Comments prior to purchase?

[jackdaniel]

I'm planning on making a large purchase in the near future. Comments on the below?

2004 CNNP Old Tree Green
2006 Nannuo Mountain
2007 Menghai 7532 Raw
2007 Jingmai Mountain Spring
2007 Xiaguan Tea Factory Te Ji Tuocha
2007 Xiaguan Tea Factory Jia Ji Tuocha
2008 Menghai Dayi 08 Green Tuocha
2008 Menghai 7532 (801) Raw
2008 Dayi Menghai Spring Green
2008 Xiaguan FT Happy Tuocha
2008 Bulang Wild Arbor Brick Export to Korea
2008 Menghai Dayi Jia Ji Tuocha
2009 Bingdao Daye Brick

[oldmanteapot]

I'm planning on making a large purchase in the near future. Comments on the below?

2004 CNNP Old Tree Green
2006 Nannuo Mountain
2007 Menghai 7532 Raw
2007 Jingmai Mountain Spring
2007 Xiaguan Tea Factory Te Ji Tuocha
2007 Xiaguan Tea Factory Jia Ji Tuocha
2008 Menghai Dayi 08 Green Tuocha
2008 Menghai 7532 (801) Raw
2008 Dayi Menghai Spring Green
2008 Xiaguan FT Happy Tuocha
2008 Bulang Wild Arbor Brick Export to Korea
2008 Menghai Dayi Jia Ji Tuocha
2009 Bingdao Daye Brick

If you're thinking about drinking them now.... they are extremely young. Too young for consumption.

If you're considering them for aging, get a tong + 1 beeng of each. So if any of them ages well, you'll have a toong to enjoy. The 8th Beeng is for you to drink over time to gauge it's aging process.

Cheers!

[jackdaniel]

The above I would get from Jim at Puerh Shop.

The below I'm thinking about getting from Scott at Yunan Sourcing. Obviously I can't get one of everything, so I need some help narrowing down my choices. Comments?

2008 Menghai Tea Factory * 7532-801 * Raw Pu-erh Tea cake
2008 Menghai Tea Factory * 7542 802 * Raw Pu-erh Tea
2008 Xiaguan FT "Happy Tuo" Raw Pu-erh tea in box 100g
2002 CNNP * Bing Dao of Mengku * Raw Pu-erh tea cake
2008 Menghai "Da Yi Jia Ji Tuo" Raw Pu-erh tea 500g bag
2008 Menghai "08 Qing" Raw Pu-erh tea tuo * 1 kilogram
2008 * Wild Tree Raw Pu-erh tea brick of Dehong * 500g
2008 Xiaguan FT "Nan Zhao Tuo Cha" Pu-erh Tea * 100g
2002 Mengku Spring Tips "White Label" Raw Pu-erh tea
2008 Menghai Tea Factory 8542 801 Raw Pu-erh Tea cake
2009 Mengku "Bamboo Wrapped Bricks" Raw Pu-erh tea 500 grams
2005 Xiaguan "Holy Flame" Raw Pu-erh tea Mushroom tuo
2007 Mengku * Wild Arbor King * Raw Pu-erh tea 500 gram
2008 Menghai Tea Factory 8582 801 Raw Pu-erh Tea cake
2007 Menghai Tea Factory * 8582 Recipe Raw Pu-erh 357 grams
2008 Xiaguan FT "Nan Zhao Yu" Raw Pu-erh tea cake 400g
2007 Mengku Lao Ban Zhang Pu-erh Tea mini Brick * 100g
2009 Menghai "Da Yi Gong Tuo" Ripe Pu-erh tea * 100g
2009 Menghai V93 Premium Ripe Pu-erh tea * 500 grams
2005 Langhe Tea Factory * Menghai Ripe Pu-erh Tea 1000g
2007 Menghai * Golden Needle & White Lotus * 357 grams
2007 Haiwan * Lao Cha Tou * Fermented Ripe Tea Nuggets
2002 CNNP * 7581 Ripe Pu-erh Tea Brick * 250 grams
2006 Haiwan * Ripe Pu-erh Tea Tribute Brick * 100 grams
1999 CNNP "Old Tree" Ripe Pu-erh tea brick* 250 grams
2009 Mengku "Wei Zui Yuan" Pu-erh tea mini brick * 500g
2006 Mengku "Mengku Aroma" Ripe Pu-erh tea brick * 250g
2004 Xiaguan "Crane Label" Te Ji Raw Pu-erh tea in box
2002 CNNP * Bing Dao of Mengku * Raw Pu-erh tea cake
2004 CNNP Menghai 7532 Recipe * Raw Pu-erh tea cake
2002 CNNP "Huang Yin" Raw Pu-erh tea cake * 357 grams

Thanks!

