Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

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Nov 21st, '17, 06:48
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Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by absence » Nov 21st, '17, 06:48

I recently tasted Qimen Xiang Luo from Palais des Thés, and enjoyed it a lot. I would like more of similar quality, but preferably from somewhere without the inflated prices of a fashionable tea shop in France. I have tried Nonpareil Keemun Hao Ya A from Dragon Tea House, but I find it's not as good. Does anyone have a good source for Qimen?

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Nov 22nd, '17, 08:38
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by Psyck » Nov 22nd, '17, 08:38

My knowledge of Keemun is limited to one order of that same Hao Ya from DTH you mentioned (which was horrible) and one order of Superfine Keemun Mao Feng from Teavivre (which was good).

Nov 24th, '17, 20:20
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by abnyc » Nov 24th, '17, 20:20

Good Keemun is expensive. Hojo has one that's supposedly superb, but it's like $3/g. He's got a lower quality one as well, maybe worth trying that since he has decent sourcing connections. I enjoy the highest grade that's available on TeaSpring, I think it's under $1/g. If you're in the US, tea trekker has several keemuns, and very reasonable prices. I'd go for the mao feng or gongfu versions, which I prefer to the broken-leaf style.

Nov 25th, '17, 08:06
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by absence » Nov 25th, '17, 08:06

Expensive is fine when the price is for the actual tea, and not for covering the cost of running a fancy shop. $3/g is well beyond the point of pain however. :D Thanks for the suggestions, I'm going to try both Tea Spring and Tea Vivre. I'm not in the US, so Tea Trekker is a no-go. I've read that Mao Feng is supposed to be better than Hao Ya, but the ones from Dragon Tea House are oposite in my opinion. Their Mao Feng is very bland, but the "nonpareil" Hao Ya is decent enough. Not amazing, but certainly not horrible, to my taste anyway.

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Nov 25th, '17, 10:10
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by Psyck » Nov 25th, '17, 10:10

Some seem to prefer Mao Feng over Hao Ya and some the other way around. I suppose the quality of the ones they tried may be a factor there too. Please do update on how they compare when you get and try the new teas.

Nov 26th, '17, 10:57
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by abnyc » Nov 26th, '17, 10:57

absence wrote: Expensive is fine when the price is for the actual tea, and not for covering the cost of running a fancy shop. $3/g is well beyond the point of pain however. :D Thanks for the suggestions, I'm going to try both Tea Spring and Tea Vivre. I'm not in the US, so Tea Trekker is a no-go. I've read that Mao Feng is supposed to be better than Hao Ya, but the ones from Dragon Tea House are oposite in my opinion. Their Mao Feng is very bland, but the "nonpareil" Hao Ya is decent enough. Not amazing, but certainly not horrible, to my taste anyway.
The TeaVivre Mao Feng looks okay, but probably a bit overpriced. The TeaSpring one I was referring to is the "Xian Zhen".

Nov 27th, '17, 08:48
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by 12Tea » Nov 27th, '17, 08:48

I prefer Lapsang and Jinjunmei over keemun black teas. I guess that's just a personal preference. You could try the Keemun offered by Teasenz: https://www.teasenz.com/keemun-black-tea

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Nov 28th, '17, 21:28
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by demonyc » Nov 28th, '17, 21:28

I quite enjoyed the Gift Grade Qimen Jing Tea Shop. Link if you're interested:
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea- ... emn-gg.cfm
I think it may be one of the best Qimen that I've ordered online. They also have other red teas, but I haven't tried any of them except the long out of stock Dancong Red that was phenomenal.

Nov 30th, '17, 05:37
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by Nefarious » Nov 30th, '17, 05:37

Anyone tried the following from YS? - seems like a much more palatable price...
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/pre ... pring-2017

Nov 30th, '17, 07:16
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by absence » Nov 30th, '17, 07:16

12Tea wrote:You could try the Keemun offered by Teasenz:
How does it compare to other Keemun teas? And how is the shop? Can't find much info about it on the forums.
demonyc wrote:I quite enjoyed the Gift Grade Qimen Jing Tea Shop.
Jing looks like an interesting shop, with reasonable postage too, maybe I'll try some!
Nefarious wrote:Anyone tried the following from YS?
I think it's quite new, it wasn't there when I looked a few weeks ago. I'm curious as well!

