http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/ A blog for Pu-erh Tea en-us Nucleus CMS v3.51 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.puerhshop.com/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/ http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=540
Maybe this is the way to survive in the tough years to come?

I was in a grocery store yesterday and found everything became so expensive - I could hardly afford anything. A $ 10 is more or less like a Chinese ￥20 in terms of buying foods and vegetables.

It is possible that I would be returning to Kunming, and become semi-retired, conducting some business at Taobao, and doing the wholesale of teas for a better living.

Come to think about it, It is highly feasible. Like Mr. Steve Jobs said, if I wake up every morning thinking about it, maybe it's time to pursue it.]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=540 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:03:29 -0700 http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=538 To be honest with you, I have never been a fun of Dragon, thinking it as a wicked, evil, mean spirited beast.

My diner tonight:

null

Any tea drunk after this meal is delightful.

Nevertheless, the New Year celebration means the Spring is around the corner, and the tea hunting season shall be started soon. The so-called 'early Spring' tea is harvested in as early as March, that's weeks away now as per planning a tea trip.

Recently I read an article about not going to a tea producing region because of the Longjing rule.

It states: Do not go to Hangzhou to buy Longjing – the best has already left town. Or Do not go to Yiwu to buy Pu-erh, since the best has already been bought and gone.

For a new comer or a tourist, the Longjing rule is correct.

I remember I was clueless when I went to Yiwu for the first few times. Nowadays I would take a break at Yiwu township at least twice a year, eating, talking, drinking and sleeping.The town of Yiwu may not be the best place to buy Pu-erh, but it's the place closest to the action - the premium leaves are located within a boundary of 40km circle.

In Kunming, I met with a few seasoned tea vendors, waiting for the delivery of newly harvested premium tea leaves from various tea mountains. Well, guess what, the best had already left town - but to where the best has gone? You would say these tea vendors drank with me got some of the bests?

So, I remain hopeful.]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=538 Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:29:24 -0700 http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=532
In 2011, not only most those mediocre teas were sold, but many great new teas had been added to our shop.

If you want to put them in percentage, I would state this:

2008: 30 % mediocre, 50 % good, 20% great
2009: 25% mediocre, 50% good, 25% great
2010: 20% mediocre, 50% good, 30% great
2011: 15% mediocre, 45% good, 40% great

This is a trend we would like to continue in the years to come. Soon enough, you don't have to guess which tea you ordered is a turkey, and all teas we are selling should be above average and beyond your expectation.

It's a promise.

I would like to see the trend to continue in 2012 as follows:
2012: 10% mediocre, 45% good, 45% great

With more than 5 year experience under my belt, I am confidently confirming it.

There, you can hardly miss it if you buy a tea from PuerhShop.com - It worths every pennies you pay - Should I make it our mission statament?

It's our goal!

]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=532 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:19:19 -0700 http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=528
You would be able to tell if a tea was manufactured in Yiwu and by Yiwu workmanship.

Take a look at this tong:

null

This is a typical packing for all Yiwu Pu-erh tea cakes. There are six bamboo strings, and lined up one on another evenly.

If a tong ( 7 tea cakes packed ) is tired by less than 6 bamboo strings, or by another way or by using different strings, it is not a tea made in Yiwu by a Yiwu trained person. Now if the manufacturer claims the tea is Yiwu zhangshan, stone-compressed in Yiwu, it's most likely a false statement.
]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=528 Sat, 26 Nov 2011 19:43:36 -0700 http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=524
Remember, the tea fermentation is not a reversible process that you can un-do the damage.

The problem was that many faulty products were sold to the market, and they were telling you that a ripe/fermented tea should taste like such. They also tried to tell you that if you laid the defective tea around for a long time, the tea would miraculously become something better, its 'off' taste would be dissipated or become non-existed!

True, a good ripe tea would become better, but a bad one, I don't think it can repair itself.

The fact is that a newly fermented Pu-erh tea should be laid around in manufactuer's warehouse at least for a period of one to three years, and check again and again before they become products. During that time, a tea undergos a stage that we call it stabilizing and maturing. If it is a good tea, so it should be compressed into a tuocha, a brick or a cake then it can be marketed as a product.

Well, too many short-circuits were taking place. You would find many ripe teas were coming from the fermentation workshop just a few months old ( good thing about it is if you wait, it would be better), and even the bad batch was made into a product (it should be thrown into garbage!).

As a tea merchant, the task is actually quite simple. You are not going to buy anything unless you check the stuff and taste the stuff yourself. Don't mis-guided by these persons whom said the tea would improve soon enough, or a taste is what it should be, or the tea is the works of famous Mr. who, or the tea is from what's the name factory.

Use your own common sense, forget about the lowball price they offered. You may come ahead these games and get some decent stuff.]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=524 Thu, 24 Nov 2011 19:34:45 -0700 http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=521
First of all, I knew about this tea producing place all along since 2009, when we made our American Hao 0901, and 0906, we had actually blend certain percentage of this tea (back then we called it a 'Bulang' tea) with other raw materials.