[Intuit]

Why not just ask Scott for his opinion in ranking these choices? He'll give you sound feedback on their respective quality.

[apache]

A few of them I tried, and IMHO, I would give 2007 Mengku * Wild Arbor King * Raw Pu-erh tea 500 gram a miss. I tried the 2009 version and I am not impressed by it, it has a rather sour after taste. If you must try it, order some sample instead. My Wild Arbor King is now relegated to my brewing with no care tea.

You may be better off with 2007 Mengku * Mu Ye Chun * 001 * Raw Tea Cake of Yongde.

Another thing is most Mengku teas might not age well.

[betta]

My only advice is not to buy hastily and spend some time to develop your own perception on puerh and then buy in a larger quantity later.
Buying puerh is something risky and unfortunately if you buy based on review of some people, you might end up with disappointment. The reason is because the perception of each person differs a lot.
All vendors will say that their teas are good, otherwise they won't even bother to get these teas.
Of samplers I got up to now, I must admit that less than five really left me with deep impression. And for the sake of not wasting the samplers, I drank up the rest. You know..drinking tea for the sake of not wasting it is no pleasure at all.
I even skip one sampler because it is not at all drinkable from my point of view.
Imagine each of the samplers weight 25g, what would happen if it is a whole 357g cake

[Maitre_Tea]

My only advice is not to buy hastily and spend some time to develop your own perception on puerh and then buy in a larger quantity later.
Buying puerh is something risky and unfortunately if you buy based on review of some people, you might end up with disappointment. The reason is because the perception of each person differs a lot.
All vendors will say that their teas are good, otherwise they won't even bother to get these teas.
Of samplers I got up to now, I must admit that less than five really left me with deep impression. And for the sake of not wasting the samplers, I drank up the rest. You know..drinking tea for the sake of not wasting it is no pleasure at all.
I even skip one sampler because it is not at all drinkable from my point of view.
Imagine each of the samplers weight 25g, what would happen if it is a whole 357g cake

+1

Even though many will say that a cake is a sample, because it's "worth" it to be a cake instead of a sample, there are other things that need consideration too...the fact that some of these cakes may not age well and will just sit there, consuming space. I think that you can buy cakes of big factory productions, such as Menghai or Xiaguan since they're relatively affordable. Also, what people like in a tea will be different from what you may like in a tea. For instance, a friend of mine can't stand young Xiaguan because it's harsh/smoky, but I adore that smokiness though. Also, you can get a ton of samplers for the price of a few cakes, and it'll give you a better opportunity to sift through the crap. I'm currently going through 27 samples that I recently received, and already many of these cakes aren't to my fancy.

[tony shlongini]

A few of them I tried, and IMHO, I would give 2007 Mengku * Wild Arbor King * Raw Pu-erh tea 500 gram a miss. I tried the 2009 version and I am not impressed by it, it has a rather sour after taste. If you must try it, order some sample instead. My Wild Arbor King is now relegated to my brewing with no care tea.

You may be better off with 2007 Mengku * Mu Ye Chun * 001 * Raw Tea Cake of Yongde.

+ a million

[tony shlongini]

Be aware that it will take many weeks for any items to arrive from china, which can be torture when you're just starting out in this game. I would suggest contacting Netsurfr, who will be able to set you up with an impressive sampler. Read all you want, but there's just no substitute for tasting.

