(just like the "...Oolong!" thread, but for pu erh)
Apr 22nd, '08, 21:19
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trent
... Pu Erh!
When you see or hear the word Pu Erh, what tea site/store/merchant comes to mind?
(just like the "...Oolong!" thread, but for pu erh)
(just like the "...Oolong!" thread, but for pu erh)
Last edited by trent on Apr 22nd, '08, 21:27, edited 1 time in total.
Apr 22nd, '08, 23:38
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Dizzwave
Apr 23rd, '08, 00:12
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tenuki
I'm starting to refuse to buy puerh online, there is simply too much subpar stuff out there and sorting through it all via samples gets expensive and annoying. Who want's to paw through 30 samples just to find one cake?
I have a couple of shops I visit in person. You can sit down with the owner, sample the tea competition style so they can't manipulate it, look them right in the eye when you tell them what you are looking for - and all the crap just disappears and they bring out the good stuff.
Unfortunately the good stuff is usually (but suprisingly not always) expensive. But if you add on the cost of all the samples it's actually cheaper to do it my way if you can.
I have a couple of shops I visit in person. You can sit down with the owner, sample the tea competition style so they can't manipulate it, look them right in the eye when you tell them what you are looking for - and all the crap just disappears and they bring out the good stuff.
Unfortunately the good stuff is usually (but suprisingly not always) expensive. But if you add on the cost of all the samples it's actually cheaper to do it my way if you can.Do something different, something different will happen. ( Gong Fu Garden )
Same here. The one tea shop in my area boasts "Momma Mia Darjeeling" as their top of the line. That was their suggestion anyways to replace the Castleton SFTGFOP I"d run out of. I've got a 300 mile trek to Chicago to maybe find anything worth while.PolyhymnianMuse wrote:Again... I wish I had some dedicated tea shops in my area that knew what they were talking about... I wish there were tea shops in my area in general...
Apr 23rd, '08, 04:25
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OK....Trioxin wrote:I've got a 300 mile trek to Chicago to maybe find anything worth while.
Chicago Scenario:
----------------------
$200 - 600 miles round trip
$140 - overnight stay in downtown hotel (priceline)
$60 - stop off at Berghoff's
$0 - (doh! make that 17/West Berghoff, well crap this sucks <cry>)
-------
400.00 trip overhead
Net result - 3 good cakes, 2 mao chas, some other cool tea ( all of which you sampled before you bought so you are certain you like them ) and a fun trip to Chicago!
Online Scenario:
--------------------
400/5 = 80 samples (average sample price counting in places like Hou De and some good stuff)
Net result - 3 good cakes, 1 mao cha, months and months of drinking bad to horrible pu in the loneliness of your dark basement apartment with no-one to love you except some rotting tea leaves which you periodically mail to others in anger, sort of like letter bombs.
Just say no to online. (written of course, um, online. hahahah)
Last edited by tenuki on Apr 23rd, '08, 04:39, edited 1 time in total.
$400 plus cakes is a lot of money to a waiter in a city stationed in the middle of a corn field surrounded by nascar fans that think martinis are supposed to come in flavors. Damn I shoulda got me an education. Gotta take what I can get and love it. Cheap, young, bad cakes.tenuki wrote:OK....Trioxin wrote:I've got a 300 mile trek to Chicago to maybe find anything worth while.
Chicago Scenario:
----------------------
$200 - 600 miles round trip
$140 - overnight stay in downtown hotel (priceline)
$60 - stop off at Berghoff's
$0 - (doh! make that 17/West Berghoff, well crap this sucks <cry>)
-------
400.00 trip overhead
Net result - 3 good cakes, 2 mao chas, some other cool tea ( all of which you sampled before you bought so you are certain you like them ) and a fun trip to Chicago!
Online Scenario:
--------------------
400/5 = 80 samples (average sample price counting in places like Hou De and some good stuff)
Net result - 3 good cakes, 1 mao cha, months and months of drinking bad to horrible pu in the loneliness of your dark basement apartment with no-one to love you except some rotting tea leaves.
Just say no to online. (written of course, um, online. hahahah)
Apr 23rd, '08, 04:40
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tenuki
I'll drink to that! You know I was kidding right.Trioxin wrote: Gotta take what I can get and love it. Cheap, young, bad cakes.
I love giving pu heads a hard time, it's tradition!Do something different, something different will happen. ( Gong Fu Garden )
Apr 23rd, '08, 09:02
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