From the Ground 4H

The big elm. 

A couple months ago in the early fall.

Testing out some yixing teacups and the Purion pot.

And with the Yixing Duanni.

My favorite everyday teacup.

Got One!

Going back to this post 99 Fuhai, I was really bummed out that I was too late on buying this cake that I really enjoyed. But fortunately earlier this year EOT posted a few more for sale that they had on quarantine because of bug bites on the wrappers. When I saw they had some for sale I sprung for one right away. 

I got the last full piece they had.

It has seen its fair amount of humid storage, but is now on its way to smooth aged goodness.

Glad I got my hands on one. I think the bug bites give the wrapper some character. 

Winter Fuel

So winter is in full force with much snow and its been very cold, so I have been trying to keep warm with some of the more aged sheng that I have...

I did a lot of sampling this past year and did make a few buys.

The first I will post about is the 2003 Xiaguan 8653 discus from finepuerh.com.

Nice bright orange liquor

Testing out the Duanni Xishi 125ml

I found it to be very pleasing just starting to get some aged feeling and flavor to it,

and at a low enough price to be affordable. Smooth honey, wood, leather flavors with little bitterness and a good mellow chi feeling. A nice dry stored tea that is very drinkable. They are now sold out as it looks like someone bought whatever they had left. I am lucky that I got my hands on 2 of these as I really enjoyed it.

Seems that in just two years the prices of any decent tea is steadily rising. 

Especially anything with a famous brand name even if the tea is not even that good. 

I had a lot of samples that were just not good and the prices were still ridiculous. 

I did try a few that I liked and when I wanted to order the price was double than when I ordered the sample!

Then others I liked were sold out when I tried to order a cake.

These good samples that are no longer available I will just save for a special session.

Enjoy and drink some older or darker teas to keep the chi warm till we see signs of spring.

Ready for sparring!

On the Kung fu side of things my wife and son have been training with me now for about half a year at our school and they are doing very well. Both competed in a tournament and did very well. 

My wife placed first in form and my son placed first in sparring and second in form, he is 6 years old.

I am super proud and happy that they are training with me now.

Train hard and drink good tea!