[odarwin]

bro, imho, you are in for a great disappointment, browsing through your list, i can say that i have some of those myself, and they are just sitting there and probably wont touch them anymore...

how much are you paying for that list? im sure its a heck of a lot of money... if i were you, just go to an online shop based in hong kong and buy a 10 year old cake instead! you'd be surprised at how many cakes you can trade over all those cakes you are planning to buy, seriously.

if you are eductating yourself with variety, i think its too much, besides, that 02 cnnp bigdao cake is no younger than another 07, its dry over there bro, it barely ages.

-darwin

[betta]

Don't know if anyone has noticed this before. From my point of view, actually the humidity in Kunming is not the main reason why the cakes age there don't age fast. The humidity profile of Kunming in a year is more or less the same as that of Shenzhen (city next to Hongkong).
But the temperature profile (on the same page as humidity profile) differs quite significantly.
I stored my tea starting from last year at approximately 20-26°C and humidity 69-78%, which should be quite similar to condition in Kunming, but my cakes start to look darker than the samplers of older cakes I got from Kunming.
I don't know exactly what happened there.

[apache]

Going back to decide what you are going to buy, as you can see, all of us give you different advices and some of them are conflicting. I think you are the best person to decide what you should get as different people have different taste and one person tea is another person grass. Having said that, there is general way to go about this. First you have to decide what type of pureh you like and don't like: shu, young sheng or aged sheng. Some of us like shu because it taste creamy, but I can't stand the fermenting taste. I like young sheng because it is punchy and some of them have very nice after taste, but others find the bitterness unacceptable. Well, I don't think I need to say more about aged stuffs except the price ... After you know which type of puerh you like, then you can start to explore more on the type you like and spend less on the type you don't. I think it is not very wise to think of aging tea at the beginning. Aging teas is a very hit or miss affair, it is difficult enough to know which tea would age well, then you have to keep them in the right conditions, worry about it every now and then will they become moldy or gone off. It is far better to have a large collection of teas you can enjoy now, but if they age well, it would be an added bonus, than have a large amount of stuffs you cannot enjoy now but only have a glimmer of hope they might turn out nicely in the distance future.

For shu and young sheng, you can order samples from Steve. I would not start a debate about what is a sample, a whole beeng or 25g here.

For aged sheng samples or whole beeng, you can order it from Nadacha.

[jackdaniel]

Thanks all for the honest comments. I'm about to tear open a few of my toucha and beengs listed in my other thread (http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=11078) to see what I like, and then buy a few nice cakes of the good stuff. I'm pretty sure I don't like young sheng. I like year-old shu pretty well. I have not tried aged sheng. Right now I want more variety, but I hope I can learn a bit about the different factories, mountains and varietals along the way to aged sheng. It's an experience, right? Below is what I think I'm going to get for now based on comments and reviews because of my lack of personal experience. Comments?:

Puerh Shop
2009 Bingdao Daye Pu-erh Tea Brick
2008 Bulang Wild Arbor Brick Export to Korea
2008 Xiaguan FT Happy Tuocha
2009 Douji Dadou Pu-erh Tea Cake
2009 Douji Shangdou Pu-erh Tea Cake

Yunan Sourcing
2007 Menghai Tea Factory 7532 Raw
2008 Xiaguan FT Mushroom Tuo Raw
2008 Menghai 08 Qing Raw
2008 Menghai Tea Factory 8542 801 Raw
2008 Menghai Tea Factory 8582 801 Raw
2008 Menghai Tea Factory 7532-801 Raw
2009 Menghai V93 Premium Rip

[TomVerlain]

For someone who "doesn't like young sheng" 2009 appears alot on your list .....

There are lots of bings I have that my only hope is in 10 years they will be fantastic, cause they ain't that good now ...

I really drink 70% "old" tea, 20% shu, and 10% young sheng. 2009 is almost over and I have no 2009 tea, and probably won't get any.

Realisticly, you might want to spend some time with what you have before placing another big order... just my two cents...

[edkrueger]

There is not a single thing on that list I would recommend for a starter. That said I haven't tried all of them. Though the raw Menghai cakes might be alright in about 20 years, if the leaf quality has stayed over the last 20 years.

I'd suggest you get some drink now stuff from either Mengku or Yong De, a Yong De ripe and this: http://www.nadacha.co.uk/index.php?page ... t&Itemid=1

That is one order from YSLLC and one from Nadacha.