Wu Yi Oolong from HouDe. High quality?

[Serg]

Hello tealovers!
I'm going to buy some teas from HouDe and I know their Taiwan oolongs are very good. But what about their Wu Yi yan cha? Should I try it or should I go to other vendor for this kind of tea? Jing perhaps...

[Maitre_Tea]

I remember adoring his 2007 (?) Rou Gui, but 2009 is obviously different. Pick up a sample, it's only $9.5 for 20 grams and you can buy more if you like it.

[wyardley]

While I've had some that are better than others, I think that overall, Hou De's yancha (the ones he's been carrying in the past couple of years) tend to be pretty good.

[mr. Less]

i just had a sample of their rou gui, and i really love this rou gui, its the best i tried sofar( had one from teacuppa and jingteashop)
a little expensive though

[Serg]

Thanks for your replies. Their Rou Gui is said to be handcrafted. That seems to be fine. And about the price -- I think it is better to buy expensive tea and love it, than to buy some cheaper and find it so-so. By the way, I know that Wu Yi Yan Cha is supposed to be extremely expensive. For example Jing has "imperial" Da Hong Pao now for 47$/50g. Could we ever expect Da Hong Pao for this price? I mean like we can't expect vintage zhu ni pot for 50$.

[mr. Less]

i agree its better to pay a little more and have a tea you like, but you can find some cheap ones to that are quite delicious
for example the qi lan yan cha from jingteashop, i like this tea alot and its rather cheap for a yancha 14,50 100 grams

ps anybody know a good online place for beidou yancha?

[AdamMY]

For example Jing has "imperial" Da Hong Pao now for 47$/50g. Could we ever expect Da Hong Pao for this price? I mean like we can't expect vintage zhu ni pot for 50$.

As Much as Da Hong Pao is a standard in terms of Wuyi Yancha, its pricing can be all over the place. The things you tend to pay for with Yancha is skill in processing, Area it was grown in (Central Scenic region or on of the further out regions), and with DHP possibly authenticity of the plants.

Mind you when I say authenticity with DHP it never is the actual original plants (whether they are the ones advertised or not). But People can make DHP style tea from a more common variety, and not necessarily from a clone of DHP.

Plus there tends to be does how does it taste. I've had DHP's that I thought tasted great for a wide range of prices, but mind you I'm not a botanist so I can not tell from looking at the leaves if they truely are what they say they are.

[tenuki]

The best DHP I've had to date was around $150/100g. The second best was around $9.20/100g.

Guess which one I ordered more of...

I don't think you can reasonably expect to get 'real' DHP here in the states (ie from one of the three remaining bushes on the famous mountain) - but you can get good DHP and you can get it reasonably priced. All the options mentioned are decent but remember - only _you_ can decide if a tea tastes good to _you_.

[Maitre_Tea]

disregarding the veracity of DHP, one must also consider whether a particular yancha was cultivated within the scenic area (so-called zheng-yeng) or outside the scenic area. Most of the stuff you find here in the states is probably grown outside the scenic area, which isn't to say it's not good or anything...in fact, tenuki's second favorite DHP is probably from there.

zheng-yeng yancha carries a cachet which may be more a reflection of price than a reflection of quality. That being said, some of the best yancha I've had were probably cultivated within the scenic area.

[gingkoseto]

Most of the stuff you find here in the states is probably grown outside the scenic area, which isn't to say it's not good or anything...

I haven't tried enough US market wuyi products. But I thought most of them (from specialty tea stores) were from the scenic area. Transportation cost of Wuyi tea is much higher than that of curled shape oolong (larger leaf volume, easier to break leaves...). It's not very cost efficient to import cheap tea produced from non-central producing region.

[wyardley]

It's not very cost efficient to import cheap tea produced from non-central producing region.

It's cost-effective if you can sell it as more expensive tea. $10/jin tea is still quite a bit cheaper (to the seller) than $200/jin tea, even if the shipping cost is the same.

Also, I think a lot of times, even the final vendor may have been mislead about the tea's origin. There is a lot of demand for teas from the scenic area and areas immediately surrounding it, and I'm guessing that some of that output is never sold at all.

[orguz]

I'm going to buy some teas from HouDe Should I try it or should I go to other vendor for this kind of tea? Jing perhaps...

If you like waiting for 2 months for airmail china post go ahead order from Jing (I'm still waiting, for some unexplained reason it goes through Singapore), but for speedy service use Houde's I too have their rou gui and tried their shui xian, but their best one was their lcsx but it sold out I believe.

NOOIT MEER GODVERDEGODVER

[Serg]

It's cost-effective if you can sell it as more expensive tea. $10/jin tea is still quite a bit cheaper (to the seller) than $200/jin tea, even if the shipping cost is the same.

Yes! We would be living in another world if all the vendors were honest

If you like waiting for 2 months for airmail china post go ahead order from Jing (I'm still waiting, for some unexplained reason it goes through Singapore), but for speedy service use Houde's

I am actually living in Russia, so it's all somewhat different to me. I got my last package from Jing in 3 weeks via air mail and I got my package from Hou De in 4 weeks via EMS. So international mail seems to be unpredictable. But I say to myself -- It's better late than never

[TokyoB]

I think the HouDe Wuyi oolongs are very high quality. However they are a bit different from at least some of the Jing offerings since the HouDe Wuyi oolongs are medium roasted so they are a bit lighter and fruitier than many Wuyi oolongs including the few that I've had from Jing. However some of the Seven Cups oolongs are also in this style. They are very good though!

[gingkoseto]

It's not very cost efficient to import cheap tea produced from non-central producing region.

It's cost-effective if you can sell it as more expensive tea. $10/jin tea is still quite a bit cheaper (to the seller) than $200/jin tea, even if the shipping cost is the same.

Then there is no next time, and there won't be that many tea drinkers to fool for one-time deal. Unless the seller also invests big money in advertising and hypnotize buyers into believing everything they sell is upscale and worth big money

On the other hand, it may be good if some big seller can import some better non-central-region yan cha and sell them honestly at a lower price on 100g basis. If a big seller imports large amount, the marginal transportation cost will be relatively low and the final price may not be so expensive.