The reach of the modern world is long indeed. We drink lovely teas from the plateaux of Yunnan Province without much of a thought for the distance they have travelled. Even in our sleepy little city (barely worthy of the title "town" by US standards, I suspect), the long reach of China and current affairs can be found even when walking by a window on the way to the park.
Many thanks to TA for this sample, from a bing that hails from Yunnan Sourcing, where we learn that this tea is 30% Yiwu and 70% nearby Jiangcheng. This is a vendor that I have not tried before, Longyuan meaning "Dragon Garden". Apparently, this factory owns the 1981-founded Dadugang factory.
Small leaves abound (pictured below), and quite dark they are too, with plenty of tips included for good measure. An appealing aroma of old mahogany takes me by surprise.
Small leaves abound (pictured below), and quite dark they are too, with plenty of tips included for good measure. An appealing aroma of old mahogany takes me by surprise.
Honest, clean, yellow soup (below) with an appealing aroma of caramelised sugar in the wenxiangbei [aroma cup] makes me happy.
Floral, sweet, and energetic - very lively and bright, with even a touch of mushroom in the yunxiang [aroma after swallowing]. My dear wife nods approvingly, and offers me a slice of pungently strong Barkham Blue cheese.
The leaves are healthy, and I am left thinking that this is a very pleasant tea indeed.
The crux of the matter is its price: this tea costs £7.50 ($15). For £7.50, I can get... a cinema ticket. A cheapish bottle of wine.
For something so offensively inexpensive, this is a magnificent bargain. For the cost of some allegedly "better" teas, one could buy an entire tong of this little charmer.
And maybe I will. It would be a crime not to do so.
The crux of the matter is its price: this tea costs £7.50 ($15). For £7.50, I can get... a cinema ticket. A cheapish bottle of wine.
For something so offensively inexpensive, this is a magnificent bargain. For the cost of some allegedly "better" teas, one could buy an entire tong of this little charmer.
And maybe I will. It would be a crime not to do so.
Addendum
May, 2010
I bought a tong of this tea, as it was $15 / cake, which, way back when, wasn't a lot of money. Since the pound sterling is no longer worth two American dollars, it's not such a great deal.
The first infusion reminds me why I bought this tea: it crams a lot in for the small outlay. It is particularly floral, mildly cooling in the mouth, and nicely energetic.
Sadly, it's also as rough as a Frenchwoman's legs. There is tons of plantation in here (to be expected, for the money), and the feel is "grassy".
I won't be buying much, if any, super-cheap tea any more, and will stick to Dayi for the majority of that which I do acquire. This shows very little sign of aging, and isn't very enjoyable. I have mentally labelled this cake "don't open for another three years". Maybe something favourable will happen to this tong. See you another year, Longyuanhao!
11 comments:
I have the 2000 longyuan hao made an article on it http://teajar.blogspot.com/2007/05/elle-du-chien.html
it had umpf but monotoned, as for dadugang I don't buy them cos i find they suffer from dryness at the end especially the bricks.
do try the Dehong brick at 25$
Hello Hobbes, Great post as always. I have a few dadugang products. They do make great pu-erh. I especially like their 2003 anniversary bricks. Ok, one line in your post struck me as interesting. Do you eat blue cheese while you taste? :D
Bill
Ohhh, nooo! Look what you've done! Scott has just pumped the price up to $19 USD, a whopping 27% increase! I hope you got your tong at the previous price though... and you're not on the verge of commiting a crime :)
Following what Anonymous said, I recently had indeed a similar experience with Scott. I have been offered a tong of this tea at a price below US$15 with a flat US$6 P&P. Suddenly, overnight, the tea (and obviously the existing offer) has been cancelled and with my great surprise I found that the same tea is now sold at US$19 per cake (+27%) and the postage increased as well by +50% (to US$9). I don't believe there has been such a fundamental shift in the price of these cakes in such a short period of time. My take is that Scott (as many vendors with exposure towards the English speaking tea community) is just trying to cash in on expected purchases from abroad.
This is outrageous and it should not be allowed.
Any comments anyone?
I doubt very much that Scott is concerned with following blogs to make a few dollars extra on bings. After seeing first hand how much tea he actually has/sells here in Kunming I think I can say almost definitely a few dollars on one particular cake isn't going to make much difference.
Much more likely is that he replenished his stock of this tea and either the wholesale price for this went up or he didn't get as good a deal as he previously had - maybe he purchased it in larger quantities before.
I came to Kunming expecting to be able to buy pu much more cheaply than I've been able to in the west, but frequently find that I can buy many teas for less if I pay Scott's ebay price than I can bargain a bing for in the tea market. Scott usually seems to buy at least a case (42 bings) of each tea he sells and can bargain well. I was pleasantly surprised to find that his markup from this wholesale price is not at all excessive.
Anyway, that's my honest take on his business practices after meeting him as a person and being able to compare some prices. I may be wrong, but I don't think there's any big conspiracy behind his price increases.
nada.
Thanks Nada for your explanation. That was my previous experience with Scott as well. However it is very puzzling and quite 'unusual' that the stock was replenished in such a short period with such a different price (note that 33 bings were available at the time of the offer - yesterday - and 20 are available now, then following your line of reasoning I assume that are all part of the same lot).
We should have in mind, that Scott does not sell tea only by Ebay - that's why he could change the quantity on tea he has. Maybe he sold two tongs of this tea, so he just raised the price. Who knows...
Sorry for kidnapping the discussion but a clarification and an apology is due. I just had a conversation with Scott of Yunnan Sourcing and he confirmed that the price of this bing has been raised because he did not adjust some of the prices on the ebay shop for more than 2 years. However he confirmed the offer he made yesterday and he asked me to let you know that he will keep the price of the pu-erh bing at US$14 per cake. However, you will have to contact him directly by email.
From the top!
Dear Michel,
Thanks for the link, I loved your "NUTTY!" description. :)
Dear Bill,
Blue cheese is a good match for this tea, actually! Don't plan on tasting too much of the tea afterwards, of course...
On the Yunnan Sourcing issue,
I'm with Nada and TuoChaTea/TA here - having just checked with Scott, the answer is as "Anonymous" notes above. Scott had an old page listed and, after some folk made him e-mail offers on that tea, he realised the page (and shipping) were out-of-date. Fair enough.
As mentioned above, Scott has said that if you e-mail him (and he said to quote "Half-Dipper", heh) then the price will be the original $14.
Toodlepip all,
Hobbes
P.s. Thanks for the information "Anonymous" - although you're more than welcome to remain anonymous, do please feel free to post a contact handle, as it's nice to know who to thank for the information. :)
My experience with Scott has always been great and can vouch for what Nada is saying, he is not up for squeezing a maximum out of us and he is looking at the big picture-customer satisfaction. he does keep his word and is of honest standing. No conspiracy here- and he is accecessible by email.
Sorry for kidnapping the discussion but a clarification and an apology is due. I just had a conversation with Scott of Yunnan Sourcing and he confirmed that the price of this bing has been raised because he did not adjust some of the prices on the ebay shop for more than 2 years. However he confirmed the offer he made yesterday and he asked me to let you know that he will keep the price of the pu-erh bing at US$14 per cake. However, you will have to contact him directly by email.
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