The trap of WANTING a puerh to be good.

[tingjunkie]

Yesterday I found a box of Feng Qing factory tuo chas (raw) in the basement of a huge Chinese supermarket- ones I had not noticed on previous trips there. On closer inspection, there was no year listed on the wrapper, but the product code the store had put on the sign started with the digits 2005_ _ _ _. I covertly selected a tuo, peeled back the wrapper while no one was looking, and noticed that that the tea seemed darker than recent sheng would be.

"Hmmm... 6 year old sheng puerh found in a back room, and put on sale for $3.95 for a 100g tuo." I thought, "What the hell, let me try one."

At home I inspected the tea more closely. The tuo smelled pretty good, a bit smokey, but no sign of being stored next to incense or weird Chinese herbs. I heated up my gaiwan, dropped in some chunks of leaf, and took a whif. Still no off or weird smells from the warm leaf. A rinse of the leaves- "Man, this is coming out pretty dark!" A deep auburn hue revealed itself in the cup, and the aroma of sweet smoke, citrus, and something perfumey lingered on the lid of the gaiwan. The taste of the first infusion was potent, pleasant, and not too drying on the mouth. A bitter upfront taste slowly transformed into a sweet finish. Certainly not the best sheng I've ever had, but not too bad either! Is it possible? Did I finally find a hidden stash of decent puerh in Chinatown for a great price?

Two infusions in to the session, and I'm swamped with uncomfortable, anxious qi (or should I say the effects of pesticides?). My head is swimming in a bad way, and a seriously harsh feeling has developed in the back of my throat. Damn, it's still cheap, crappy, big factory puerh after all!

Why do we let ourselves buy into the fantasy of finding the hidden treasures? Oh well, it's all a part of paying our dues I guess. At least I wasn't dumb enough to buy more than one without trying it first.

[MarshalN]

I've bought nice hidden treasures before for a song.... so they do exist

[tingjunkie]

You're not helping!

[JRS22]

At first I was going to ask for the address - I'll be in Tribeca today and really Chinatown isn't that far away - not for a good deal - even in subfreezing weather. But unless you say the store has good teaware I have lost interest after reading the rest of your post.

I'm sorry you didn't find a hidden treasure.

[TwoPynts]

My condolences.
On the bright side, at least the first infusion was good! You are just about getting your money's worth in that case.

[tortoise]

At least you didn't loose too much money. I think for the price it was worth the venture. If you want to win, you have to loose some.

[IPT]

Hidden treasures do exist, but they're getting much harder to find. I still find hidden tea ware treasures, but rarely tea anymore. People are getting educated.

[tingjunkie]

Hidden treasures do exist, but they're getting much harder to find. I still find hidden tea ware treasures, but rarely tea anymore. People are getting educated.

Very true IPT. I'm not sure if it would be easier or harder to find hidden treasures in China. I'm sure there are more treasures to be found, but more knowledgeable treasure seekers are looking for them too.

What about posting flyers in neighborhoods with more older folks? "Will pay cash for your old tea!"

[gingkoseto]

I had some luck in Chinese supermarkets in Toronto. But they are more like hidden candies rather than treasures, nice, ordinary teas that are cheaper than what they are sold for in China. I don't know how Canadians did it!

[IPT]

Hidden treasures do exist, but they're getting much harder to find. I still find hidden tea ware treasures, but rarely tea anymore. People are getting educated.

Very true IPT. I'm not sure if it would be easier or harder to find hidden treasures in China. I'm sure there are more treasures to be found, but more knowledgeable treasure seekers are looking for them too.

What about posting flyers in neighborhoods with more older folks? "Will pay cash for your old tea!"

I don't need to post it because I'm pretty well known as the guy who buys old tea and tea ware, so I get phone calls every two weeks or so. The best places to get old tea treasures is outside China, because traditionally, people on the mainland couldn't afford to put tea aside. They could generally only afford buy tea for their own consumption, so they didn't really store it or put it away. Yunnan is of course a different story, but for most of the mainland, it's hard to find.