A 2005 old tree tuo

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


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May 6th, '13, 04:25
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A 2005 old tree tuo

by lordsbm » May 6th, '13, 04:25

This tuo is fairly popular in China forums I visit, mainly for the taste, price point and the seller. Today saw that Taobao having a promo for it, so took mine out and did a test to see how good this tuo really is.

During the promo it's about US$3.50 for 100g exclude shipping, you'll likely need use an agent. :lol:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 5726122145&

The feedbacks you see on that tea are accurate. Do note the below test gives different results from normal drinking due to the amount of tea and steep timing.

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May 6th, '13, 04:27
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by lordsbm » May 6th, '13, 04:27

9g in 200ml gaiwan, water temperature 88-95 Celsius

0 point being lowest
5 points being highest

1st steep - 10secs
Sweetness: 3 Bitterness: 3 Consistency: 3.5 Astringent: 2
Huigan: 3 Shengjin: 3 Dryness: 1 Smoothness: 3
Remarks: Smoky tea aroma with hint of honey note and buttery taste. Burp once.
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2nd steep - 10secs
Sweetness: 3.5 Bitterness: 3 Consistency: 3 Astringent: 2
Huigan: 3 Shengjin: 3 Dryness: 1 Smoothness: 3.5
Remarks: Rich smoky tea aroma with honey fruity flavor and buttery taste. Burp twice.
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3rd steep - 3mins
Sweetness: 4 Bitterness: 4 Consistency: 4 Astringent: 3
Huigan: 4 Shengjin: 3.5 Dryness: 2 Smoothness: 3
Remarks: Very strong smoky tea with rich honey fruity flavor and slight flora note. Buttery taste still present. Body starts to shiver.
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May 6th, '13, 04:29
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by lordsbm » May 6th, '13, 04:29

4th steep - 10secs
Sweetness: 3.5 Bitterness: 2 Consistency: 3 Astringent: 2
Huigan: 3 Shengjin: 3 Dryness: 1 Smoothness: 3.5
Remarks: Brew is sweet with slight smoky and flora honey flavor. Starts to sweat.
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5th steep - 5mins
Sweetness: 4.5 Bitterness: 3.5 Consistency: 3.5 Astringent: 3.5
Huigan: 3.5 Shengjin: 3.5 Dryness: 2 Smoothness: 3
Remarks: The brew is too sweet to bear, but nice flora honey flavor. Sweating and burping.
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6th steep - 10secs
Sweetness: 3.5 Bitterness: 1 Consistency: 2.5 Astringent: 1
Huigan: 3 Shengjin: 2.5 Dryness: 1 Smoothness: 4
Remarks: The brew becomes more refreshing, with nice sweetness and light honey flavor.
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May 6th, '13, 23:05
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by GreenwoodStudio » May 6th, '13, 23:05

There's a lot of burping going on here :)

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May 6th, '13, 23:23
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by lordsbm » May 6th, '13, 23:23

GreenwoodStudio wrote:There's a lot of burping going on here :)
ya :lol:

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May 7th, '13, 18:45
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by futurebird » May 7th, '13, 18:45

Wow, you use a lot of tea, but I guess for 200 ml it makes sense.

I'd like to try this. Just to compare notes. I wonder what the cheapest way to get it to the US is?

When I try to use taobao agents they always have some excuse "oh they ran out" "oh now the shipping is $9999" etc... I gave up on ordering with them.

If I could get it to the US for less than $8 SH plus the $4 cost I'd go for it...

Maybe I'll just buy it when I go to China next year.

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May 7th, '13, 18:57
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by apache » May 7th, '13, 18:57

If you just order one, that might be a problem with most agent. You could do a group buy with others, say order 10+, and ship it by surface, that will give you a relatively low cost per item. Or order one with other cakes, make it worth while for the TB agent to deal with your order.
Say if you are the TB agent, 25 rmb 10% would be 2.5 rmb for say couple of hours effort, would you do it?

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May 7th, '13, 19:13
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by lordsbm » May 7th, '13, 19:13

futurebird wrote:Wow, you use a lot of tea, but I guess for 200 ml it makes sense.

I'd like to try this. Just to compare notes. I wonder what the cheapest way to get it to the US is?

When I try to use taobao agents they always have some excuse "oh they ran out" "oh now the shipping is $9999" etc... I gave up on ordering with them.

If I could get it to the US for less than $8 SH plus the $4 cost I'd go for it...

Maybe I'll just buy it when I go to China next year.
For this test you need a gram or two more. The 3mins and 5mins steeps are normally the hardest to drink :lol:

Ya getting an agent is a challenge. Mine only do sea shipping for food products. 1st 500g S$5.80, every additional 500g S$1.70, then add 2% agent fee. It'll likely end up being 50-100% or more cheaper than getting locally (if I can get it).

