Da Hong Pao - best tea, value?

[Tead Off]

I bought the highest quality DHP from jingteashop, and some other teas, and I am sad to say that their quality was really bad, the DHP is undrinkable, I am greatly dissapointed with this vendor, I cannot imagine that they sell such bad tea as high quality, it is way overbaked and smoked and bitter, real DHP is not "se" bitter, I think it is a fake.
I urge any tea drinker to avoid Jingteashops DHP.

I agree that Jing's Da Hong Pao AAA isn't the greatest Yan Cha one could find, however, I've found few medium-high roasted Yan Cha through online vendors that's much better. If you don't mind I'd love to hear which online vendors' Yan Cha's you find superior to Jing's (cost doesn't matter) because if I could find something decent I would be so happy even if it was very expensive. I personally like when the Yan Cha's have a darker soup color as opposed to the very light yellowish amber type (unless light roasted).

You could try 2 U.K. vendors who might be offering the same yancha.

www.postcardteas.com and essence of tea. A few years back, I tried the yancha from postcard and found it very good, but expensive. It was listed under Tea Master teas. I believe Essence was also buying from the same source. Here in BKK, I have a vendor for 10+ year old Shui Xian but their supply is dwindling and it may be gone by now.

[David R.]

The best of the best I had was The Fragment of Imperial Robe from Postcard Teas. Expensive but a nice treat for special occasions.

I am generally very happy with yancha from this shop (Master Xu's) and from Essence of Tea (Master Huang's), but I have not tested every shop there is... You will find a lot of info on their website if you want to know more. They are trustworthy vendors.

[Bob_McBob]

East Teas carries some of the same yanchas as Postcard Teas for a lower price. Be warned that if you order anything other than tea from Postcard, they will not zero rate the VAT like they are supposed to for foreign non-EU orders. I don't particularly appreciate paying foreign sales tax when I shouldn't have to.

[Tead Off]

East Teas carries some of the same yanchas as Postcard Teas for a lower price. Be warned that if you order anything other than tea from Postcard, they will not zero rate the VAT like they are supposed to for foreign non-EU orders. I don't particularly appreciate paying foreign sales tax when I shouldn't have to.

You jogged my memory. It was East Teas that I bought the yancha from and they are connected with Postcard Teas in some fashion. I had no problem with the VAT which they did not charge me. Shipping was reasonable.

[Herb_Master]

In the UK tea is regarded as a food item and there is no V.A.T. on food.

I think Bob was referring to teaware or other non tea items.

[chrl42]

What we shouldn't forget is when someone mentions "DHP", it could rather imply the possibility of Pin Pei (blending)

Good Yan Cha, the sellers won't hide to tell what region it came from, made by who, what species they are, as mentioned before

Mother 4 trees on the rock, or so-called original DHP (Qi Dan, Bei Dou etc) they were already undergone asexual reproduction, what remains is which region or altitude they were grown,

Because if you go to Wuyi mountain, there are natural bushes by region sold at special market, same as Puerh..they are rather fixed price.

We have to study those hidden facts before discussing 2nd, 3rd generation DHP or A/B grade..which, most of time are just a myth.

[Herb_Master]

Mother 4 trees on the rock, or so-called original DHP (Qi Dan, Bei Dou etc) they were already undergone asexual reproduction, what remains is which region or altitude they were grown,

This is interesting! I wonder if you could add any further detail?

An early acquaintance of mine in the tea drinking community of Kuala Lumpur ( a senior civil servant with decades of Oolong drinking and research) told me his favourite Yan Cha were 3 first generation children of DHP :- Bei Dou, Qi Lan and Que Shi. His reasoning was that they were both excellent and far more affordable than 2nd or 3rd rate DHP.

I had assumed that a child would be generated from a fruit, and that clones would have the same name as the parent.

Are you saying that asexual cuttings were given different names? or that cuttings from each of the 4 mother trees were given different names?

[edkrueger]

Ah. I like Walkers Scottish shortbreads with a lot of teas.

Me too.