Piecing Together The Big Picture (Long Term Collecting)

[bankung]

The question is that whether or not we are in the golden age of puerh tea and whether or not the new premium teas would become something extraordinary in the next decades.

If one has tried early-mid 2000 premium gushu tea with good storage, he could bet that it would surpass those 70-80s cake at some point in the future and its already much more delicious than those generic 80-90s zhongcha bing.

[mr mopu]

I think my grand-kids will have some very fine tea. I wish I had started earlier in this venture.

[Tead Off]

Hello everyone,

As a long term collector of puerh tea I thought I would share this recent entry with puerh tea enthusiasts who are contemplating the same journey.

EXTRACT - There is something special about drinking the same tea for over 10 years. It changes the way you look at tea. Such a journey provides a familiarity and time for reflection and thought that allows you to develop new dimensions, deeper perceptions and appreciation for the tea you have. Each tea session in the moment feels unique but over time becomes distant memories. The real treasure lays in the infinite wisdom accumulated at the end of the journey when you have piece by piece put together and created for yourself what I like to call - The Big Picture.

Link to full article http://theguidetopuerhtea.blogspot.com/ ... cture.html

Best, Varat

Hi Varat,

I like what you said, but I'm not so sure about the 'infinite wisdom' you accumulate.

[toby]

I try to buy tea that has at least been aged for 8, ideally 10, years in Southern China.
Been tasting my 2006 Xiaguan FT little iron cake, I can definitely feel the different after a year in Melbourne. I guess once a month is enough.
I am really interested in how my tea age in the long run in Melbourne, Australia. It will be better than Kunming dry storage, right?

[kyarazen]

today i decided to have a go at hojo's 2014 DXS, a kind gift from a friend.

it is a stark reminder that tea processing methods had changed drastically in the past decade. from a DXS 2004, when it was vile, undrinkable, bigger leaves, heavy compression, and now in 2014 the version of it is floral, thick, sweet.

as pu-erh tea itself changes through storage and aging, the methods of making pu-erh tea changes as well. new tea 10 years ago is no where similar to new tea now. so as a big picture is to be pieced, the "state" of the new tea should be considered

[PuerhCollector]

I think the comments underline that the Big Picture is different for each of us. Like a painter choosing and mixing his colors, each piece represents one area of focus and what each of us view as being significant. The idea of the Big Picture is to paint your own picture of a tea by capturing aspects that is of interest to you over a period of time whereby you can observe the little changes and transitions and increase your appreciation of the journey and the tea you own. And to hopefully expand on our knowledge along the way by learning from the experience that comes with time and an increased familiarity.

IMO studying Menghai Tea Factory productions over the decades can provide a good history lesson. It allows us to catch a glimpse of the past and experience some of the changing trends of puerh tea.

[Evan Draper]

Apropos of just having finished Dostoevsky's "The Adolescent." It's quite easy to extrapolate what one should do for a convenient future, or what one should have done for a convenient present, but the tricky part is that the person changes more than the tea does.