Menghai shengs from tuochatea.com

[TomVerlain]

What year is the tea ? I do like the 7262. The only Dayi tong I have was paper wrapped.

[mr mopu]

This arrived recently from tuochatea, a tong of 7262. The tea is fine but look at that funky wiring job. I've opened the tong at the top but I haven't touched the wires. This is my first Dayi tong so I don't know if this is normal.

It looks consistent from what my limited knowledge is. Envious a whole tong of 7262 yum!

[Puerlife]

I should add that the tong of 7262 was extremely well packed, was the first batch of '07, and that my one session so far was very good. I used ten grams and really pushed it and still got ten real dark, rich infusions out of it. What's not to like?

[AllanK]

What year is the tea ? I do like the 7262. The only Dayi tong I have was paper wrapped.

The only tong of Dayi I have is paper wrapped too. I bought, but have not yet received, the Hong Zhuang tong from Tuochatea.com. I tried it first. It was good and appeared real, having security marks as it should. I have seen a picture of a bamboo wrapped Dayi tong somewhere else.

[Puerlife]

My tong of 905 7572 arrived today, again very well packed with lots of extra paper and cardboard. (For newbies, the 905 denotes 2009, the fifth batch of that year.) A 7572 was my intro to pu-erh about a year ago and it was magic. This is the first time I've had any 7572 for many months and I must say, at the risk of being obvious, that five-year-old 7572 is better than the two-year-old version.

[Rdeitz]

Has anyone tried or heard about this Bulang?
http://www.tuochatea.com/banzhang-facto ... cake-p136/

[AllanK]

Has anyone tried or heard about this Bulang?
http://www.tuochatea.com/banzhang-facto ... cake-p136/

Probably an average Bulang sheng, definitely not a Banzhang tea.

[Rdeitz]

Any updates/sipping notes, anyone? Looks like they just sold out of their stock of 7542.

[AllanK]

Any updates/sipping notes, anyone? Looks like they just sold out of their stock of 7542.

Yes, I noticed that. I bought one bing. I was thinking about buying a Tong if it was good. I will think about a tong of one of the others if they are good. I received my order of Sheng from them last week. My previous order of a tong of Hong Zhuang has still not arrived. Tomorrow being the anniversary of D Day, I am hoping for a landing of Chinese tea in the morning.

[AllanK]

I finally tried the first of the Dayis I bought from Tuocha tea, the 0752. It was strong with a bitter taste. There was a touch of sweetness but not much, mostly bitterness. It did have a very strong aftertaste. It had all the requisite security markings under the black light. One on the seal, two on the inner ticket. I don't remember it having one of those large inner tickets that are never attached to the bing but just loose. I might order a bing from Dragon Teahouse to see the difference.

Note: It did have the large inner ticket. I just had not noticed it at first glance.

[AllanK]

I have a thought about Tuocha Tea. So far they have been good concerning an overdue shipment. I have an SAL shipment that is about 15 days overdue having been shipped about 52 days ago. They offered to reship via EMS for free. So far I have delayed them doing this because I really don't want to end up with two tongs of Hong Zuang and 4 KG of mini tuochas. I would have to pay them for the original shipment if both showed up.

[Balthazar]

15 days overdue for SAL shipment is hardly unheard of. If I were you I'd wait another couple of weeks. Also, did you check which day it actually left China? I have a package from tuochatea on the way that was handed in by tuochatea to China Post on May 13, but only actually started its journey on May 29. Sometimes China Post takes ages just to clear the package...

[MarshalN]

I have a thought about Tuocha Tea. So far they have been good concerning an overdue shipment. I have an SAL shipment that is about 15 days overdue having been shipped about 52 days ago. They offered to reship via EMS for free. So far I have delayed them doing this because I really don't want to end up with two tongs of Hong Zuang and 4 KG of mini tuochas. I would have to pay them for the original shipment if both showed up.

SAL can vary wildly depending on a long of factors - one being customs holding your items up. That's the risk you take when you ship it SAL. That risk is higher since you're getting a fair amount of tea.

[AllanK]

I have a thought about Tuocha Tea. So far they have been good concerning an overdue shipment. I have an SAL shipment that is about 15 days overdue having been shipped about 52 days ago. They offered to reship via EMS for free. So far I have delayed them doing this because I really don't want to end up with two tongs of Hong Zuang and 4 KG of mini tuochas. I would have to pay them for the original shipment if both showed up.

SAL can vary wildly depending on a long of factors - one being customs holding your items up. That's the risk you take when you ship it SAL. That risk is higher since you're getting a fair amount of tea.

The people at US Customs say they don't have it, but it could be stuck in the ISC, or International Service Center, sometimes referred to as postal customs. An SAL package would not be scanned there. It would still go through there, they would just tell me it is in China if I ask the USPS. In their mind it is like the beast from Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy, if you can't see it, it can't see you or, if the package is in the ISC but we can't be bothered to scan it, it must be in China still.

[MarshalN]

I have a thought about Tuocha Tea. So far they have been good concerning an overdue shipment. I have an SAL shipment that is about 15 days overdue having been shipped about 52 days ago. They offered to reship via EMS for free. So far I have delayed them doing this because I really don't want to end up with two tongs of Hong Zuang and 4 KG of mini tuochas. I would have to pay them for the original shipment if both showed up.

SAL can vary wildly depending on a long of factors - one being customs holding your items up. That's the risk you take when you ship it SAL. That risk is higher since you're getting a fair amount of tea.

The people at US Customs say they don't have it, but it could be stuck in the ISC, or International Service Center, sometimes referred to as postal customs. An SAL package would not be scanned there. It would still go through there, they would just tell me it is in China if I ask the USPS. In their mind it is like the beast from Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy, if you can't see it, it can't see you or, if the package is in the ISC but we can't be bothered to scan it, it must be in China still.

Could also just be on a boat somewhere