http://cgi.ebay.com/Aged-Collectors-...cmdZViewIte m

This is a link to the cooked beeng I obtained from an ebay vendor.
If any of you more experienced tea drinkers could tell me as little
more about it-thanks in advance.
I washed the tea by pouring about 20 oz of boiling water through a
strainer in a tetsubin because I am a bit too clumsy for Yixing clay
and cast iron may survive me. This warms the tetsubin and my cup.
The First infusion after the rinse was flavorful and mildly astringent
The Second was still well flavored and colored a little less astringent
The Third was beginning to show some sweetness.
The fourth had more sweetness but less of a tea flavor.

I estimate I have about 1/2 the strainer filled with expanded leaves
and all of the infusions were under a minute.

I just got a package from Yunnan of some of the reccomendations from
the Puerh Net to try out tomorrow.

Life is good

2/9/06


> http://cgi.ebay.com/Aged-Collectors-...ree-S-H_W0QQit
> emZ4431339551QQcategoryZ38181QQcmdZViewItem
>
> This is a link to the cooked beeng I obtained from an ebay vendor.
> If any of you more experienced tea drinkers could tell me as little
> more about it-thanks in advance.
> I washed the tea by pouring about 20 oz of boiling water through a
> strainer in a tetsubin because I am a bit too clumsy for Yixing clay
> and cast iron may survive me. This warms the tetsubin and my cup.
> The First infusion after the rinse was flavorful and mildly astringent
> The Second was still well flavored and colored a little less astringent
> The Third was beginning to show some sweetness.
> The fourth had more sweetness but less of a tea flavor.
>
> I estimate I have about 1/2 the strainer filled with expanded leaves
> and all of the infusions were under a minute.
>
> I just got a package from Yunnan of some of the reccomendations from
> the Puerh Net to try out tomorrow.
>
> Life is good



Hi,

It will be interesting to see if Mike concurs, but I think you overpaid for
it vastly. Having said that, the *real* issue is whether you liked it or
not. Did it go opaque on you, or did it remain clear? If it remained clear,
did it go dark and produce a red ring at the edge of the surface of the
soup? Was it earth-loamy sweet? No mention on the site regarding its age,
which is always a downer. Suggest you go for some green (sheng) Pue'rh from
vendors you will find on <www.pu-erh.net>. Try at least three new ones
because they differ among themselves, and while you might not like one, you
may find another the cat's meoux (or however you spell that).

As for the tetsubin, why not? But, remember that Pu'erh is pretty
aggressive, and your tetsubin will soon share Pu'erh with all the other teas
you place in it. I've got a tetsubin, but its dedicated to green teas,
mostly Japanese.

Please keep us posted on your Pu'erh journey, good and bad.

Life is good? Well, I guess that's better than "Life sucks, and then you
die." Both equally true. (Sorry; just spreading joy.)

Michael

I paid around 20 bucks for it delivered so that I might have
something new to try while the boxes from China were in transit. Since
then the vender has hedged their bet with higher delivery costs or just
buy it now instead of auction.
Weight for weight in comparison to the teas I started with I found it
reasonable.
(I began this trip with mini tuos from Tribute tea.)

I did not see a ring of color at the edge but if I am looking for it in
a dark tetsubin and not my cup there may not be the contrast needed to
see it and I can't say that I noticed an earth loamy sensation, I have
made large amounts of compost and have a bamboo grove so it's a smell I
am familliar with (and love).

Right now I am trying sme of the Yu Wi Mountain fire dried 2005 from
Yunnan Sourcing and it's first infusion is vegetal and a bit
astringent. I will try it a few times to really get my head around it
and then let it age.

I really enjoyed the stuffed Yunnan tangerines I bought from Holy Mtn.
But I didn't quite stop to put words to the experience.

Life sucks only in that it has an end as do all things which bring us
joy.

[Original Poster]
> > http://cgi.ebay.com/Aged-Collectors-...ree-S-H_W0QQit
> > emZ4431339551QQcategoryZ38181QQcmdZViewItem
> >
> > This is a link to the cooked beeng I obtained from an ebay vendor.
> > If any of you more experienced tea drinkers could tell me as little
> > more about it-thanks in advance.

[Michael Plant]
> It will be interesting to see if Mike concurs, but I think you overpaid for
> it vastly.

OK, you woke me from my stupor...

