How do you judge price?

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Aug 6th, '08, 10:57
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How do you judge price?

by tony shlongini » Aug 6th, '08, 10:57

I keep reading comments such as "a great tea for the price", but how exactly do you define your price range, let alone a bargain?

I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible, so I view a beeng under $20 as being inexpensive, $20-$35 as moderate, and anything over that mark as being, if not expensive, in the upper echelon, although that category can readily approach or exceed three (or more) figures.

How off the mark am I?

In the world of high end beverages, tea has to be considered a bargain overall. Cocktails in NYC are pushing, and occasionally eclipsing, the twenty dollar mark, and I can't tell you how many fifteen, forty, and seventy bottles of wine Ive tried that were swill. The fact that a pricey beeng may be enjoyed fifty times or so goes a long way to ease the pain of the initial outlay, and makes even a $100 cake a bargain in the scheme of things.

What are your thoughts?

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by shogun89 » Aug 6th, '08, 11:06

Heres how I judge that stuff Tony. Say its a cheep cake,$11 and I found it "good enough" to drink that would be a great tea for the price. Then a semi expensive, $35 and I thought that tea was really good like the 2003 Keyixing cake, that would be a great tea for the price. It kinda goes on like that for awhile. It all is about personal preference and how much money you have. As I am just a teenager, I do not have that much money so I want alot of bang for my buck, Very hard to find in the world of tea. Anyway just ask yourself, For the quality and quantity was this a good tea for the price?

Hope this rambling paragraph answered something. LOL

Take care.

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Aug 6th, '08, 11:47
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Re: How do you judge price?

by Dizzwave » Aug 6th, '08, 11:47

tony shlongini wrote:how exactly do you define your price range, let alone a bargain?
Very interesting question!
In general, it's obviously a very subjective thing.. and people probably define their price ranges on an as-needed, how-big-is-my-wallet basis. You're right that, in the big picture, even expensive pu-erh is way cheaper than booze, weed, Starbucks, even going out for dinner. (And every time I go out for dinner with my wife and kid, I think "man, I could've bought two or three more Mengku cakes.." (though I've stopped saying it out loud, cuz my wife doesn't exactly appreciate that!))
That said... My personal range is something like $10-20 (incl. shipping) for a good sheng cake (357g), maybe up to $25ish if it's really good. Though, today I'm about to spend $50 (-$10!) at puerhshop on another ($33) 2003 Songpin Imperial shou cake, just because I know I like it, and also a handful more of the Changtai Banna tuos. (Shipping is cheaper from pu-shop than directly from China, so I'll spend a little more per cake there, IF it's something I know I like.)
Ummm.. this is losing its form... :) but, it's so psychological. If I know I'm making a big order from YS, I try to get a lot of good, cheap cakes. If I'm just getting a couple ounces of primo oolong from Hou De, I'll spend a lot more $/g.

Anyway... it all kind of comes down to how I feel right before I click the Purchase button. :) Which probably doesn't answer your question at all... but "the market" is such a fluid thing, determined by consumer demand, psychology, good and bad tea reviews on the net, yadda yadda, that there is probably no real good answer to your question! Still it's fun to talk about. Hope that helps. :)

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by Salsero » Aug 6th, '08, 11:56

RE sheng:

I think you have it just about right ... at least if you are talking about current year or very recent productions. An inexpensive and inoffensive young bing that tastes OK, makes me think of Euro brewing it at work. If it's under $20 and has some character that makes me think it might age well, then it falls into the good buy category.


Once you get even 3 years on the cake, however, the prices start going up. I think I am most likely to be impressed by those 5 to 10 year old offerings that are under $25. I have purchased a couple like that recently. They are clearly dry stored and don't taste their age, but they do have age, antedate the recent boom in puerh production, and I am hoping that a couple years in my pumidor will rapidly transform them into something dramatically better. Those are (one hopes) a good buy.

For shu, I am less willing to shell out the moula and less interested in age. I tend to demand a good deal. It seems that spending more has rarely bought me better shu.
Dizzwave wrote: though I've stopped saying it out loud
LOL. Good choice. Be careful with her, she's a keeper.

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by tony shlongini » Aug 6th, '08, 12:36

Thanks for the replies so far. I purchased some of the less expensive Menghais (7542, 8582, 8592, etc.) to lay down for a while to see what happens with them.

Patience is not one of my virtues, but I have no problem stashing away cakes for future use. Still, I need more to drink now, and was wondering what you guys think are the great performers at different price ranges.

