YangQingHao

So this past year has been busy for me.
A new addition to the family as we welcomed or second child to this world, a girl. And she sure is a handful.
On the side of teas, I was finally able to get a good connection for direct high quality puerh. I speak of YangQingHao.

I started off by trying various samples and found a few which are very good and still priced right, and much lower than what new teas being produced of similar quality are going for nowadays.

Then offered to some friends and on teachat, to see if  anyone else was interested in a group order. I got a good response.
As I just placed the second order a few days ago for quite a bit of tea.

The teas are really well stored, and have been aging quietly in Taiwan.
I have already finished half a 500 gram Cake of a 2005 tsang liu, which is a six mountain blend of gushu leaf.
YQH has become my go to tea company for a good fix.
I will continue to try more of there teas and will continue to do the group orders, as long as people are interested and prices stay steady, I will be stocking up as much as I can as these teas will not be available forever.
I will not be left with wanting a tea that is no longer available.
Enjoy your teas and stay healthy.

Golden

Should I write about these teas anymore? as Hobbes has already spoken of them here it would seem my words would have no more effect.  I will go ahead, although I will never reach the far corners of the webworld as he. Nor will my words ever be as poetic.
Poems everybody, the laddie reckons himself a poet!...
Sorry Hobbes I had to say it (as I bow in respect... with a grin)

Lets get to it, Golden Tips a tea vendor out of India serving up "Real Indian Teas" 

I was also contacted about a month ago and offered to try a few samples of there teas, and write up a review. Free single estate Indian tea? hell yes I will take some.

Fancy Cloth covered packaging

I received the package this past Saturday and told myself I would let the teas rest a week or so to acclimate after the long trip, but who was I kidding. After admiring the intricate packaging work for a few minutes I get the pocketknife out and slice up the cloth to discover an array of mystically named teas ready to jump into my cup. So I fire up the kettle.

Before I get to the teas I will have to say that I am not big on black tea. Not because I dont like it, but because I really haven't had any that would really get my attention for longer than a few cups.

But I do like a good green in the spring, I used to get some really good Longjing from a small shop in Chicago chinatown at Mr, Chen's tea/vegetable shop, where many a gungfu session have been held. But he no longer carries the same quality and prices have gone up. I still go in for a few cups of tea when Im in the neighborhood but only get the dry rose buds for my wifes tea.

Mr. Chen's tea corner

100ml gaiwan

With that said I cleaned the gaiwan and started with the green sample, Avaata supreme Nilgiri is some good tea, The flavors are somewhere between a good longjing and a good gyokuro with no astringency even when left to steep for long. I really liked this tea and with good quality chinese green tea prices rising steadily I would be better off getting this.

Then I hit the Darjeelings,

After the first sip of  Giddapaher Musketel I had to take a step back and asked myself, why have I not had good Darjeeling before? This stuff is damn good.

This tea reminded me of Taiwans oriental beauty and that is a tea I have always favored. 

If your into Indian teas or have not explored them yet like me, I would really recommend these Darjeelings, each one has its own aroma and flavor as they are single estate high quality, Mostly full leaf also and not that chopped mess you get from cheap black tea.

The Assams are a bit heavier and stronger flavored and will pick you up in the morning fast but not to my personal liking,

The silver needle white tea was decent, but I would much prefer a good spring pick white peony.

I have been drinking these Darjeelings everyday this week and am surprised by the different flavors I am getting. Even tried grandpa style and they do very well. Left the Thurbo Moonlight brewing overnight in the glass tumbler and was very pleased with the results.
The only one I am holding off on trying is the Original Masala Chai.

Now back to my beloved Sheng puerh.

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!