2006 Yuan Rui Chang Ripe Pu erh

I had included this 2006 ripe pu erh in my latest order from Yunnan Sourcing last month.  This inexpensive cake was described as "Made from medium to coarse grade leaves from Menghai area fermented material.  2005 fermentation material, and pressed in 2006.  Stored in Kunming for more than 5 years already.  Similar to a 8592 blend except without the smattering of tippy leaves on the face of the cake.  Nice burgundy liquor both bright and clear!  Taste is clean, sweet and smooth, with a camphor aroma."


This 357g cake was very aromatic when I unwrap the tea cake.  The cake looked darker than most ripe cakes I had recently consumed and the compression was not too high, in that I could break the tea cake apart, with my hands, for storing the tea in a container.  I like such lighter compression tea cakes/bricks as it does not result in lots of tea dust when the cake is broken up.  


I have to disagree with the description on the cake provided by Yunnan Sourcing.  I found a strong aromatic boiled beans scent and did not detect any camphor scent on the cake.  This boiled beans scent is quite pleasant and I found that the tea tasted better when you brew with less leaves.  I normally use about 8-10g for a 200ml teapot but this tea tasted better with 6-7g.  There is a mildly sweet aftertaste as well.  For those ripe tea drinkers who are looking for that boiled beans aroma.......this is a good candidate for your consideration.  Inexpensive too.

Happy Chinese New Year

All Chinese will celebrate the Lunar New Year on 23 Jan 2012.  Based on the Chinese Zodiac calendar, this is the year of the dragon.  A dragon year is popular among the Chinese to have babies, as the dragon is deemed to be a strong and powerful symbol. And yes, you will see all Chinese homes celebrating the festive new year with lots of food, goodies, fire crackers and red packets.  

For the Chinese tea drinker like myself, you would have realized that the prices of tea, especially the new harvest, are more expensive.  Higher demand as well as higher production costs had driven up the prices of raw commodities which include tea.  I forsee higher prices for 2012 teas as well. At least I console myself that my pu erh tea stash, which I overspent, is enough to last me for a long long time.   

For myself, I am drinking lots of ripe pu erh and am starting to explore raw (sheng) pu erh.  I am starting my raw pu erh adventures with a focus of those pu erh with a smoky scent in them.  Somehow, right now, I feel that the additional smoky scent do enhance the overall raw pu erh brewing session.  

I intend to go visit China and Malaysia this year explore the tea scene there.  I had made many tea friends from these regions and I look forward again to having "tea-jamming" sessions with them.  

The 2nd pix shows a 1997 yiwu raw tea sold in Malaysia.  Yes the tea cake looks really worn but in my personal opinion, this particular tea stand outs as a very impressive tea in terms of taste, aroma, woodsmoke, woody camphor and sandalwood notes and a very pleasant herbal-sweet and satisfying aftertaste.  Its really very good and very expensive.

I wish all readers every happiness and good health.  Time to brew a pot of tea.  Happy Chinese New Year.  

My Malaysian Tea Purchase

I took my family to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the last week of 2011.  We had a good time trawling the malls and eating all the Krispy Creme doughnuts almost on a daily basis (its not available in Singapore...yet).

I took one afternoon to meet my teapal, Chua (aka auhckw) while my family caught a movie in one of the huge shopping malls in the city.  Chua is very popular in tea forums and is a serious tea and teapot collector.  This time, he took me to a couple of teashops trying out the teas on offer as well as meeting his tea buddies, who were 'hardcore' tea collector enthusiasts as well.  

I was at JDX Tea Distributors Sdn Bhd, the popular teashop which is also the distributor for Menghai Dayi tea (known as Taetea).  I got to sample the special boxed edition of the 2010 Dayi "tien ren ba pu", a raw pu erh cake commemorating the Beijing Opera.  The unique woodsmoke and the aroma of this tea, made me buy a cake immediately.  This tea is really nice.

Yes, from the last pix, you would have deduced that I had carried back close to 5kg of tea home from Malaysia.  I had also purchased a tong of the 2010 Gold Dayi.  My tea buddy, Auhckw, was very generous giving me an old 2000 raw tuo and a pack of the Xiaguan iron cakes (pix 3).  He also gave me many Dayi ripe samples as well.  I am very grateful for his generosity.   I intend to visit him again, real soon, to experience his immense generosity again.  

I will write about the teashops in Malaysia as well as the tea drinkers and collectors there.  Stay tuned. 

2008 Xiaguan FT Happy Tuo 100g

I bought this 2008 Xiaguan happy tuo with much anticipation of the happiness that comes when I brew a teapot of this tea.  The term "FT" which you see sold on some Xiaguan tea products, refers to the collaboration between a Taiwan 'Fei Tai' business, together with Xiaguan, that exported pu erh tea from China to Taiwan.  I heard rumors that FT Xiaguan pu erh use a better grade tea which may explain the higher prices.  I will be ordering and drinking a bit more of these teas and I will give you my thoughts on this rumor.

This 100g tuo is raw pu erh.  The compression of the tea is tight and this time, I use a shorter pu erh pick to break the tuo.  A shorter pick, in my opinion, is easier to manage and break open a tuo as the pick would not easily slide out and cause an accident.  

This tea is very pleasant and nice.  Compared to the 2007 Xiaguan teji tuo (13 dec 2011 blog), I felt this tea is slightly more robust.  Like the teji tuo, this FT tuo has that pleasant sweet flowery bouquet aroma.  Most importantly, this tuo has a nice smoky scent when I brew this tea.  This combination of woodsmoke and the nice fresh aroma does makes this drink a happy experience.  There was the slightest hint of sweetness in the pleasant aftertaste.   I also found that the tea taste better when drunk hot or warm.  I did not like this tea when it has cooled down to room temperature and I would heat the tea again before drinking ( yes, many of you readers will frown on my reheating the tea, especially in a microwave.....give me your thoughts)

Overall, this is a nice tea.  Not too expensive and Yunnan Sourcing has this tea on their site....I think about $5-6.  The wrapper and box looks really pretty and this tea would make a nice inclusion in your next online order.  

