Re: Yancha
I think you first need to decide how much you're willing to spend. For really good yancha, you're going to pay a lot. On the other hand, if you pay a lot, you won't necessarily get really good yancha. I'm not sure that there are shortcuts here.
In terms of authenticity, are you talking about tea from within the scenic area? Honestly, I drink a lot of yancha, and I still take any claims about provenance, varietal, etc. with a big grain of salt, and that's even with vendors I trust. That said, keep drinking, pay your tuition, and eventually you'll start to be able to identify good teas.
You might want to have a look through these two older threads:
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16636
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19014
In terms of authenticity, are you talking about tea from within the scenic area? Honestly, I drink a lot of yancha, and I still take any claims about provenance, varietal, etc. with a big grain of salt, and that's even with vendors I trust. That said, keep drinking, pay your tuition, and eventually you'll start to be able to identify good teas.
You might want to have a look through these two older threads:
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16636
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19014
Nov 4th, '15, 04:30
Posts: 541
Joined: Aug 19th, '15, 07:03
Location: on the road
Re: Yancha
One source that I can recommend:
http://shop.chadao.de/index.php?cat=c98 ... longs.html
[use google translate]
The owner is in China right now, buying new tea. He'll be back in 10 days with some fresh stuff but since we're talking about yancha I'd rather get some of his rested leaves, some are on sale these days.
http://shop.chadao.de/index.php?cat=c98 ... longs.html
[use google translate]
The owner is in China right now, buying new tea. He'll be back in 10 days with some fresh stuff but since we're talking about yancha I'd rather get some of his rested leaves, some are on sale these days.
Re: Yancha
I can also recommend Cha Dao as I always very fast, reliable and friendly service.kuánglóng wrote:One source that I can recommend:
http://shop.chadao.de/index.php?cat=c98 ... longs.html
[use google translate]
The owner is in China right now, buying new tea. He'll be back in 10 days with some fresh stuff but since we're talking about yancha I'd rather get some of his rested leaves, some are on sale these days.
The owner is now back from China.
Re: Yancha
alix wrote:How buy great quality and autenthic yancha?
Sample Sample Sample!
Try new companies there are some hidden gems out there.
Re: Yancha
+1, and it's possible to get great Yancha (Da Hong Pao and Shuixian at least), without spending a fortuneMarcusReed wrote:alix wrote:How buy great quality and autenthic yancha?
Sample Sample Sample!
Try new companies there are some hidden gems out there.
Re: Yancha
I'm just getting into yancha myself. I have a few from Yunnan Sourcing on the way and tried a couple from White 2 Tea tea club a couple months ago. I do plan to try a few other vendors - I'm not looking for the best of the best but something I like in a price range I like.
Re: Yancha
Not the easiest question to answer. The most direct method would be to spend a lot mail-ordering teas from a dozen random nice-looking sources and then follow-up buying more from those that actually worked out well. I'm not sure how someone could short-cut that.
If you lived in an area with really good tea shops you could skip some of the randomness and try teas first then buy what you like, but that seems unlikely in Italy. One might think reviews online, in places like here and Steepster, or to a lesser extent tea blogs (where reviewers tend to say everything is great) would narrow down the search a bit but it's hard to judge someone else's judgement. To some extent taste preferences vary by individual, even though a near consensus would agree that good quality tea is good quality tea, the problem being that not everyone writing reviews would have the same degree of exposure.
One tip people have suggested here is that buying a tea type like Rou Gui may give better results than buying Da Hong Pao, in general, because there is less hype around the type, and more likelihood it's being sold on actual merits. The different yancha types have their own character, and factors like level of roast vary, but really the better versions share a lot in common beyond the difference in types. Shui Xian is another type that can be great tea, but it's also the cultivar used for low-grade Chinese-restaurant tea, so that type varies across quality levels more than most.
It might help to bear in mind that better Wuyi Yancha examples are going to cost a lot in China, too, so there is really not any way to get around actually paying for really good tea. You can buy more directly, and limit that effect, cutting out a layer of middle-man, but in that process it's also likely that you would drink some mediocre, misrepresented tea as well. So it's back to evaluating what you want to spend, how good you expect the tea to be, how your own preferences factor in, and with a lot of luck you can find advice you can trust.
If you lived in an area with really good tea shops you could skip some of the randomness and try teas first then buy what you like, but that seems unlikely in Italy. One might think reviews online, in places like here and Steepster, or to a lesser extent tea blogs (where reviewers tend to say everything is great) would narrow down the search a bit but it's hard to judge someone else's judgement. To some extent taste preferences vary by individual, even though a near consensus would agree that good quality tea is good quality tea, the problem being that not everyone writing reviews would have the same degree of exposure.
One tip people have suggested here is that buying a tea type like Rou Gui may give better results than buying Da Hong Pao, in general, because there is less hype around the type, and more likelihood it's being sold on actual merits. The different yancha types have their own character, and factors like level of roast vary, but really the better versions share a lot in common beyond the difference in types. Shui Xian is another type that can be great tea, but it's also the cultivar used for low-grade Chinese-restaurant tea, so that type varies across quality levels more than most.
It might help to bear in mind that better Wuyi Yancha examples are going to cost a lot in China, too, so there is really not any way to get around actually paying for really good tea. You can buy more directly, and limit that effect, cutting out a layer of middle-man, but in that process it's also likely that you would drink some mediocre, misrepresented tea as well. So it's back to evaluating what you want to spend, how good you expect the tea to be, how your own preferences factor in, and with a lot of luck you can find advice you can trust.
Re: Yancha
I like the picture that pops up when you visit that sitejayinhk wrote:Fookmingtong.com for when you want to try some exceptional oolong and Wuyi. Enjoy!
Hot girl sitting on a car and drinking from a gaiwan? They've already caught my attention.Edit: Can't seem to find Wuyi yancha on the site. I'll have to look more closely.
Re: Yancha
That's really not very expensive for good yanchajayinhk wrote:Only DHP and Shuixian there, including some DHP that is over $1 a gram!
Re: Yancha
So far I've only tried the Anxi Super Oolong and I was blown away by how good it was for the money. They run a very tight ship and control their tea production very carefully. I want to try their Mt Phoenix Mono Species.
MarshalN was skeptical about them too until he was gifted some of their tea, and then was rather impressed himself.
I would think any of their oolongs would knock your socks off! I have a branch near me and will pick some tea up soon (I have to take a 5-10 minute ride to their airport store, or conversely go to their store downtown, either of which are a little out of my way).
I believe their tea would be much better value than anything you could get from a western-facing vendor, but I've only bought yancha from JKTeashop and SX from Chawangshop. I tend to buy yancha and high fired TGY from local vendors in HK since there's a lot of it around here.
MarshalN was skeptical about them too until he was gifted some of their tea, and then was rather impressed himself.
I would think any of their oolongs would knock your socks off! I have a branch near me and will pick some tea up soon (I have to take a 5-10 minute ride to their airport store, or conversely go to their store downtown, either of which are a little out of my way).
I believe their tea would be much better value than anything you could get from a western-facing vendor, but I've only bought yancha from JKTeashop and SX from Chawangshop. I tend to buy yancha and high fired TGY from local vendors in HK since there's a lot of it around here.