A Tea Addict's Journal

The retaste project

July 8, 2011 · 6 Comments

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This is the sum of the teas I have here in Hong Kong, minus a few things already in the cupboard that I didn’t bother taking out for this picture.  Almost everything here was purchased a few years ago while I was working in China and then Taiwan.  Many of those things were bought when I was still very much in the experimentation phase, and during much of the time coincided with a lot of what was going on with the puerh bubble of 06/07.  Many of these teas were chronicled on this very blog back then, with a blow by blow account of how I bought them and what I thought at the time.  I think it will be an interesting thing to do to go back to every single one of these teas and see where they are now, five years later after some regular, Hong Kong dry storage at home.

I’m pretty sure that when I drink some of these now I’ll think they are terrible.  In fact, some of them I knew were terrible even back then.  I guess this can at least put the theory of “bad teas will age into something better” to a test for a 4-5 year time frame.  Let’s see where this goes.

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6 responses so far ↓

  • Maxwell2079 // September 22, 2011 at 11:11 am | Reply

    Hi Marshaln,

    Perhaps, this is a silly question, but how do you manage to store different cakes in the same box without having its odours/flavours mixed (picture above)?

    I am asking because I am running out of space in my wardrobe and it may be practical to store them together. I read from Cloud this could be achieved but before storing them tin the same box each tea should be wrap in paper bags to avoid the mixing issue.

    I see in the picture that some tea is its bamboo wrapper or paper bag though.

    Regards

    • MarshalN // September 22, 2011 at 10:13 pm | Reply

      Hi there, I think I need some clarifications. Do you mean storing different sheng cakes together, or sheng and shu together?

      I don’t store sheng and shu together. That does mix smells/flavours that I don’t like. I don’t care, however, when I mix sheng cakes together. Partly it’s out of practical consideration – if you store them all separately, they eat up a lot of space. Also, I think it is better for a small space to be stuffed with tea, than having single cakes lying around and stored in isolation. When teas are in original tongs or other types of wrapping, I think there’s no reason to take them out and should just be stored as is.

  • Maxwell2079 // September 23, 2011 at 10:21 am | Reply

    Thanks for your prompt reply!

    Yes, I meant different sheng cakes. Quite true what you said.
    They certainly ate up my space. And according to Chan Kam Pong it is better to store several cakes together than in isolation since they benefit from each other. I Mentioning him again since he was my first source of info in the puerh world. Since i live in the Argentina the info is almost null and I don’t know mandarin.
    Anyhow, that was until I found your site among others that I am learning from different sources too.

    Do you think different sheng cakes flavours/odours will really be mixed when store together?
    Do you store them by factory, region or any particular pattern? Or just randomly?

    • MarshalN // September 23, 2011 at 11:50 am | Reply

      They do mix a little, but only a little. It’s not all THAT obvious. It’s more obvious when it’s a cake with traditional storage and a cake with dry storage.

      I do sort them loosely by regions, but that’s not really necessary.

      • Maxwell2079 // September 23, 2011 at 2:46 pm | Reply

        Thx again!

        That is what I had thought, I was actually asking myself If I will feel the mixing when drinking a sheng tea mixed with other.
        I think my tongue needs an upgrade for that.

        I will do the experiment with some cakes and see if I can feel the mixing odours/falvours

        Keep up the great work!!

  • The retaste project 8: Mandarin’s Tea 2006 Yiwu | A Tea Addict's Journal // October 26, 2011 at 10:32 am | Reply

    […] met up one of those times in New York City.  Strictly speaking, this doesn’t belong to the retaste project, because I have been lugging this tea around with me in various parts of the US, rather than […]

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