2011 - Looking Front And Back

I am grateful and thankful that 2011 was a good year for my family.  I made many new tea friends and had the opportunity this year to visit Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Malaysia for my tea adventures.

For next year, I will be visiting these places again as well as Yunnan to learn more about tea.  If any of the readers are interested, it would be a pleasure to meet up with you at these places and I would show you the sights and sounds of the tea markets.  Free.

I got to drink lots of pu erh tea this year. For ripe pu erh this year, the 2004 Xiaguan ripe, the ‘04 brick from Lau Yu Fat (Hong Kong) and ’06 Hong Tai Chang cake were very impressive ripe pu erh tea in my opinion.

I was also fascinated with raw pu erh that has the smoky aroma.  I was smitten with the 2007 Xiaguan te-ji tuo.  I found the brew simply delicious and I finished 2 tuos within one month. 

For next year, I will endeavor to find out more about smoky raw pu erh tea during my travels and will continue to document those tea I have drank.  I intend to revisit some tea I had consumed ….. I did buy doubles and triples ….. and see whether what I had blogged about the teas still hold true.

In one my earliest blog on tea, I stated  “For me, its a happy and "at peace" sensation   when I taste a good cup of tea.”  After 3 years of blogging, that statement continues to summarize my tea drinking adventures. 

Thank you for reading.  Thanks for the feedback and encouragements.  Happy New Year 2012.

Yoda drinks tea - I kid you not

I was browsing the internet when I came across this website - http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/ea88/.

The picture also from the website, had me started whipping up my credit card to make an order.  This is the one.....the tea that Master Yoda drinks.  The site describes the tea as "Dagobah Green Tea is the drink of choice of Jedi Masters. Just because a planet is devoid of civilization doesn't mean it's not civilized. Deep in the jungles of Dagobah grow the most delicious green tea leaves in the galaxy. If you need a moment alone to ponder the Force, do it while sipping a hot cup of Yoda's favorite tea."  The tea is a blend of green pu erh, white peony and matcha.  Each tin has 1 oz of tea leaves which is "enough for 14 cups."

The entire set of Vader's coffee, Hoth cocoa and Dagobah tea goes for US$29.99.  Drats! Its out of stock and its only for sale within USA.  I have 'vibered' my American friend to get me this order for me. In the movie The Empire Strikes Back, one of Yoda's quotes was "No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

2007 Xiaguan "te-ji" 100g tuo

This is the 2007 Xiaguan tea factory "te-ji" tuo.  Pu erh tea are usually compressed into cake, brick or tuo shapes before they are sold in the tea markets or shops.  This makes for easy storage and takes up less space as well.  If you look at the last pix, you can even see the Xiaguan logo when the tea was compressed into the factory mould.  There is a hollow at the bottom of the tuo, which I was told, helps to allow moisture to escape during the drying process.

Xiaguan tea factories are famous for their pu erh tuos and iron disc cakes.  The latter cakes refers to tea cakes that are compressed and shaped into flat cylindrical discs that normally come in the standard 357g weight.  I will purchase this disc in my next teashop visit and will put up the pix of the disc.  I should add that these tuos and disc are very tightly compressed and you would need at least a metal letter opener or a tea pick to break up your tea.  Be careful......I accidentally poke myself.......drinking tea has its hazards.

I had bought this raw pu erh tuo locally at Amoy Tea at Sims Drive.  This "te-ji" (special grade) tuo was sitting in an obscure corner of the shop when I decided to buy a tuo and give it a go.  The 1st 5 infusions was, to me, the highlight of this tea.  The aroma was a light flowery bouquet with a mild citrus scent.  In addition, there was this strong burnt-firewood scent in the tea.  I had found out that, during the pu erh processing, the tea leaves are pan fried at one stage, and wood was used as fuel in the pan frying process (there are now tea factories using electrical pans for convenience and I was told, is easier to control and get a even heat).  I had mentioned in my earlier blogs to keep all your tea away from odours as tea absorb smells easily and its hard to get rid of that scent.  This Xiaguan tuo as well as as many of the Xiaguan pu erh, had absorbed some of the burning firewood smoke,  thus the signature smoky scent in their tea.  

The highlight, to me, of this tea is that the smoky scent combined with the light flowery and citrus aroma makes this tea a wonderful brew.  I would like to add that if you have never tried a smoky pu erh like this tuo, you may need a little time to get used to it.  My wife, in her very first sip of this tea, commented on the strong smoky burnt wood scent......I told her that this scent is part of this Xiaguan tuo and told her to evaluate the entire tea again with this scent in mind.   And now.....like me, she likes this tea very much.

There are tea drinkers I know that told me the smoky aspect of a tea distorts the true taste of the pu erh.  Many will agree and disagree with this statement.  For me, you should buy and drink the tea you like.  Every tea will have its own distinct aroma and taste and every tea factory have their own style of tea processing.....which is the very reason I enjoy drinking Chinese Tea.......it is a wonderful adventure for me - every time with every cup.    

This 2007 Xiaguan "te-ji" tuo  comes bagged in hypo-allegernic bag (5 tuos in a bag).  I had purchased a single tuo locally from Amoy Tea for $5 to try and subsequently buying a few bags of this tea a couple of weeks later.  I would encourage you to try out a tuo if you are at the teashop  (I do not have any business interest in the shop and will not receive any commission).   Highly recommended - for $5.