a. I am not pushing anyone away from anything. I suggested he purchase some aged sheng. That is all.so why push us newbies away from finding it by suggesting something you find 'comfortable and secure'.
b. I was not answering your post. I was addressing Poohblah, the original poster. Granted, he was looking for a newer cake from YSLLC in the +-$40 range. I simply suggested a different option.
c. Please do not quote me for something I did not say. I did not buy tons of crap tea. Tom has a point in sometimes purchasing a smaller quantity at higher quality.
As I was drafting this Tom wrote:
It eloquently supports the direction of my suggestion.And certainly people have different tastes - but if you want to understand and appreciate "real" puerh - it costs money as the people with experience and taste are competing for it.
Please let me know what you mean by "properly finding" tea? I do not understand. Do you mean with proper storage?
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Poohblah:
I tried most of the YSLLC Sprin 2011 Sheng Pu offerings. For the price you mentioned I suggest the Ai lao. The Mu Shu and Nan Po were also excellent. They are a bit over your budget and may lack some smoke, but were very nice. For something a little older, at $28 a 2006 Jinuo Shan You Le might fit your request:
http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... roduct=483
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teaisme wrote:hah I guess thats one to look at it.....but considering most of the heavy long term puerh drinkers started from buying young cakes for cheap and storing them (intentional or not)....or getting semi aged and storing...vs buying aged, I think our logic is just fine as long as we are not buying completely blind from a stranger...
I already ordered a bunch of samples from eot, and a bunch from other vendors too. After a yr or so of sampling I feel now I am at a point where its time to buy some cakes, both for consuming now (like the mellow ones that pooh is looking for), and cakes for aging. I'm sure with the right amount of asking around, research, and intuition, we can find some cakes to suit our own individual needs pretty easily
well just stop buying tons of crap (hastily), it is my current understanding that good young puerh does not have to be expensive, it just needs to be properly found, so why push us newbies away from finding it by suggesting something you find 'comfortable and secure'. I understandthis advice comes from not wanting us to be burned by our mistakes, but I am not too worried about learning things. Btw, we asked about young cakes $20-40...not 10g samples of 70's puerh.BioHorn wrote:Life's too short to have piles of crap tea sitting around because you bought cheap tea to have more.
Thanks drax for the suggestion .