Small Banzhang is coming from Zhangjia No. 3 team, a farm/village operated by veterans (a unit of PLA 38th army that fiercely fought against US army in Korea war settled in a no-man's land), close to China - Burma (Myanmar) border, it belongs to the Bulang mountain tea producing region at large. The tea from Zhangjia No.3 team is simply amazing, its aromatic taste is so overwhelming you almost think it's a Tieguanyin, only it's sun-dried and the brewing time is prolonged. Also, it's much more complex and satisfying to drink than a Tieguanyin.

I saw the small Banzhang cake at a tea vendor in Kunming, and thought, well, I got the same thing. They dared to call it a 'Banzhang' and priced so high.

Not until the last few days before I was leaving for the states, I asked to brew a 'small Banzhang' for fun.

Wow, Wow, Wow, it's unbelievably good, if you asked me. There was nothing better till this day! I asked if I could purchase all his stock with a discount. Nope, not much is available anyway, if you want, pay whatever the price or no deal, the tea vendor gave me a cold shoulder.

Nevertheless, I took whatever was available to me at a price they asked, happily, it's totally worth it.

In the next few days, I asked my buddy in Menghai to send me a bag of newly harvested 'Small Banzhang' tea sample, once again, I was impressed. It packed so much taste in it, and so aromatic than most teas I had tried. Unfortunately, the price for new tea had jumped threefold already, and they would not sell to me if I was only willing to buy less than 100kg.

But I remember you now: Small Banzhang.]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=521 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:57:04 -0700 http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=516
Unsually, the one with a higher price tag got a good remark - if you did that, you were dead in the water!

Come on, it starts with your common sense and your taste buds.

The best was that you could tell which tea was came from a 'wet' storage, and it was belonged to a plantation tea field in Lincang or Menghai area. The better yet, you could also name the mountain where the tea came from.

You had to do it with confidence.

Once I passed the test, he/she knew who she/he was dealing with, the talks became much more friendly, and you had a better choice of her/his inventory. After all, we were on the same page.

‘It's easier to get on to the business this way', one vendor revealed. 'If the buyer has no clue on a tea, why bother?' So, let's get into the game.

Fortunately, we were talking about the ripe tea, I can drink this stuff all day long, as long as a washroom was closed by.]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=516 Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:46:29 -0700 http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=513
There, you see the end result, we want a ripe/cooked/fermented tea as the holy grail.

In term of a green Pu-erh, there is not much technology involved, but to make a good ripe Pu-erh, you got to know a lots of stuff.

I had been in a number of fermentation factories, mostly concentrated in Menghai area, you would smell pondy, fishy and dirt the moment you enter the factories. I had also gone to a workshop in Kunming that made a fermented Pu-erh on a micro scale.

First, of course, you have to select what's the best raw material for your ripe Pu-erh. All cheap stuff only produces what you know: cheap stuff. The good raw material is no guarantee for a good ripe Pu-erh tea though.

The second, you have to pick a good environment, temperature, water, and etc. Menghai seems to take a lion's share in this regard.

The third, you have to have a fermentation master on staff, who would make the production success or fail.

For all factors under consideration, you have to appreciate that a success is only because of god's blessing.]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=513 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:40:53 -0700 http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=511
Currently in my cup: 2007 Boyou Grade 7 Pu-erh Tea Brick, a wonderful tea.

There are reasons for this to happen. In the early days of tea drinking, a ripe tea would quickly turn myself off for its strange smell, the tea tasted earthy, fishy, pondy, it goes without saying I would rather not to drink this stuff.

Gradually, I was getting into some aged green/sheng/raw Pu-erh teas, everyone beside me said it was so good so I had to learn to understand it, thus I was getting used to that special aroma an aged tea offered. Then I returned to some decent ripe teas to try, and began to fall for them. Still, I felt most ripe Pu-erh teas tasted about the same, sweet, with a kind of smell only found in an aged green/sheng/raw Pu-erh tea.

Today my understanding on ripe Pu-erh is much more advanced. There I was in Kunming, searching for the next killer product like our American Hao 1005 or MGH 1104.

I learnt a few things in the process to make a new MGH ripe tea.

1. A pure Lincang ripe Pu-erh tends to develop some sourness in a long term (as observed in some Xiaguan Ripe Tuocha).
2. In a short term fishy and pondy smell comes from Menghai ripe Pu-erh (Try your new Menghai 7572, you would know).
3. Simao (Puer) ripe tea can be bland and bitter (I don't buy much Simao teas anyway, green or ripe)

The secret:
What I found is that if I have a Mengku (belongs to Lincang) tea fermented in Menghai, I would get a ripe tea that its smell is NOT fishy/pondy in a short term, and also it would not become sour in a long term.

Wow!

]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=511 Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:38:09 -0700 http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=509
20111027-broken_cups.JPG

It's not a pretty sight!]]> General http://www.puerhshop.com/blog/index.php?itemid=509 Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:45:42 -0600