I personally would not patronize this vendor for love or money. If this
vendor is willing to defraud eBay I have no reason to believe they
wouldn't defraud me. This is the same vendor I warned the group about
back in November 2005 http://tinyurl.com/bpm3q . They listed a puerh
for sale for about $7 then charged $60 for shipping it from Minnesota.
The intent was clearly to cheat eBay out of their commission and shame
on the poor schmuck who didn't read the fine print and had to
actually pay that shipping. They were basically charging almost $70 for
a $10 puerh.

As for this cake, and the others they are selling now, they are
employing a slightly different tactic. They are lumping the shipping
cost in with the cost of the tea, this way you have no way of knowing
what the tea is really costing you, this is a common ploy. They are
shipping the item from Minnesota so figure $5 for shipping, which means
the actual cake is costing you about $25, which is fairly expensive for
a cooked cake from a lesser known factory. Cooked cakes from lesser
known factories typically go for $10 or less plus shipping. For $25 you
should be getting the best of Menghai or Xia Guan etc.

There are several other red flags about this vendor. For example the
use of the word "aged" without giving a specific vintage year. It
could be "aged" 9 days or 9 years for all we know, based on this
description you have no clue what the real value of the tea is. Hint:
if it was truly aged they would be proud of the fact and would clearly
tell you the actual age and/or vintage. Another red flag is that every
cake on his site is from lesser known factories that you don't see
anywhere else, this is most likely intentional as it prevents you from
comparing prices. Notice that they don't have a single mainstream
cake from a mainstream factory! Also note that in several places they
are calling 357g roughly a pound, in reality a pound is roughly 454g,
so THEIR "pound" is almost 4 ounces short of a "real" pound.

It is my strong recommendation to only deal with vendors who charge
actual shipping rates, anything else has the potential to be a shell
game. I personally would NEVER buy anything from this particular
vendor; my experiences with them made me feel like they were far less
than honorable.

--
Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net

Mike 2/10/06


> [Original Poster]
>>> http://cgi.ebay.com/Aged-Collectors-...-Free-S-H_W0QQ
>>> it
>>> emZ4431339551QQcategoryZ38181QQcmdZViewItem
>>>
>>> This is a link to the cooked beeng I obtained from an ebay vendor.
>>> If any of you more experienced tea drinkers could tell me as little
>>> more about it-thanks in advance.
>
> [Michael Plant]
>> It will be interesting to see if Mike concurs, but I think you overpaid for
>> it vastly.
>
> OK, you woke me from my stupor...
>
> I personally would not patronize this vendor for love or money. If this
> vendor is willing to defraud eBay I have no reason to believe they
> wouldn't defraud me. This is the same vendor I warned the group about
> back in November 2005 http://tinyurl.com/bpm3q . They listed a puerh
> for sale for about $7 then charged $60 for shipping it from Minnesota.
> The intent was clearly to cheat eBay out of their commission and shame
> on the poor schmuck who didn't read the fine print and had to
> actually pay that shipping. They were basically charging almost $70 for
> a $10 puerh.
>
> As for this cake, and the others they are selling now, they are
> employing a slightly different tactic. They are lumping the shipping
> cost in with the cost of the tea, this way you have no way of knowing
> what the tea is really costing you, this is a common ploy. They are
> shipping the item from Minnesota so figure $5 for shipping, which means
> the actual cake is costing you about $25, which is fairly expensive for
> a cooked cake from a lesser known factory. Cooked cakes from lesser
> known factories typically go for $10 or less plus shipping. For $25 you
> should be getting the best of Menghai or Xia Guan etc.
>
> There are several other red flags about this vendor. For example the
> use of the word "aged" without giving a specific vintage year. It
> could be "aged" 9 days or 9 years for all we know, based on this
> description you have no clue what the real value of the tea is. Hint:
> if it was truly aged they would be proud of the fact and would clearly
> tell you the actual age and/or vintage. Another red flag is that every
> cake on his site is from lesser known factories that you don't see
> anywhere else, this is most likely intentional as it prevents you from
> comparing prices. Notice that they don't have a single mainstream
> cake from a mainstream factory! Also note that in several places they
> are calling 357g roughly a pound, in reality a pound is roughly 454g,
> so THEIR "pound" is almost 4 ounces short of a "real" pound.
>
> It is my strong recommendation to only deal with vendors who charge
> actual shipping rates, anything else has the potential to be a shell
> game. I personally would NEVER buy anything from this particular
> vendor; my experiences with them made me feel like they were far less
> than honorable.