Dec 1st, '17, 06:04
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by Nefarious » Dec 1st, '17, 06:04

Nefarious wrote:Anyone tried the following from YS?
I think it's quite new, it wasn't there when I looked a few weeks ago. I'm curious as well!
[/quote]

I only just made an order but I put it on my wishlist for the New Year. I've not had Keemun for years but I used to really like it when I was a teen

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Dec 1st, '17, 06:11
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by CWarren » Dec 1st, '17, 06:11

absence wrote:
12Tea wrote:You could try the Keemun offered by Teasenz:
How does it compare to other Keemun teas? And how is the shop? Can't find much info about it on the forums.
I’ve had the Huang Shan Mao Feng and Jin Jun Mei from Teasenz in the last few months, (first and only order from them), and really enjoyed it.

Dec 18th, '17, 00:49
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by Vicky » Dec 18th, '17, 00:49

I have tasted keemun Hao Ya it is the China’s famous black tea, which has brisk, fruity taste mixed with light orchid taste.
https://www.jkteashop.com/keemun-hao-ya-p-725.html

Jan 21st, '18, 13:00
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by absence » Jan 21st, '18, 13:00

It's been a while, and I've tasted several Keemun samples and made some interesting discoveries.
absence wrote:I've read that Mao Feng is supposed to be better than Hao Ya, but the ones from Dragon Tea House are oposite in my opinion. Their Mao Feng is very bland, but the "nonpareil" Hao Ya is decent enough.
The reason I found the Mao Feng bland is that I brewed it Western style. I had tried to brew Keemun gongfu style several times before, and didn't enjoy it, but it suddenly struck me that I always used Hao Ya for the experiment. When I brew the Mao Feng from DTH gongfu style, it's quite good, if a bit more smoky than ones from Tea Vivre and Tea Spring. My experience so far is that Hao Ya is more suitable for Western brewing, while Mao Feng is more suitable for gongfu brewing. It could explain why there's disagreement about which type is best.

I still think the Xiang Luo from Palais des Thés is very nice, but I realise that it probably deviates too much from the typical taste of Keemun to be considered a high quality Keemun by the discerning part of the tea community. I originally wanted to find a similar tea from another vendor and compare the price to quality ratio, but from the samples I've tasted it's clear that vendors focus on a more traditional Keemun taste. Interestingly, Xiang Luo is apparently just a shaped variant of Mao Feng, and is possibly made more for marketing reasons than for taste. Tea Vivre has both, and they taste much more similar than two Mao Fengs from different vendors.
Nefarious wrote:Anyone tried the following from YS?
Now I have. It's actually a Xiang Luo, and completely decent, with a nice balance of typical Keemun flavours. It's lighter than the other samples I had available, but that's to be expected when it's about half the price.

Jan 22nd, '18, 10:26
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Re: Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

by abnyc » Jan 22nd, '18, 10:26

absence wrote: It's been a while, and I've tasted several Keemun samples and made some interesting discoveries.
absence wrote:I've read that Mao Feng is supposed to be better than Hao Ya, but the ones from Dragon Tea House are oposite in my opinion. Their Mao Feng is very bland, but the "nonpareil" Hao Ya is decent enough.
The reason I found the Mao Feng bland is that I brewed it Western style. I had tried to brew Keemun gongfu style several times before, and didn't enjoy it, but it suddenly struck me that I always used Hao Ya for the experiment. When I brew the Mao Feng from DTH gongfu style, it's quite good, if a bit more smoky than ones from Tea Vivre and Tea Spring. My experience so far is that Hao Ya is more suitable for Western brewing, while Mao Feng is more suitable for gongfu brewing. It could explain why there's disagreement about which type is best.

I still think the Xiang Luo from Palais des Thés is very nice, but I realise that it probably deviates too much from the typical taste of Keemun to be considered a high quality Keemun by the discerning part of the tea community. I originally wanted to find a similar tea from another vendor and compare the price to quality ratio, but from the samples I've tasted it's clear that vendors focus on a more traditional Keemun taste. Interestingly, Xiang Luo is apparently just a shaped variant of Mao Feng, and is possibly made more for marketing reasons than for taste. Tea Vivre has both, and they taste much more similar than two Mao Fengs from different vendors.
Nefarious wrote:Anyone tried the following from YS?
Now I have. It's actually a Xiang Luo, and completely decent, with a nice balance of typical Keemun flavours. It's lighter than the other samples I had available, but that's to be expected when it's about half the price.
Mao Feng is perfectly fine for Western-style brewing. Assuming you're using enough leaves, then the problem is a low-quality tea. The traditional chopped style leads to highest-possible oxidation & extraction, which tends to mask the lesser aspects of low-quality leaf.

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