Types of Puer? When to Give up?

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


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Jan 16th, '14, 23:48
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by debunix » Jan 16th, '14, 23:48

This is a situation where the limitations of virtual community set in. I'd be happy to share tea with the original poster to demonstrate some of my most 'crowd-pleasing' puerhs, that didn't cost a mint. If those were appealing, then it would be time to try to find something similar; if they weren't, then the OP could save their pennies for other teas. But we're a virtual community, so it's not so easy to connect up in real life. If the OP would give a location, maybe someone here could give a hands-on tutorial, or knows someone physically close enough to do so....

Jan 16th, '14, 23:53
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by shah82 » Jan 16th, '14, 23:53

Right now, I'm drinking An Xiang shu, fifty cents for my session, and I'm drinking it for the qi, late at night.

A well developed sense of hedonism can allow you to enjoy simple pleasures, and overlooked major pleasures.

Usually, ignorant parsimony is only a way to cheat yourself. What you want is value for the money, and usually? You'll have to shell out for it. If you can't afford to, then there isn't much to be said, other than that I strongly believe that puerh prices for most tea will crash, and decent tea will be available at some point for decent prices. Dunno about japanese. Anyways, if you can't afford this hobby, then you can't afford it. Just don't pop open a budweiser or a wine cooler (or the tea equivalent) and think you're actually saving any money with that sort of thing.

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Jan 17th, '14, 01:03
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by Tead Off » Jan 17th, '14, 01:03

ethan wrote:$200 cakes of puer & $20 bottles of wine are too expensive for some of us. I cannot afford to get into puer, Japanese green tea, & a lot of teaware. I cannot afford to pay dollars for bottled water to make my tea either. I have carried empty bottles to fill w/ good water....
Anyway, I am not out to tell my story, but to remind people to accept the limitations of their finances & time, & their palates. All of us don't need to have every tea as a mastered hedonistic entity. (What am I saying? lol)
I want to answer the ? of the thread. It is time to give up on Puer, when one has spent $ on puer more than once, that he has not liked, while not buying tea that he knows he likes. Any other answers to the ? of the thread that really address it?
With Puerh, you must begin with samples or your money will be ill spent in no time because the losers far outnumber the winners. If you do continue to try and find good puerh, stick to the vendors that I and others have recommended. Never had a bad tea from Tea Urchin. YS is a crap shoot. Many people rave about Mandarin's Tea shop if you live in the USA. Hit and miss from EOT. If you come to Bangkok, there is a new Puerh shop on Srinakarindra to the east of BKK. I've had one of their teas that they are commissioning in Yunnan. Very good. This is a promising shop for us in BKK. Far from central, though.

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Jan 17th, '14, 02:53
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by Teaism » Jan 17th, '14, 02:53

shah82 wrote:I strongly believe that puerh prices for most tea will crash, and decent tea will be available at some point for decent prices. .
+1.

My prediction is in 1-3 years' time. This is probably plain economics. Based on the new high prices and wealth, the tea farmers/suppliers are upgrading their houses and cars and need a higher income to sustain the new lifestyles. The middleman got squeezed in between the buyers and sellers. Sooner or later the buyers realized that the high price is too crazy and the quality is substandard and start to back off. Then the chain effect of price crash will happen.

Jan 17th, '14, 06:26
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by thirst » Jan 17th, '14, 06:26

20$ for shipping alone when you buy from Tea Urchin? :(

Jan 17th, '14, 09:47
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by Puerlife » Jan 17th, '14, 09:47

Yeah, 20 bucks to Thailand, too. I recently received my order of 15 thirty-gram samples, which came to exactly $100 plus 20 for shipping. I usually do about five grams, sometimes a little more, so let's say 80 to 90 sessions for 120 USD. That's just a dollar and change per session and these are samples of high quality tea. Eugene only charges roughly 10% more per gram for samples than for full bings. At that rate he probably barely covers his packaging costs. That's why I chose Tea Urchin for samples over YS, who charges so much more than that that a similar order would have cost maybe 50% more.
I've tried four of the samples so far and like them all.

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Jan 17th, '14, 09:57
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by Tead Off » Jan 17th, '14, 09:57

+1.