I'd been using this agent for years, their service is like roller coaster ride. Sometime is so bad I'll wish to jump to another agent, but sometime they are so effective, I can even fault them :lol:

Most of the tea I buy, I'll unlikely to get it in retail stores in most provinces. Unless you goto Guangzhou or Yunnan, don't expect to get things cheap. It's better you know the local price before you even try buy tea in China. A <10RMB XG tuo on TB, could ended up as 50RMB tuo. Why? Because the sales will tell you this tuo is te ji, meaning special grade :lol:

Many may think buying off TB is a gamble, and there's a lot of fakes. They are true, but there's also a lot of good less known good value tea. Taobao, means digging for treasure. You have to know where to dig :lol:

Have fun on your trip :)

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May 7th, '13, 19:17
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by lordsbm » May 7th, '13, 19:17

apache wrote:If you just order one, that might be a problem with most agent.
Ya, normally just not cost effective in terms of shipping. For tea I normally order around 8-10kg per order. :lol:

It's getting too addictive for me. I have 2 orders of around 10kg each on sea now. While I'm still waiting for another 8-10kg to reach my agent warehouse^^;

As China locals said I need to "剁剁手" :lol:

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May 7th, '13, 19:52
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by lordsbm » May 7th, '13, 19:52

My understanding of how agents operate.

The most common ones that cater for International market is, they buy for you, check the items visually, then ems/dhl directly to your home address. These are normally faster, but much more costly.

The ones I use operates to cater to one or two countries. They'll buy for you, check the items visually, then wait for enough orders from all customers to have them air/sea freight to a country. From there, they'll use local delivery options to distribute the orders.

The cost for normal consumer shipping and freights is huge. Like DHL China charge around 250RMB for 1KG express to Singapore. But air freight also by DHL will likely cost me <45RMB for 1KG (for more than 20kg).

This is how some agents keep the shipping cost down. :wink:

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May 7th, '13, 21:19
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by gingkoseto » May 7th, '13, 21:19

Your photos are better than the vendors!
How is it compared with 2005 xiaguan tuo? Any people commented on it? :D

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May 7th, '13, 21:35
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by lordsbm » May 7th, '13, 21:35

gingkoseto wrote:Your photos are better than the vendors!
How is it compared with 2005 xiaguan tuo? Any people commented on it? :D
:lol: Thanks. Just some casual shots with my wife's old Olympus pen.

This tuo is popular among XG fans, and better for sure. This is well dry-stored in Yunnan. After that test, during evening I still get 5 more steeps in teapot, stacked up to about 1l brew. It could had gotten even further, but can't drink anymore.

The smokiness still present, the aroma is nice and more gentle. My wife actually likes the evening session a lot. I don't hear much compliments of sheng from my wife as her body just can't take them during first few brews. She can only drink those ending steeps where it's much less interesting. :lol:

The seller is likely to have some promo coming up mid May, likely a couple dollars cheaper.

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May 7th, '13, 22:39
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by gingkoseto » May 7th, '13, 22:39

lordsbm wrote:
gingkoseto wrote:Your photos are better than the vendors!
How is it compared with 2005 xiaguan tuo? Any people commented on it? :D
:lol: Thanks. Just some casual shots with my wife's old Olympus pen.

This tuo is popular among XG fans, and better for sure. This is well dry-stored in Yunnan. After that test, during evening I still get 5 more steeps in teapot, stacked up to about 1l brew. It could had gotten even further, but can't drink anymore.

The smokiness still present, the aroma is nice and more gentle. My wife actually likes the evening session a lot. I don't hear much compliments of sheng from my wife as her body just can't take them during first few brews. She can only drink those ending steeps where it's much less interesting. :lol:

The seller is likely to have some promo coming up mid May, likely a couple dollars cheaper.
Thanks for the info.! I might try it and get a few Tu Lin items from them.

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May 7th, '13, 23:15
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by lordsbm » May 7th, '13, 23:15

gingkoseto wrote:Thanks for the info.! I might try it and get a few Tu Lin items from them.
Personal suggestions

Best value for money.
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 6297985748&
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 3894008159

Popular with China online buyers
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 8241921833&
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 0916949515

Good to have. (I use this one as blend for aged sheng that lacks flavour)
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 6756892590&

I have good experience with this shu.
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 9159016217&

Hot shu that a lot seems to want to try.
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 8007057516&

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May 7th, '13, 23:23
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Re: A 2005 old tree tuo

by gingkoseto » May 7th, '13, 23:23

lordsbm wrote:
gingkoseto wrote:Thanks for the info.! I might try it and get a few Tu Lin items from them.
Personal suggestions

Best value for money.
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 6297985748&
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 3894008159

Popular with China online buyers
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 8241921833&
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 0916949515

Good to have. (I use this one as blend for aged sheng that lacks flavour)
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 6756892590&

I have good experience with this shu.
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 9159016217&

Hot shu that a lot seems to want to try.
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 8007057516&
I was eyeing at the 2005 version of the small brick. :D I would rather take pre-2007 stuff since I don't think I can drink younger stuff of tu lin.

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