Mike, I'm glad we had this little talk, not so much for my benefit because I
have an excellent Pu'erh broker right here in the good old US of A, but for
others listening in.

Talk to me about Yellow label. I got the mistaken idea it was all Meng Hai
and all Sheng, neither or which is true apparently. What's the deal? Buyer
beware again?

Michael

I must have read all the fine print, my shipping came to about 2.50
over what the post office charged for postage. And it was an auction
not buy it now.
I agree that the folks who hedge their bets with exhorbitant shipping
need to be avoided, and others given a heads up.
In any case the tea has been enjoyable - and I am still looking for
info that can be gleaned from the print on the wrapping from you guys
that have been there and done that.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.


I guess my next question is how much have you been able to bring prices
down from the larger vendors with the Best Offer feature?

So, who is your excellent broker?

> So, who is your excellent broker?
>

As some people might jokingly say, and I quote:
"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Michael

I also concur with Mike that you severely overpaid. It appears to be
2005 year tea, which would put the market price around a dollar or two
for the bing over here in Fangcun. Simao is indeed a well known area
that produces pu'er, but I haven't heard much about the factory they
mention.

wrote:

> I guess my next question is how much have you been able to bring prices
> down from the larger vendors with the Best Offer feature?

Yes Tom,

I have used this with several vendors and it works. The option is NOT
mandatory so they wouldnt put the option out there if they werent
willing to negotiate a bit. It's very presence indicates they are
willing to dicker. How much you get them to come down is usually
directly tied to how many cakes you are buying. I would suggest that
you use the eBay "Advanced Search" option of searching the "Completed
listings only" so that you can see what the going rate for that item
has actually been. That should give you a idea of how much wiggle room
there is....

Mike

[Michael Plant]
> Talk to me about Yellow label. I got the mistaken idea it was all Meng Hai
> and all Sheng, neither or which is true apparently. What's the deal? Buyer
> beware again?

Big Yellow Label, Little Yellow Label, and the assorted varients, I
will need to hit my notes when I get home. Maybe Danny or Jing will
chime in as well. They have the advantage of owning all the books and
actually being able to read Chinese.

Mike

Thought I would chime in my 2cent worth when I return so that I can plough
through my mountainous books as Mike said I have...

History:

Some time in late 2004 some tea sponsors and the local government got
together and had an idea to retrace the old Tea-Horse route from Yunnan to
Beijing, well they gathered it was a good time to further promote Yunnan and
its tea with all the Pu'er hype that's going on, and also good for the
publicity.

On 1st May, 6 groups of Tea-Horse gang comprising of 42 members and 120
horses and mules from the various tea producing regions in Yunnan gathered
in Simao city Yunnan and began the long journey, over 4000 miles & 80 odd
cities, to reach Beijing 5 months later on 9th October 2005.

The teas were auctioned off in Beijing and the proceeds went to the building
of a local school in Yunnan, Xi Wang Xiao Xue, Hope Primary.

I believe there were several (2 I think) official pu'er cakes to commemorate
this event. However, the one you bought isn't the official one.

The Tea-Horse gang brought only the green pu'ers on the trip, none of which
were cooked.

Cooked pu'er and tetsubin are not ideal match - 01. The tea will bring out
the metallic taste in the pot, the pot's iron content will bring out the
sweetness of the tea, covering the other flavours. 02. Cooked pu'er
requires a thick pot with 'lousy' heat insulation to force out its
flavours - I'm not sure how tetsubin will perform in that though. If you
have a porcelain pot, or a clay pot, brew the tea in these to determine
which is the most ideal one.

Danny

> wrote in message
ps.com...
> http://cgi.ebay.com/Aged-Collectors-...cmdZViewIte m
>
> This is a link to the cooked beeng I obtained from an ebay vendor.
> If any of you more experienced tea drinkers could tell me as little
> more about it-thanks in advance.
> I washed the tea by pouring about 20 oz of boiling water through a
> strainer in a tetsubin because I am a bit too clumsy for Yixing clay
> and cast iron may survive me. This warms the tetsubin and my cup.
> The First infusion after the rinse was flavorful and mildly astringent
> The Second was still well flavored and colored a little less astringent
> The Third was beginning to show some sweetness.
> The fourth had more sweetness but less of a tea flavor.
>
> I estimate I have about 1/2 the strainer filled with expanded leaves
> and all of the infusions were under a minute.
>
> I just got a package from Yunnan of some of the reccomendations from
> the Puerh Net to try out tomorrow.
>
> Life is good
>