Puerh Cha - Sharing our knowledge on Pu-erh tea

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"A toast to an exceptional drink, good health & new experiences to savor"

Varat Phong. Founder of Puerh Cha

Reply to
VaratPhong
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Is there a particular reason for

1) Obscure pricing -- where everything needs to be inquired by email? That's rather cumbersome. 2) Selling older cakes in small bits? That seems awfully strange. It's also much, much more difficult to tell the authenticity of any particular old tea when it's only coming in pieces. In fact, you can't even tell if they're all from the same batch sometimes.

MarshalN

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Reply to
MarshalN

No prices are listed , therefore I obviously cannot afford the product, so I look elsewhere.

Reply to
beecrofter

The thing is, in my neck of the woods, I have no teashops that I can go try a pot of ancient tea from a reputable source. Consequently I actually appreciate the opportunity to get smaller bits. I fully agree that authenticity is extremely difficult if not impossible, however I personally cant afford very many whole cakes of 60s and 70s era teas, particularly site unseen.

I wish more vendors would sell aged tea by the gram. For example Guang at Hou De often sells small bits and I fully appreciate that fact. As a result I bought a full cake of 60s GYG from him because I tasted the tea and really liked it. Was it authentic, I think so, but I am no expert on aged puerh since I cant afford very much of it. All I know is that I liked it and that's all that counts. I would never buy a whole cake of 60s era puerh from *anyone* unless I really knew the vendor, or I tasted it first. Hence the small bits I can taster are really appreciated.

GrandTea is another vendor who occasionally offers small bits of predominantly authentic old tea. Teahub does as well, but like I admonished in another thread, they seldom post a price list.

___________ Mike Petro

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Reply to
Mike Petro

amen!

Reply to
Jason F in Los Angeles

Hi Mike,

Prices of most of our products can be found at our online store at

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.

Linda

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Reply to
TeaHub

Hi Linda,

My apologies, I had not seen this new storefront yet. You do indeed have prices listed for most of your young stock. I do not see your "Authentic Old Pu-erh Tea" pricing though? ___________ Mike Petro

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Reply to
Mike Petro

Ah, I didn't make myself clear. I fully agree that having cakes being available through smaller bits is a great way for those of us (myself included) who can't afford to buy whole cakes of such things.

However, the website in question does not tell you anything about where these cakes are from, who made them, etc, and not having a picture of the whole cake itself means that we cannot independently verify such information. Of course, pictures can be faked, but no picture is worse. Right now.... what I'm seeing in the picture can be a 5 years old wet stored puerh.

The cake "1970s AGED PUERH TEACAKE" seems like a Xiaguan production. What I'd appreciate is a little more info, which these broken bits do not provide. I can't even see a shot of the whole cake, nor the packaging with which it should come.

Ditto for the raw/cooked mixed cakes. With the mix of cooked leaves in it, it makes the tea rather difficult to tell with age. However, the brewed leaves in the picture provided looks young, and remarkably so. The raw leaves are still very green and I have seen stuff 3 years old that look older than this. Private batch means not much information can be given, of course. But still

Most importantly, while having such information does not necessarily mean that much, for people buying it it does mean that they can say "oh, I've had that before... and compared to that, this particular sample is......". Right now, though, such comparisons cannot be made. You could be drinking, say, the same batch of Xiaguan Iron Cakes stored differently, but you won't know because such vendors did not tell you what they were. It's a lot of lost information, and I thought you, Mike, of all people, would care for such information.

I suppose I phrased my initial post incorrectly, and it sounded like I have a problem with them selling tea in bits, when in fact, I have a problem with them only showing us bits and not telling us what these bits are.

MarshalN

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Reply to
MarshalN

Hi Mike,

Many of them are offered at market prices. Others can be found at our online store at fixed prices.

Linda

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Reply to
TeaHub

You are spot on there my friend. I have been singing that exact same song for years now. I would never, and I do mean *NEVER*, buy tea based on that description. Even if I knew the seller well and trusted them I would still want to know more if only for my taste memory associations.

I have seen several Merchants who will tell you not to care about such things. To only care about whether or not you like the taste. If you like the taste then the pedigree doesnt matter. I do not trust such Merchants. To me part of the allure of ancient puerhs is the history that goes with them. it is this very same history that often justifies the price. Any merchant trying to sell me unknown pedigrees for hundreds of dollars per cake will automatically raise every red flag in my psyche.

Anyway, I fully agree with your entire post, wholeheartedly as a matter of fact.....

Mike

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Reply to
Mike Petro

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