I've paid less than that for shipping. I believe that is an EMS cost. Ask him about different rates.

The success rate for good puerh from Teaurchin is very high in my experience. I can't say that about any other vendor I've bought from. I'm not saying there are not other good vendors for puerh as I haven't tried them all.

Jan 17th, '14, 10:46
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by Puerlife » Jan 17th, '14, 10:46

It was China Post Regular Mail, not EMS. But I will ask next time. BTW, does that new tea shop in BKK have a website?

Jan 17th, '14, 11:36
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by thirst » Jan 17th, '14, 11:36

Hm, so it works in your favor when you buy a lot. Guess I’ll have to order from them if I want to try good pu’er – but not yet :lol:

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Jan 17th, '14, 13:14
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by Tead Off » Jan 17th, '14, 13:14

Puerlife wrote:It was China Post Regular Mail, not EMS. But I will ask next time. BTW, does that new tea shop in BKK have a website?
Not that I know of.

Jan 17th, '14, 14:19
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by ethan » Jan 17th, '14, 14:19

shah82, Your comments about "ignorant parsimony" are well-pharased & well taken. Most of us can afford 50-cent tea sessions & spending more than that on the quest to find affordable tea that we like.
I am not against the taking on the challenge, just reminding us that talk of puer, etc. can take away the $ & time we have for tea that we know we enjoy. For me it is prudent not get into every type of tea, & perhaps it is wise for a few others to do the same.
People who enjoy cigars don't need to try pipes for example.

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Jan 17th, '14, 20:28
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by chrl42 » Jan 17th, '14, 20:28

Teaism wrote:
shah82 wrote:I strongly believe that puerh prices for most tea will crash, and decent tea will be available at some point for decent prices. .
+1.

My prediction is in 1-3 years' time. This is probably plain economics. Based on the new high prices and wealth, the tea farmers/suppliers are upgrading their houses and cars and need a higher income to sustain the new lifestyles. The middleman got squeezed in between the buyers and sellers. Sooner or later the buyers realized that the high price is too crazy and the quality is substandard and start to back off. Then the chain effect of price crash will happen.
When that happens, perhaps it's good for ANYONE on teachat including me,

it's just that, the price of Chinese goods never went on downside ever since the Chinese-Korean diplomatic ties of 94, and sky-rocketed since the Olympics. The current price of Beijing scared the Koreans, out of the inner Beijing. Wangjing, once the Koreantown, becoming a ghost town :mrgreen:

I just can't feel on the skin....I heard there have been Yixing price crash taken place in 90s, but that time I wasn't into Yixings, or tea :|

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Jan 17th, '14, 21:13
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by sherubtse » Jan 17th, '14, 21:13

Tead Off wrote:The success rate for good puerh from Teaurchin is very high in my experience. I can't say that about any other vendor I've bought from. I'm not saying there are not other good vendors for puerh as I haven't tried them all.
I would be interested to learn who those other vendors are, Tead Off, as I am considering ordering some puer in the very near future.

Thanks.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

Jan 17th, '14, 21:15
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by shah82 » Jan 17th, '14, 21:15

The good stuff will stay sky high, but pleasant tea will come down in price.

The primary problem is that there is no market for people buying young tea to enjoy above US$300. There isn't really a much of a market above $60 or so. However, to get a decent single area new tea, you'd have to pay around $150. Not awesome, just something with distinct character and not missing anything it should have. There is just not the kind of consumer market that can absorb "gushu" at $150 for very long without a substantial marketing campaign and uptake by lots of rich westerners. The same with good factory tea, Dayi especially. There is only so much production before people have to sell.

All of this has been elevated by a massive search for margin after the 2007-8 crash and 2011 crisis. Land is up, walnuts are up, onions are up, condos are up, and so are cars, all in the third world, and especially in Asia surrounding China. When the bubble pops, it should be 1997 for medium quality tea, and one should be ready, if one has the dough. Of course, it will never be 1997 again.

Jan 17th, '14, 21:16
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Re: Types of Puer? When to Give up?

by shah82 » Jan 17th, '14, 21:16

What sort of puerh do you want, sherubtse?

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