Looking for samples - Novice

[anabol]

Hi guys,

I've only tried Puerh which does not have a date on it (and sometimes no factory)- http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jasmine-Premium ... 90622ee365.

It was good but I'm sure I could do better. I'm not sure what's the difference between the one above and the better ones (would love to hear), but I guess it's the quality

I'm looking for a store (ebay would be great) with free shipping, which can provide samples (I don't feel comfortable stating with ~400 gram bricks).

Is this any good? - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Popular-1 ... 33887a36a4

Maybe something else from DragonTeaHouse?

I'm not sure where to begin.

[tst]

I would forget about your free shipping requirement and order teas from yunnan sourcing, essence of tea, houde, bana tea company, etc. (just look on these forums for reviews of vendors and teachatters' good experiences).

[the_economist]

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Free shipping = included in the price.

I would suggest Teaurchin for young puer.

[entropyembrace]

You can go to http://yunnansourcing.com they have samples available for most of their teas and have a wide variety of puerh. No free shipping but like economist said there's not really any free lunch, you pay for it one way or another.

Not on ebay either, they used to be but moved to their own site. You can still use paypal and get all the buyer protection you're used to from ebay.

The aged teas usually aren't very good, their location is too dry even for someone who likes dry stored tea, but you can get good unaged sheng and shu puerh there. Also really good source for yunnan black(red) tea

[iGo]

You could also try http://www.white2tea.com/. Samples and fixed price postage.

[puerhking]

Chawang Shop has a good variety of samples http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/

[BW85]

You could also try http://www.white2tea.com/. Samples and fixed price postage.

I will second this suggestion. White2tea has some tastey affordable puers and good sample pricing

[sherubtse]

I whole-heartedly support the suggestion of White2Tea. TwoDog2 provides great service in addition to the benefits cited above.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

[Poseidon]

I always got mine from http://www.puerhshop.com/. Since you are new and may not even know what you like, they have a wide range of samples.

[anabol]

After I've compared some shop, I've decided to go with Essence of Tea (EoT?).
I like that the choice isn't too overwhelming.
I want to try 3-4 teas of about 20g each. Which would you recommend? (not more than 0.3£/g please).

http://www.essenceoftea.com/tea/puerh-tea.html

[JakubT]

After I've compared some shop, I've decided to go with Essence of Tea (EoT?).
I like that the choice isn't too overwhelming.
I want to try 3-4 teas of about 20g each. Which would you recommend? (not more than 0.3£/g please).

The 2008 Bulang is a nice tea. 1992 loose leaf will give you an initial idea of what aged tea is like, but do not dwell too much on that as loose leaf in general is far less interesting than cakes. 2006 Da Xue Shan is not bad either, but it's a bit empty and dying out quickly (again, it aged as loose leaf). I don't remember being wow-ed by any of the really young teas... The 2007 Qi Sheng Gu was reasonable and would give you an idea of the "colder", northern teas.

However, note that you'll be paying relatively a lot extra for the sample-ness. While the prices seem small, being for a gram, looking at the prices of whole cakes of these, I'd be fairly reluctant to pay that.

[anabol]

Thank you.
Could you suggest any alternatives? Isn't a whole cake too much for someone in my position?

Again, sorry to bring this up - but this seems very nice. Is it "real" tea?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Popular-1 ... 33887a36a4

[Poseidon]

Thank you.
Could you suggest any alternatives? Isn't a whole cake too much for someone in my position?

Again, sorry to bring this up - but this seems very nice. Is it "real" tea?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Popular-1 ... 33887a36a4

Most people seem to stray away from ebay to purchase tea. I know there are a few trusted stores that people tend to enjoy... I think one is dragon tea house.

[JakubT]

Hi Anabol,
I guess that samples will be a better option, yes. There is an everlasting internal fight as when you don't know what's what in puerh, buying cakes might be a waste because they may be poor ones, or just not to your taste. On the other hand, when you get more experienced, puerh tends to get more expensive (its prices climb like crazy for many years) - so you wish you had bought more back when it was cheap, preferably a dozen of cakes at least...

I'm not sure on the ebay link - it's suspiciously cheap and ebay in general might not be the most "certified" place.

I think I'm currently the most familiar with Chawangshop's offering so I can suggest some of their things, though, no doubt, one could find well enough good samples with Yunnan Sourcing. And White2tea is also an excellent option as others have suggested (with a very good pricing), but I can not personally recommend much as it is just today when I received a package from them. But my past experience has been only positive.

That said, one should probably sample widely, if he feels that puerh is for him (and it is for many). I guess that if you're from the UK, you may very well start with the Essence of Tea's offerings and if you like it, then taste more from other vendors too - don't stick to one as they often have their style (even shops with many teas to offer do!) and one would easily get biased. I think that starting with a shop that is close(ish) to you is a good idea since you'll get what you want quickly and for a reasonable price.

[anabol]

Actually i'm from Israel - so shipping is a problem most times.
YunnanSourcing's shipping is very high for me - it's a shame. I've just checked Chawangshop, and their shipping quote is 30USD for Israel.

I guess i'll start with EoT, just because their shipping is reasonable (about 10 USD).

I'm an avid internet buyer (with other products such a clothes and chicken equipment), and there's always free shipping somewhere, especially with china mail and HK. I don't understand why the shipping costs are so high for something as light as tea... that's just peculiar to me.