Caffeine Clips: Show off your tea/coffee acquisitions ~ July/August 2009

Show off your caffeinated goodies right here!

A friend who grew up in Baton Rouge just got back from a trip back home. Since I was house sitting for him, he had a small box of goodies for me when he got back including a few 12 oz bags of whole beans from Community Coffee. One dark roast, one medium roast. Will be trying one in the morning (not sure which yet).

I'm just beginning my journey into the huge world of tea. It's now been fifteen minutes since I made the plunge of buying a new teapot and a introduction-set to some of the teas out there.

The set is called "A la découverte des cultures du monde", it contains 12 different teas, coming from England to China.

I bought everything from Le Palais des Thés.

I can't wait to try this out!

2009 American Hao 0901
2005 Changtai Bulang Daughter Mushroom Tuocha

Samples:
2005 Changtai Gold Bamboo Mountain
2005 Changtai Bulang
2005 Changtai Menghai Qiao

Scotto said:

2005 Changtai Menghai Qiao

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That's a good counter example to what I jokingly refer to as my "a cake is a sample" theory- I wouldn't want to plop down $32 for an unknown tea, but probably will now that someone has reported back on a sample.

I guess I should have posted this here, too.

Scotto said:

2009 American Hao 0901
2005 Changtai Bulang Daughter Mushroom Tuocha

Samples:
2005 Changtai Gold Bamboo Mountain
2005 Changtai Bulang
2005 Changtai Menghai Qiao

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You know what's crazy? Minus the Changtai daughter jincha, my order from yesterday is the exact same!

It's a good week for tea:

Portable tea table for work
A coupla "Red Chamber" tuos
Happy Tuo - thanks Steve!
2008 Xiaguan "Instant Sensation"
2008 Xiaguan 8853

Scotto said:

Happy Tuo - thanks Steve!

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I could have told you that. I know damn well that you didn't buy a happy tuo.

Must -- buy -- Pu-erh -- tea....

Does a Rancilio Silvia count? Diving into the home barista experience head first. I am hoping to pick up a Gaggia MDF in the next little while.

The beans are soon to follow.

A Rancilio Silvia counts only if it is bigger than a Tuocha.

stampeder said:

Does a Rancilio Silvia count? Diving into the home barista experience head first. I am hoping to pick up a Gaggia MDF in the next little while.

The beans are soon to follow.

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Yes! Congrats on the new machine!

Might I suggest a used commercial grinder on e-bay instead? Slightly more money, but a much better value with no need to upgrade for a good long while.

15lbs. of green coffee.

I've been thinking about how many beengs and tuos I've received over the last year that I haven't taken pictures of, so I've decided to try and upload a picture of my caffeine acquisitions at least once in a while.


In the picture,

2oz. 2005 Changtai Menghai Qiao
2oz. 2005 Changtai Bulang
2oz. 2005 Changtai Golden Bamboo Shan
2oz. 2008 Dayi Bada High Mountain shu
x1 357g American Hao 0901 孔雀献瑞
1lb. 2008 Floating Leaves Tea Taiwan Wuyi

View attachment 64192

2 Yong Pin Hao Stone Pressed YiWu Wild Arbor
2 Xiaguan FT # 4
3 Xiaguan FT Imperial Tribtute
1 Xiaguan Happy Tuo

Thanks Steve, looking forward to future purchases.
I think Ive got enough here to keep me busy for a while.

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Does anybody use these jars for pu storage? I was wondering about the pros and cons. I think the tea may actually loose flavor when stored in these jars. I prefer to just pry a piece of the cake off whenever I want to brew some up. Can anyone enlighten me?

tea goober said:

Does anybody use these jars for pu storage? I was wondering about the pros and cons. I think the tea may actually loose flavor when stored in these jars. I prefer to just pry a piece of the cake off whenever I want to brew some up. Can anyone enlighten me?

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Good question.

Also how does one get the new clay smell out of the jar?

I've always stored cakes in butcher paper, but would a jar work better for aging loose puerh than an air tight metal container?

tea goober said:

View attachment 64265

Does anybody use these jars for pu storage? I was wondering about the pros and cons. I think the tea may actually loose flavor when stored in these jars. I prefer to just pry a piece of the cake off whenever I want to brew some up. Can anyone enlighten me?

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Where did you find that excellent jar?

Yixing jars are not really meant for long term pu'er storage. When you have a cake that's aged just the way you like it, you usually break it up and mix the pieces together in the yixing jar and let it sit for a week or so, and then start consuming the pu'er regularly. Also good for shu with a few years on it. At least this is how I've heard it's used most commonly in Asia, and also the way that makes the most sense to me. Not enough airflow for permanent storage.

I have a couple of these jars that I bought from www.purepuer.com They have pretty large selection of jars, well, just tea wares in general. Although their teas, hmmmm. The info you provided seems to ring a bell in that shu seems to do just fine stored in jars but sheng seems to loose some of it,s aroma and flavor. As far as getting rid of new clay smell, these jars really didnt have any smell to begin with. But I have bought several Yixing teapots that took repeated boilings to rid them of that smell.

tea goober said:

View attachment 64192

2 Yong Pin Hao Stone Pressed YiWu Wild Arbor
2 Xiaguan FT # 4
3 Xiaguan FT Imperial Tribtute
1 Xiaguan Happy Tuo

Thanks Steve, looking forward to future purchases.
I think Ive got enough here to keep me busy for a while.

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Those Imperial Tributes are powerhouses. I think they need a few years to settle down.