Hello guys,
I'm looking to get some ripe pu-erh samples I dont wanna spend too much though. if there are specific kinds of ripe pu-erh that are must try and you know a good place to get samples lmk. I do want specific recommendations please. I'm a noob so all suggestions are open.
Thanks alot
Re: Good vendor/website for ripe samples
white2tea has the best curated selection of shu.
banatea has the nice, but expensive shu selection.
Red Lantern and Yunnan Sourcing has a ton of shu, good and bad.
banatea has the nice, but expensive shu selection.
Red Lantern and Yunnan Sourcing has a ton of shu, good and bad.
Re: Good vendor/website for ripe samples
I've been drinking pu-erh for coming up on a year now and already my palette is rejecting some of the shu I thought was wonderful just a while ago. The lao cha tou from Yunnan Sourcing (YS) is one example. Yuck! It gave me a nice little buzz but I can no longer ignore the weidui (fermentation pile taste/smell). In the beginning I was so happy about it that I planned to buy four more bricks! So glad I waited. That's the most extreme example but my impression of several others changed as well, from "yeah, I can drink this" to "uh-uh, not today", again and again.
But the Man Tang Hong Te Ji (2012) might be worth sampling. Unfortunately, I liked it so much that I drank the whole sample within a week or two, long before my palette changed so I can't be sure I'd still like it. It contains material from '09 so I'm sure that helps. Conversely, my first session with YS's 1996 CNNP "Green Mark Te Ji" Ripe left me unimpressed. Sure, it was better tasting than the rest but the qi wasn't any better than a couple of the cheapies I'd ordered, or so I thought at the time. Being on a budget, I deemed it not worth the extra money. But fortunately I saved the bulk of that sample and was able to have two more sessions with it several months later, after drinking lots of cheaper, inferior shu and I can now say it's the clear winner. Very nice stuff.
Before the YS order I'd only had Dayi's 7572. I split a bing of 2010 or 2011 with a friend and it was absolute magic. I remember the dry leaf having that fishy weidui smell but at the time I couldn't taste it in the soup. Maybe I could now? A Dayi 7572 cake is a great one to start with. I suggest buying a whole cake so you can use it as a standard.
But the Man Tang Hong Te Ji (2012) might be worth sampling. Unfortunately, I liked it so much that I drank the whole sample within a week or two, long before my palette changed so I can't be sure I'd still like it. It contains material from '09 so I'm sure that helps. Conversely, my first session with YS's 1996 CNNP "Green Mark Te Ji" Ripe left me unimpressed. Sure, it was better tasting than the rest but the qi wasn't any better than a couple of the cheapies I'd ordered, or so I thought at the time. Being on a budget, I deemed it not worth the extra money. But fortunately I saved the bulk of that sample and was able to have two more sessions with it several months later, after drinking lots of cheaper, inferior shu and I can now say it's the clear winner. Very nice stuff.
Before the YS order I'd only had Dayi's 7572. I split a bing of 2010 or 2011 with a friend and it was absolute magic. I remember the dry leaf having that fishy weidui smell but at the time I couldn't taste it in the soup. Maybe I could now? A Dayi 7572 cake is a great one to start with. I suggest buying a whole cake so you can use it as a standard.
Re: Good vendor/website for ripe samples
+1. Beryllleb King Tea on Ebay as well as Dragon Teahouse sell lots of samples.Puerlife wrote:I've been drinking pu-erh for coming up on a year now and already my palette is rejecting some of the shu I thought was wonderful just a while ago. The lao cha tou from Yunnan Sourcing (YS) is one example. Yuck! It gave me a nice little buzz but I can no longer ignore the weidui (fermentation pile taste/smell). In the beginning I was so happy about it that I planned to buy four more bricks! So glad I waited. That's the most extreme example but my impression of several others changed as well, from "yeah, I can drink this" to "uh-uh, not today", again and again.
But the Man Tang Hong Te Ji (2012) might be worth sampling. Unfortunately, I liked it so much that I drank the whole sample within a week or two, long before my palette changed so I can't be sure I'd still like it. It contains material from '09 so I'm sure that helps. Conversely, my first session with YS's 1996 CNNP "Green Mark Te Ji" Ripe left me unimpressed. Sure, it was better tasting than the rest but the qi wasn't any better than a couple of the cheapies I'd ordered, or so I thought at the time. Being on a budget, I deemed it not worth the extra money. But fortunately I saved the bulk of that sample and was able to have two more sessions with it several months later, after drinking lots of cheaper, inferior shu and I can now say it's the clear winner. Very nice stuff.
Before the YS order I'd only had Dayi's 7572. I split a bing of 2010 or 2011 with a friend and it was absolute magic. I remember the dry leaf having that fishy weidui smell but at the time I couldn't taste it in the soup. Maybe I could now? A Dayi 7572 cake is a great one to start with. I suggest buying a whole cake so you can use it as a standard.
Re: Good vendor/website for ripe samples
Disclaimer: the owner is local, and we drink tea together, but I really think Bana has a great selection of loose shu. Generally speaking, I am pretty meh about shu -- even though I happily drink it, it's generally in a pretty specific range.
Other than that, my recommendation is just to go for wherever is convenient and stick to the big factories like Menghai / Dayi and Xiaguan - YSLLC would be a good place to start, either the US or China site, and not to spend too much (though prices for shu bing are definitely higher than in past years).
You may want to have a look at bears3x's post on this too:
http://puerh.blogspot.com/p/new-to-puer.html
Other than that, my recommendation is just to go for wherever is convenient and stick to the big factories like Menghai / Dayi and Xiaguan - YSLLC would be a good place to start, either the US or China site, and not to spend too much (though prices for shu bing are definitely higher than in past years).
You may want to have a look at bears3x's post on this too:
http://puerh.blogspot.com/p/new-to-puer.html
Re: Good vendor/website for ripe samples
Wow, thanks for writing this.Puerlife wrote:I've been drinking pu-erh for coming up on a year now and already my palette is rejecting some of the shu I thought was wonderful just a while ago. The lao cha tou from Yunnan Sourcing (YS) is one example. Yuck! It gave me a nice little buzz but I can no longer ignore the weidui (fermentation pile taste/smell).
I was just thinking about adding it to my next YS order. Now I am not so sure that I really want it (not a big fan of potent smells).