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by Dizzwave » Aug 6th, '08, 13:04

tony shlongini wrote:Still, I need more to drink now, and was wondering what you guys think are the great performers at different price ranges.
If you mean sheng.... and can wait a month for delivery from China.... My current favorite cheapie ($10-15) is the Mengku Mu Ye Chun "Old Tree Green". (And I haven't gone wrong with any of their Mu Ye Chun line.) The Mengku Qing Gang "Green Mountain" is good in that price range too.
Up a notch pricewise ($10-15 for 100g), my favorite is the Mengku Lao Ban Zhang mini-brick. (Yes, I love Mengku!) When I brew this one just right, it is deeelicious. In fact, I just ordered 10 more bricks. :oops:
Yong De also makes great stuff. They have some 2008 limited editions, 4 different cakes from 4 different mountains, in the $20-25 range for a big ol' 500g cake. (The Mang Fei Mtn is my fave of the 4.)
Another nice one in that same range, if you like a strong meaty flavor (that will mellow nicely, IMHO) is the 2008 Wild Tree Dehong brick (which was produced by YS actually).
I'm not too impressed with Menghai's recent stuff.. but Xiaguan is decent I think. I like their 2007 Jinsi (gold ribbon) tuocha, for $5. 6FTM also seems decent for the price, but I haven't tried much of their stuff.

Anyway.... The range of what I've tried isn't very wide, but those are my current sheng faves. They all beat anything I've bought stateside.
good luck!
dave

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Rumour has it

by Jim Liu » Aug 6th, '08, 19:21

A rumour was spreading on the net - two heavy weight tea factories gone broke. One of the victims is Mengku Shuanjiang Tea factory, while other one could be 6FTM.

Not confirmed just yet.

If it is so, the prices for their products should go up.

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Aug 6th, '08, 19:37
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Re: Rumour has it

by tony shlongini » Aug 6th, '08, 19:37

puerhshop wrote:A rumour was spreading on the net - two heavy weight tea factories gone broke. One of the victims is Mengku Shuanjiang Tea factory, while other one could be 6FTM.

Not confirmed just yet.

If it is so, the prices for their products should go up.
That would be a shame. Every product I tried from Mengku has been very nice, from their early spring harvest (from you, I might add) to their chiao mu wang arbor king to their yuan yieh xian (albeit only the thick papered).

I haven't sampled much in the way of 6FTM, and some of the reviews I read regarding their latest offerings have been less than thrilling, but I'd hate to see them go, too.

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by orguz » Aug 6th, '08, 22:11

quote="Dizzwave"]
Up a notch pricewise ($10-15 for 100g), my favorite is the Mengku Lao Ban Zhang mini-brick. (Yes, I love Mengku!) When I brew this one just right, it is deeelicious. In fact, I just ordered 10 more bricks. :oops:

dave[/quote]

After reading this, I had to reply that the above tea is my favorite too, it's one of the tastiest raw that I tried sofar. Describing your buying impetus hits home with me exactly. The YS site does that to you.

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by hop_goblin » Aug 7th, '08, 12:54

I judge the price by how limited a mao cha is in a particular region, Wild vs semi-plantation or plantation. Big leaf of small, spring vs autumn and lastly factory reputation.

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by Dizzwave » Aug 8th, '08, 12:09

orguz wrote:
Dizzwave wrote:...the Mengku Lao Ban Zhang mini-brick ... deeelicious.
one of the tastiest raw that I tried...
Ah, I'm glad to hear that it wasn't just my malleable mind, falling for Scott's "Try this one, it's awesome." :)

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Re: Rumour has it

by hop_goblin » Aug 8th, '08, 13:37

puerhshop wrote:A rumour was spreading on the net - two heavy weight tea factories gone broke. One of the victims is Mengku Shuanjiang Tea factory, while other one could be 6FTM.

Not confirmed just yet.

If it is so, the prices for their products should go up.

I spoke with a friend of mine in China who is directly involved in the biz there has been conformation that they are in finanical dire. But he doesn't know if they have closed or will be closing. If MengKu Shuanjiang closes, I think that will be tragic. Unfortnately I can't say the same for 6ftm

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Re: Rumour has it

by heavydoom » Aug 9th, '08, 19:55

hop_goblin wrote:
puerhshop wrote:A rumour was spreading on the net - two heavy weight tea factories gone broke. One of the victims is Mengku Shuanjiang Tea factory, while other one could be 6FTM.

Not confirmed just yet.

If it is so, the prices for their products should go up.

I spoke with a friend of mine in China who is directly involved in the biz there has been conformation that they are in finanical dire. But he doesn't know if they have closed or will be closing. If MengKu Shuanjiang closes, I think that will be tragic. Unfortnately I can't say the same for 6ftm
a sad day indeed if this is true for our beloved mengku. :cry: , i really dig this company's pu cakes.

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Price judging

by VinceBLG » Aug 15th, '08, 14:20

This is my little method that helps me quickly figure out if a tea is worth the price or if the price seems high or low.

100g = approximately 3.5 ounces.

If you look at, for example, Adagio's prices, most teas are about $8 to $15 for 3 - 5 ounce tins. So that's about $10 for 4 ounces or little over 100 grams.


You could say that $10 per 100g of a decent puerh is a good deal. $20 for 100g would lead me to expect (hopefully) a higher grade...and so on.
Regards,

Vincent

www.BeanLeafGrape.com

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