Where should you NOT buy your Puerh from

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


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Jan 18th, '10, 01:42
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Re: What is Ya Bao?

by debunix » Jan 18th, '10, 01:42

Norbu has some additional information in the description of their 2009 Summer Harvest Ya Bao: " it comes from a wild Camellia varietal specific to the Yunnan/Myanmar border region. Sometimes referred to as "Ye Sheng" or "wild Pu-Erh tea" by indigenous populations, this is not a Camellia varietal traditionally used in the manufacture of Pu-Erh tea; however, Xiaguan tea factory near Dali (in Western Yunnan where this varietal is from) regularly produces compressed teas incorporating both leaf and bud materials from this Camellia varietal."

http://www.norbutea.com/2009_latesummer ... gory_id=13

I was given a sample of the spring 2009 Ya Bao in a tea swap and found it very surprising and found it delicate and delightful, similar to the 2007 White Bud Sheng PuErh that I adore, but without the smoky, earthy, aged elements. I bought some of the summer buds because by the time I'd tried the spring buds they were sold out. The summer buds have been a bit disappointing because the flavor seems weaker. But both certainly look like pointier versions of the flower buds on my camellia bushes in my yard; the plants produce no comparable flower buds, but then, these are evergreen and a different species entirely. I will probably try the spring buds if they are available again this year, as they were an interesting change from my usual teas, and well worth the not very high cost (don't have a record of the price of the spring buds, but the summer buds are $4.75/50g); but unless I can figure out how to extract more flavor from the summer buds, I will avoid them.

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Jan 18th, '10, 13:14
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Re: What is Ya Bao?

by TIM » Jan 18th, '10, 13:14

To me, that does not look like the real 'White Puerh' or even puerh at all:
http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/200 ... puerh.html

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Jan 18th, '10, 15:43
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Re: Where should you NOT buy your Puerh from

by debunix » Jan 18th, '10, 15:43

The norbu statement I posted above agrees that it is not the normal Camellia sinensis used for making tea, puerh or otherwise.

But the spring ya bao version did have flavors that reminded me of a particular puerh that I liked--I do not know if it was one of those that sometimes has a portion of the leaves from the ya bao trees/bushes/whatevers.

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Jan 23rd, '10, 13:33
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Re: Where should you NOT buy your Puerh from

by Victoria » Jan 23rd, '10, 13:33

Funny, I was looking around today for a puerh I saw some time ago, when I found this Ya Bao tea from Royal Puer.

http://www.royalpuer.com/Ya-Bao.asp?fr=sc

I had it in my cart, when I decided to check TeaChat and found 6 pages of discussion on it!!! Hahaha! It really sounds interesting to me. But now you all have scared me off.

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Jan 23rd, '10, 14:03
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Re: Where should you NOT buy your Puerh from

by debunix » Jan 23rd, '10, 14:03

I wouldn't pay that price for it, but I would consider adding the spring version to an order if it were about half that expensive.

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Jan 23rd, '10, 14:34
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Re: Where should you NOT buy your Puerh from

by Victoria » Jan 23rd, '10, 14:34

Well I get the feeling it's all the same batch and from 2007. If it peaks at 2-3 years, then I'd like to find something fresher. It does sound good.

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