Recommendations for high grade Qimen/Keemun?

[absence]

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?

[Psyck]

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).

[abnyc]

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.

[absence]

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. 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.

[Psyck]

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.

[abnyc]

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. 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".

[12Tea]

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

[demonyc]

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.

[Nefarious]

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

[absence]

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 quite enjoyed the Gift Grade Qimen Jing Tea Shop.

Jing looks like an interesting shop, with reasonable postage too, maybe I'll try some!

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!

[Nefarious]

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

[CWarren]

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.

[Vicky]

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

[absence]

It's been a while, and I've tasted several Keemun samples and made some interesting discoveries.

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.

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.

[abnyc]

It's been a while, and I've tasted several Keemun samples and made some interesting discoveries.

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.

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.