Looking to get a yixing pot for puerh.

I wasn't replying too you.

Jim

Mike Petro wrote:

...

Mike, for once, Jim's not talking to you. He's talking to the dude with the Yixing pots who showed up a day or so ago.

There's a reason for killfiling people who are obsessed with you -- you may also be somewhat obsessed with them, or get that way over time.

In this case, Jim may be right, though we're all pretty much sure he's wrong about you.

He's saying that most American Chinese markets will carry pu'er if they're catering to a real Chinese clientele, given that Americans who go to Chinese stores (much less apocatheries) for pu'er are not enough to base a new sheng tuocha industry on yet.

Different from saying "don't buy here."

Well, this *is* about you.

If it costs a person $20 to get to a Chinatown, the cheap tuochas there aren't a deal compared to spending $12 for the same on line.

Mike, killfile him. Some of what he says is sensible advice for someone who does have access to ethnic markets (I believe he lives in Chicago). It's not good advice for places where the local Chinese markets are selling more to American foodies than to their fellow immigrants and their descendants.

He's a crank on the subject of you and you're beginning to jump at anything he posts. Not seeing what he's saying might be helpful.

Mike, consider that most of that wasn't directed at you, though some was. And Jim has a point about the newcomer to the group. I wonder how much he'd be willing to participate here if we all told him we enjoyed his company but would never buy tea from him to keep him from appearing to be a spammer.

You are right on both accounts. My bad.... Sorry. After a while one becomes tired of being publicy slammed all the time and I have become somewhat sensitive to his malarky over the years.

Mike

Thank God for Google archiving the public record and your public record speaks for itself. Is that the post where you stole my use of the Rosetta Stone first claiming it was public domain then changed the story and said you couldn't have known about my first use of it when you were an active poster at the time proving you an intellectual thief and bare face liar. Is that the post about advertising your infomercial website endorsed by commercial interests directing people to sites with shopping carts in violation of the group Charter prohibiting commercial posts proving you a huckster. Is that the post where you were given meaningful solutions to obtain feedback about your website without bothering us here proving you a pimp. Is that the post where you led the charge to rip a website because feedback for that site was appearing here under the guise of their message board traffic proving you a hypocrite. For any new would be vendors posting under the guise of a public service announcement there is a forum on Yahoo where all the vendors gather and stroke each other. If you want to support someone pick one that doesn't bother us here. And when push comes to shove this guy doesn't know pu from his own poo poo.

Jim

Mike Petro wrote: ...bit mites...

Yes , my record DOES speak for itself Jim, and my only shame is repeatedly falling prey to Trolls.

Once again I am getting negative feedback for even responding to your posts. I suggest we both just ignore each other since this gets us nowhere. I, for one, will do my best to hold up my part.

Mike

Is that the post when you run out of excuses you accuse me of being a troll proving you are a coward. Now you're hiding behind negative feedback which is a new tact. Before I would get the KILLFILE or PLONK. Is that the post where I can't run you off proving you a SOB. Is that the post where I bring out the worst in you proving you're a sociopath. Is that the post where I'm spreading misinformation proving you disingenuous. The adjectives keep piling up. Is that the post where somebody jumps in the middle of this and says ENOUGH till the next time. You can't hold up your pants.

Jim

Mike Petro wrote:

Actually this is the post where I go back to talking about tea.

In the past 2 weeks I have received over 58kg worth of puerh from several of our fine brethren in the East. Amongst them are 82 different kinds of puerh including 7 different types of Bamboo puerh,

15 different bingchas, 3 different types of brick puerh, some mushroom, fangcha, 5 types of tuocha, 5 types of loose, some golden melon, some pomelo, and an assortment of regular Chinese reds, blacks, and greens.

I am now quite busy photographing, cataloging, brewing, and tasting all of these fine specimens. Many of them will need some aging before they are ready for prime time, however, there are also many that are quite tasty right now and I have not even made it half way through them yet.

Much of this is destined for friends and/or gifts, the rest is for my collection. My personal style is to buy at least 2 of every cake I intend to age. One is kept pristine and allowed to age for 20 years or so, the other is sampled every year so that I can experience the cakes as they mature. IMHO this is the best way to learn about puerh, you can read all the books, read the newsgroups, talk to a bunch of Tea Masters (which is sure to confuse you even further since no 2 of them agree on anything), talk to all of the vendors, and even tour China, but there is no better way to learn puerh than to develop your own collection of "taste memories". Hehe, good notes help too.

BTW, I use about 6 different yixing pots that are each dedicated to a different genre of puerh. Every one of them came from an online vendor residing in China. (Just to get back on topic somewhat)

Mike Petro

"In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be forgotten that much likewise is performed." Samuel Johnson, 1775, upon finishing his dictionary.

Yeah Michael, if Sasha were ever (as I know he wouldn't, this is teasing) to show up at my door with a gung fu pot and some Bai Hao...I'd know ALL about what he was up to. Yep. Can't fool me now. ;)

Melinda

Well, well, well... Some naive souls would not see a hidden invitation here but an old Don Juan like myself... Hmmm... Bai Hao, you are saying... And Melinda - I promise, Henry would never know anything. :) You know that and I know you know...

