Wah Wah Thanks you guys... I now know what and where I should do and go tomorrow!!

BTW I'm a lover of raw tea ie oolong, ti kun yam and my fav taiwanese high mountain tea (that was a direct translation of what the shop ppl tell me hehe)

+1

How come no one drinks Taiwan tea here? Only po-lei only?

well actually I'm new to tea drinking too that is why I have been going around testing and drinking. The type of tea that captured my taste buds are Taiwanese tea. So I've been hoping to learn from you seniors about good shops with good selections with good pricing etc. Hope you guys can share

oh u mean Utea Enterprise on level 3? Ya I was just there last Saturday, The owner Mr Lee was there. Ended up spending 3+hrs there. Tried so many types of tea. Ended up getting a pack of High Mountain Tea from him. Have to say his price is reasonable. Quality good too but I have not opened my purchase yet (have to finish up some of my already open tea 1st). Below is the photo of what I purchased.

sorry for being ignorant but isn't the tea pot suppose to shine with constant use with good tea?? This method to me seems artificial. instead of polishing with sand paper an easier way would be to rub some oil (not sure what type) on to the tea pot to get a nice shine abet it would only serve an an ornamental piece after, not sure I would like to drink from a pot that has gone through such a process.

No offense intended, just my 2 cents here

+1

That is the way it should be done.

BTW auhckw, where is this shop u visiting? its the weekend and I'm looking for a place to hangout this shop you visited seems interesting.

Sorry just saw your PM. We will have to plan another trip next week ya.

Go round the tea shops you will find many. Some are very expansive ya. Or check out the shops in chinatown.

I am new to this hobby. Can you please tell me which type of tea variant is overprice and (this is what I want to know most) which shops are over price so I can just avoid them.

Ya i know Purple Cane is expansive. The tea pot that I bought for 180.00 they are selling for 430.00 (not sure if there is discount but I made sure the tea pots are the same one). I would say Purple Cane is selling more utensils (pots, cawan, etc) than tea. Where is this Hojo?

Agree shoping mall=expansive.

---

Added on July 4, 2011, 6:21 pmJust curious, how many of you guys can tell the temperature of your water just by the sound of the boil? I read that real masters can tell the correct temperature of the water for different types of tea just by the sound of the boil.

Have been experimenting the whole day (a little tea drunk right now) and I will say that it is true that different sound produces different taste with the same tea (taiwan tea ).

Any opinion guys?

This post has been edited by slimfox: Jul 4 2011, 06:21 PM

Ya that was what I read also. Was busy trying it out today. you know what it is quite fun to go back to the basics. Makes that cup of tea so much more enjoyable.

maxguy: where is the fun if u get a thermometer? My auto boiler does automatically too.

+1 auhckw

Very informative read. Will check out this place this week.

Phoenix Oolong.. Is it raw or semi-fermented? I was reading the article you linked to earlier and am very curious about their tea ware. Is the clay used that good? have to check this out in person.

This is inspired by auhckw.

Remember earlier I mention I bought this tea from UTEA Enterprise



Well today I decided to open the pack and drink it. Below are the picture of the tea.

Open pack



A better look of the tea



The tea in the pot before brewing



Tea from the 1st brew



Tea leaves after the 1st brew



Notice how green the tea leaves are from before and after brew. This tea is fragrant as expected from a Taiwanese high mountain oolong. The taste starts to degrade after the 6th brew. All I can say is worth my 70.00 buying it.

Ok I'm on a roll today.

From the expo the other day at Tropicana mall I did buy some ripe Pu-Er tea. I have been airing them all this while (under my computer desk) and decided to try them out today too.

I bought 5 mini bengs (it came in a nice tin can and may be the reason I bought them cause could not try them during the expo) so today was the moment of truth for me.

This is how the front of the beng looks like



The back



How the Pu-Er tea leaves look like after I hacked it into half



Loose tea leave after breaking up one half of the beng

(flash on)


(flash off) noticed that it looks greener here but this is ripe Pu-Er


1st brew nice golden colour. Has a nice smooth taste and texture to it and the earthly aroma is not very strong. Sweet aftertaste.



The tea after the 1st brew



Conclusion, not a bad tea for the price I paid and I do believe that with time it will only improve.

auhckw: Any comments cause I know you bought the same tea too

Got drunk in komplex selangor today

This post has been edited by slimfox: Jul 6 2011, 09:57 PM

As I was walking in Sg Wang today I would never thought I would have bummed into a counter selling tea. They were selling both Taiwanese tea and Pu-Er but what caught my eye were the offer they had for tea pots. They had one section where all the YiXing teapots were selling for RM60, another section all the YiXing teapots were selling for half price only. This was where I pick up one for only RM90 (the original price was RM188 and I bargain further RM4 discount).

This was the teapot that I pick up


The bottom of the pot


Now when I got home of course I immediately season the teapot. This teapot I intend to use it exclusively for Pu-Er. Below would be pictures of my seasoning process (auhckw maybe you could comment if my method is correct or not)

After giving it a good scrubbing with a toothbrush I place both the teapot and it's cover in to a pot


Then I put in some exhausted Pu-Er tea leaves from my earlier session


Next I started to boil the whole pot under low heat (small gas flames) for 1hr


How it looks like during the slow boil process


After boiling for 1hr I allow it to cool down for 30minutes before removing the teapot and allowing to cool down on its own for 15minutes. Then a quick rinse and its ready.


All I can say is that it is an nice YiXing teapot for a good price. Only time will tell how good this teapot will taste (I believe if you use good tea the teapot will taste better)

---

Added on July 8, 2011, 12:40 amIts a hobby so I do it during lunch or appointments. Its like golfers. Arranging meetings in a golf club so can go for a few rounds after or before. Me I try to have meetings near tea shops or in them.

This post has been edited by slimfox: Jul 8 2011, 12:40 AM

Actualy I bought the teapot from the shop near the toilet. How is the prices in the other shop? Guess I will pop in the next time I'm in that area.