Should I get this cake set?

[trenchrun]

im interesting in drinking more puerh for its purported health benefits (also because i like the tea)...

would this be a good thing to buy? (some to drink now some to age?)

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... _product=8

ive only ever had some loose puerh i got from the bulk tea store here in toronto

i'd like to buy a good supply of proper stuff but dont know what to get!

totally confused

ive read a ton of stuff on this site and honestly im still confused...i'd love it someone just said "ok buy this this and this and take it from there"..

ideally I like a variety of top quality stuff for say around $100.

[entropyembrace]

Yunnan Sourcing is a good place for puerh but I´d shy away from that set simply because the entire set is from a single factory and region...so you´re kind of putting all your eggs in one basket and are not going to get a very broad sampling that way.

What I would do is go through the sections of the major factories Menghai Dayi, Xiaguan, Haiwan...maybe Shuangjiang Menku and pick a couple of teas from each until you reach your budget. That will give you a broader selection to sample.

for Menghai Dayi try some of the classic recipes they have numbers like 7542, 8582, 7532, and 8542

for Xiaguan I really recommend the Tibetan Flame recipe that comes in a mushroom shape tuo...have heard good things of their "happy tuo" too that comes in the cute purple package

I´m sure others can give more suggestions

Another option is to order from http://www.jas-etea.com/categories/Pu%252derh-Tea/ they buy most of their puerh wholesale from Yunnan Sourcing the advantage of Jas-etea is that they offer 25g samples of most of the cakes and they´re based in the US so shipping would be less expensive and faster. By going with 25g samples instead of whole cakes you can try more teas with the same budget and you won´t be stuck with any big cakes of stuff you might not like. They also have a samplers section which makes choosing easy, they´ve already done the selection for you.

also if you want really top quality try ordering from

http://www.essenceoftea.co.uk/

or

http://www.houdeasianart.com/

they tend to focus on more high grade puerh.

[trenchrun]

you're awesome..thanks!

[tingjunkie]

Order samples, samples, and more samples. Don't end up with a bunch of mediocre cakes. They aren't going to turn into gold just because you stash them away for a decade. Order raw tea from different areas, order cooked, order aged. Try everything, and you'll be much less confused.

EDIT: This post wasn't to imply Entropy is steering you towards mediocre cakes- she has good taste. You should find your own way, and find what suits you though.

[trenchrun]

ok, thanks

[nickE]

Definitely +1 to what Entropy said, good advice.

[IPT]

It's also really important to remember that not everybody's taste is the same, so even if someone told you exactly what to get, you might not like it. Sampling, and then making up your own mind is the best way to get a better knowledge and also save you money.

[debunix]

Totally agree with sample, sample, sample. But don't be afraid to buy a couple of beengs, after you find one or two that you like as samples, so you'll have something to play with, to see the range of what you can get from a single tea, and to compare your samples too.

I've gotten most of my puerh from Norbu and Yunnan Sourcing, and was introduced to some other lovely puerhs via tea swaps and tea tastings via this and other forums.

Some favorite milder puerhs I can recommend to beginners include the 2007 Menghai golden needles silver lotus (available still from Jasetea, YS appears to be sold out); Yi Wu Bamboo Aged Sheng, 2008 (from Norbu), a remarkable sweet, mellow, delicate young puerh; the plummy and fruity 2009 Norbu Lao Cha Tou Shu; and 2010 Spring Nan Nuo - Shi Tou Xin Zhai Mao Cha Loose puerh from Norbu, mellow but rich and full flavor in a young sheng loose tea. All of these are available in small quantity or samples.

[MarshalN]

If you are totally confused and don't know what to get, then first I'd say you should figure out what you want. Otherwise you might end up with a bunch of stinker.... and I'd consider that set you proposed in your initial post to be a stinker. 6FTM is not a great factory to buy cakes from.

There are plenty of decent teas on YSLLC. Among the newer stuff that I've tried, I can say the following are purchasable

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... roduct=759

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... oduct=1379

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... oduct=1319

They're not necessarily top flight quality stuff (the first one is quite decent) but I think they're not too bad either.

[auhckw]

Since this is a cake set thread, so I posted it here.

I came across this 7 pieces,
2006: 中茶-昆明 -印級餅 -5861 ZhongCha Kunming - 5861 Raw


More photos: http://www.dengzhenghai168.cn/athena/of ... 03487.html

It compresses of 7 difference types of kunming cake as a remembrance of past productions.

The best part, some people/web site sell it @ about USD35 and some at about USD175 for the same set, same box, same batch. Eg: http://search.taobao.com/search?commend ... ce=search1