One thing I know when looking at your pics is that they're properly white balanced

I hope at least some people will find the photos useful as visual references. Colors do speak volume about the tea, I assume?