A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

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


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A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

by Drax » Mar 27th, '12, 09:09

The recent discussion about different 2003 Yi Wu bricks and variations in 'apparent' age has made me wonder about the differences in storage locations.

But rather than 'similar' teas, what I'm really interested in is *identical teas* (e.g., both Dayi 2000 7542), with one item being stored in one location, and the other item being stored in another -- in order to compare their differences or how they aged.

Have we discussed this topic before? I vaguely recall some information on it, but I don't recall precisely. But I also don't recall having seen too much information on this topic, or too many examples of the difference.

To be clear, I'm not really curious about theoreticals and what "should" happen. We've discussed that topic plenty already. And again, I'm not interested in 'similar' teas. I'm looking for examples such as taking 1 tong and putting each of the 7 beengs in 7 different locations to age, and then comparing. Or tuos of the same batch being stored in different places.

Anybody?

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Re: A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

by TomVerlain » Mar 27th, '12, 09:24

I will be a test site, I'll pm my address for you to send the 2000 7542 and in ten years I'll let you know how it goes :)

Seriously - I have had some teas for 5 or 6 years. Kept in A/C tho so lets say 78 degrees and 55% humidity.

They are more like "dry" aged. I can tell they have aged, I think I have some menu hai 8510 ? that is not the same as when new. 2008 i think. Close, but there is more oxidation. Shu is more difficult to tell with, so sheng is the test.

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Re: A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

by Drax » Mar 27th, '12, 12:23

TomVerlain wrote:I will be a test site, I'll pm my address for you to send the 2000 7542 and in ten years I'll let you know how it goes :)
I guess one of the things I'm curious about is how much does a different climate speed or retard the aging? I'm sure we've all had teas that 'seem older' than their date, and others that still 'seem young.' But usually we are comparing across a spectrum of storage backgrounds and even different teas (Bulang, Yiwu, Bada, etc).

Perhaps getting some test sites together is not such a bad idea? 2000 would be too late, but getting a tong of 2012 might work. Let me think about this one further...

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Mar 27th, '12, 12:49
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Re: A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

by gingkoseto » Mar 27th, '12, 12:49

Prof. Chen Wenpin of South China Agricultural University, published a research on puerh storage in The Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Yunnan Puerh in 2007. He did "a tale of cities" :mrgreen: Guangzhou, Shanghai, Kunming and Hong Kong, with relative humidity ranging from 68% to 85%. I once took a look at it but don't have access to it now (it's in a password required database). He did some short term observation (several years, less than 10, I think) and made a table to compare the liquor color, leaf color, etc. Since he did this, I guess he is doing some longer term study now.

But I think it depends on how detailed the measurements meant to be (e.g., whether it's observation of color and tastes or chemical analysis of components) and the goals of the study. There have been a lot of anecdotal observations among Chinese tea drinkers in different cities. But Chen's study has more strictly controlled environments I suppose, and the results are somewhat consistent with the anecdotes among tea drinkers. His study seems quite general. Other people, if doing similar studies, may choose to explore various factors, such as different taste profiles, high-grade vs. low-grade leaves, plantation vs. arbor tree leaves, etc.

Mar 27th, '12, 17:35
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Re: A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

by G-off-re » Mar 27th, '12, 17:35

I imagine that there are a fair amount of people here that bought the same cakes from YS/PS back when they first opened. Might be worth making a list of those super popular teas such as 7542 and see how many people have them and can contribute a piece for a comparison storage test.

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Re: A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

by Drax » Mar 27th, '12, 20:25

If you ever find that article, please let me know, gingko!

It would certainly be nice to have access to spectrometers and chromotographs of various types for more scientific identification... however relying on a circle of people to taste and compare notes over the years might be interesting (and more fun), too. :D

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Re: A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

by TwoDog2 » Mar 27th, '12, 21:47

I currently have 8 cakes of a very nice HK 10th Anniversary (2007) cake from Nan Nuo shan, which was made in limited production, being stored in 3 places. (one in America, two locations in China) The last time I had it was 5 months ago, and it was just coming into its own. I also broke off a 10g chunk of an "American aged" cake to give to a friend who had several kg of the same cakes, I will see him a week or so and i will tell him to bring some of his from South China, and do a side-by-side.

I will keep some notes for you and take pics! Will be interesting to see if there is much difference. (They have been aged in separate locations since 2009, if my memory serves)

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Re: A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

by Drax » Mar 28th, '12, 06:36

TwoDog2 wrote:I currently have 8 cakes of a very nice HK 10th Anniversary (2007) cake from Nan Nuo shan, which was made in limited production, being stored in 3 places. (one in America, two locations in China) The last time I had it was 5 months ago, and it was just coming into its own. I also broke off a 10g chunk of an "American aged" cake to give to a friend who had several kg of the same cakes, I will see him a week or so and i will tell him to bring some of his from South China, and do a side-by-side.

I will keep some notes for you and take pics! Will be interesting to see if there is much difference. (They have been aged in separate locations since 2009, if my memory serves)
Very cool, thanks, I look forward to hearing about it! Any thoughts on whether the different locations have very different climates (or storage conditions)?

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Re: A Tale of Two (Storage) Cities

by TwoDog2 » Mar 30th, '12, 05:18

It looks like my trip is getting pushed back a week or so, as they won't be picking for an additional week or so. Might end up going near May instead.

As for the storage, the humidity is pretty different. One location being particularly dry, but I only keep a very small amount there. I have several kg in a place that is high humidity at room temp (low end 64F- high end 72F) and his location should be slightly less humid with similar indoor storage.

The last time I had the tea, I remember it being pretty good, or at least, it was much better than my first impression from 2009, when I first had it. At that point, it was really young and pretty harsh.

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