Hi there. "Gong ting" means palace, in this case it means "imperial grade puerh". When u see this term being used, normally the tea uses shoots as primary material, that's why the strong flavor. But from what I heard, puerh using gong ting material will lose its flavor faster because of its finer buds that's why it's not meant for long term storage.

I think around 6 infusions is normal for gongting material. Gongting material is made up of highest grade (youngest) tea leaves, its contents are normally less compared to those of lower grades. Also due to its finer size its contents are more easily released hence its strong flavor and easily diluted.

The number of infusions, I think it really depends on the amount of tea leaves used. If u brew it under normal circumstances, I don't think 30 rounds without getting diluted is achievable...

Also, lao cha tou are basically leftovers from the wodui process, whether it's clean enough to be consumed or not really depends on the wodui environment. I'd suggest only going for big factories or at least reputable ones for lao cha tou.

This post has been edited by PSG-1: Sep 29 2010, 07:41 PM

Can u give a front cover screenshot? Well, it happens at times, especially in unknown factories. I have had the same thing before but what I found is a nail.

This post has been edited by PSG-1: Oct 2 2010, 02:46 AM

Well, for this brand "Chinatea", there are a lot of imitation products in the market. In fact, fake ones outnumber genuine ones. One should be careful when purchasing teas of this brand especially those which are claimed to be produced before 2006.

It's most likely wet storage. I would also suggest against drinking it as it's not good for health.

Well, the founder of Guoyan Tea Factory was originally the vice director of Menghai Tea Factory. With her experience, Guoyan is one of the best among small factories. I've also collected some raw cakes from this brand.

Not sure about the above product u mentioned. But a tea merchant from China also told me this -- Whenever a brand becomes famous, imitation products (they refer it as "B product") will appear in the market in no time. Of course, storage condition also influences its flavor. As for the case above, it's possible all of them are from the original factory, but they taste differently because of their storage condition.

Hmm, I think u should store ripe ones and raw ones using separate cupboards...

U mean this one? Though using LBZ for ripe tea is kinda waste imo, but still it's one of the most expensive dayi product in the 21st century.

Well, if u're not sure about something, then it's wise to just avoid it. Plus Yunnan was hit by severe drought early this year. As a result, the quality of raw material for tea will be lesser than usual (because of rain shortage) and the price will definitely go up (because of limited production). For cultivated tea bushes, chemical fertilizers will be utilized to the max. For me I'll just avoid tea produced in 2011.

Can u share the price here? Though being classic, but it's still one of the best tasting raw puerh I've come across.

Lol, Dayi tea is good for speculation purpose RM120 may sound expensive right now, but one year from now when u look at the price again, u'll ask urself why didn't buy more back then, if you enjoy the tea that is Look at the price movement of yiwuzhengshan 2009 and u'll see what I mean.

Too bad, my living place is far away from Mines, and I probably won't have much time this month, so I'll have to skip this one

Hi there. From what I've learned, it's not good to expose the tea with too much air. While it may age faster, this type of aging is not what we desire. The tea will lose its flavor more quickly as oxidation is ongoing instead of fermentation.

For me I just store my teas in the cardbox that came along when I bought them and open the box once every few weeks to "swap" out the air inside.

It depends on which part of China though. If it's stored in guangdong, where its humidity is higher, the tea stored there, if not stored properly, will have that "wet" flavor, as the weather there is close to wet storage by default. Whereas in yunnan, the tea stored there normally doesn't have this problem, but they experience slower aging because of its dry weather. Unfortunately, most merchants in Malaysia get their stock from guangdong because of the cost.

Just sharing my opinion here. For newcomers in puerh, if u have no idea on where to start, I'd suggest u to try big factory standard products (eg 7542, 7572) to get an idea on how a decent puerh should taste like. From there on, u can go into small factories.

Don't just take everything the tea seller says. It's how it tasted in ur mouth that matters. Also the age of the tea (production year) should only be used as a reference -- it's the storage condition that matters, as many tea sellers will emphasize on the year of the tea. That's y u will also need to know on how to differentiate between dry and wet storage.

One more thing is, cheap and good will not come together most of the time. If a tea is priced at a level which is very much lower than the market price, u have to be careful as there may be problem wif the product itself.

Just sharing. For genuine Dayi tea, this is how the sticker should look like under UV light:


But again, u probably won't carry a UV light wif u nor will the shop provide it, right?

Anyway, I think it's trickier to identify those produced before 2006.

Neither will I.
And btw, the so-called Dayi reference book was also published by a tea trader, not officially by menghai factory.
Anyway, just sharing what I know here. The first step is always by looking at the wrapping method at the back of the cake as it's not easy to be imitated. A genuine Dayi cake normally looks like this:

A spiral-like finishing as u can see, which is most commonly used. However there are also other variations like this:
or
But it will not look like this:

But again, the wrapping method can also be imitated. The best way is by tasting the tea itself.

Agreed. The sticker can be imitated. Checking the sticker is only part of first step. The best way is still by tasting it. Most characteristics on the packaging of the tea can be imitated but not the quality of the tea itself.

I believe this unique taste is what they call 'menghai taste'.

Btw, another protection which is introduced by Dayi in its recent products, which can also be revealed by a UV light:

Hi auhckw, just saw this... Wishing your kid a full recovery soon.

*raises hand" There are a few tea shops here but dedicated tea shops (not those traditional herb shop selling tea) here are very few. Even if there is, the variety is far less compared to tea shops in KL or Penang.

But from what I know, the shop owner has other business running as well, that's y the shop is closed most of the time. In fact, whenever I passed by that shop, it's always closed.