Sasha.

Space snipped-for-privacy@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com6/22/05

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Jim,

Of course I agree with you on the Chinatown thing, but as for the better and best Pu'erhs, think of it this way: Could you walk into to any car dealer and pick up a Bentley? No. You'd have to go pretty far out of your way. So it is with Pu'erh. You can get reasonably good Pu'erh in any Chinatown, but for the truly good stuff, you need to range further out. After all, the average Chinese living in your area is no more likely to appreciate or buy excellent Pu'erh than the average Gringo is likely to.....well, don't get me started.

If you find the point to my comments above, please share them with me.

Thanks.

Michael

[Mike Petro] [Michael] I'm really interested in this as I have two teapots dedicated to Pu'erh, one to cooked, and one to young uncooked. The old uncooked Pu'erhs I drink from gaiwans only. Please tell us your breakdown and how you arrived at it. I have YiXings for different types of tea, but it hadn't occurred to me to have multiples for Pu'erh.

Almost by definition there were no expensive teas in Chinatown for the consumer. Chinatown did have a selection but if money is burning a hole in your pocket you'd shop elsewhere. If I've learned any thing about tea there is no correlation between price and taste. From the seventies till the mid nineties tea turnover was flat ie something new you hadn't seen before. In the past five years selection has increased many fold along with the price. The nicest surprise are Taiwan teas. I was so impressed by a commercial A-Li-Shan and DongDing I cleared the shelves which wasn't cheap at $10/100g. This is the first tea I decided I couldn't live without. If I ever know when I drink my last cup of tea this will be it. I'm starting to ponder those type of questions now. I understand the tremendous variety of tea and the search for another cup. When people present the case tea is greener on the other side of the fence I remind them of what is on this side. Chinatown is behind the eight ball on puerh. However if I understand the argument correctly the middle class on this side of the Pacific will want their share. Any part of the tea culture(s) stands on it's own and I think the comparison to other activities just doesn't mean much. My Chinatown has a cheap LiuAn which will cost you more from anywhere else. If I'm looking for a Bentley I'll find someone who took it in trade for a MiniCooper.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

...I delete me...

So your approach to tea is one upmanship. When you have a fire sale let me know.

Jim

I agree with the killfile idea - I've had him in mine for some time now, although his bile still oozes in from time to time in other posts. Why is this guy so obsessed with you, anyway? It's sociopathic. And weird.

Well here is the spread and my reasoning.

1) A cool artistic wood-like pot for everyday Shu Puerh. Obtained from Michael Ryan. It is my second favorite pot so I use it on my second most consumed tea. 2) A pot-bellied version of that same pot for well aged Shu Puerh. Obtained from Michael Ryan. Not sure that it matters or not but 20 year old Shu puerhs get their own pot. 3) A traditional styled wide bellied pot for everyday Sheng Puerh, I got this one from a friend in Kunming, it is the best pot I own hence I dedicated it to the puerh I drink the most. It has the fastest, most perfect, pour of any pot I own. The clay is allegedly zhuni grade B and it is the work of a known Pottery Master's shop although not made by the Master himself. 4) A pot that looks very similar to #3 but does not function nearly as well, it doesn't pour as well and it clogs easily. I use it for adolescent Sheng Puerh, that is puerh in the 10-18 year range. It is sufficiently different enough from young sheng but is still nowhere near as smooth as well aged. 5) A small pot not much bigger than a walnut, about 40ml, that I used for aged puer 20 years+. I got this one from Jing Teashop, while it is not a Master potters work by any means it is perfect for those very expensive aged puerhs. Just the right size to get good steeps out of 2-3g of leaf. 6) I have another pot that I got from James Bana at Pu-erhtea.com that I use for Bamboo Puerhs. They are different enough to warrant their own pot.

Mike

I'm glad Henry will never know anything becasue I really really really HATE being locked in towers...;)

I thought that Bai Hao would get your attention, lolol......

Melinda

Melinda, It did :) Next time I am in NY and hopefully see Michael, DogMa and Lew, we shall all get together and do a seduction GongFu orgy and you will be the judge. Wouldn't that be G-orgeous?

Sasha.

[Jim, discussing his Chinatown tea buying experience in general]

snip

snip

On that we can all -- or most of us -- agree. I'm drinking a *very* pleasant Bian Cha at the moment, and although I don't know its precise price, I know it was in the lower rather than the higher realms. The tea has complexity, it has subtlety, it has taste and aroma, it has style, and it's nicely made. My groping through samples of this year's much discussed Long Jings seem to support your contention as well.

Nonetheless, There are teas out there that are truly rare, truly wonderful, and truly expensive. Ultimately, it's all a matter of taste and style, eh? Besides, in Chinatown you get to pour over hundreds of pretty tea boxes with pastoral scenes and pretty ladies pointing at tea leaves with that come hither look. But, from our main purpose I digress. Let me stop while I'm ahead.

Michael

Space snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com6/23/05

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Jim, Ya gotta contextualize your posts; otherwise, even though you shot at us, we can't know who is to fall down.

Michael