Teas We Like Overview

Teas We Like is a multi-person, hyper-curated puerh vendor curated by some famous puerh drinking people in the know.  Some of these people have been around the online tea scene longer than me, others are newer but have deep connections, both are those I highly respect.  The aged and semi aged factory selection of sheng puerh is notable.  They also offer newer boutique puerh from Biyun Hao.  In a general sense there are three things that all their sheng puerh offer us 1- value, 2- uniqueness, and 3- access.  This is especially true for the aged and medium aged puerh on offer…

Value

The cool thing about Teas We Like is that they don’t mark up the puerh that much at all and so the value of the products they offer is unlike most Western puerh vendors.  Every puerh I have tried from them is at least of decent value.  I think they even strive for offering value.  If I were to challenge them a bit I would challenge them to find really low budget sheng that is much high value.  I think there is a real appetite for that.  They offered a $99 aged Zhongcha that is now sold out.  Oh, wait, look…. They just added a Twelve Cent Brick! 

Uniqueness

A lot of the puerh they offer has something unique about it that makes it stand out a bit.  A combination of both value and something a bit different.  This is especially true for their inaugural offerings I think.  The trick to ordering these full cakes is to find out what niche sheng you might enjoy the most.

Access

The puerh they offer is not easily available to Western puerh buyers.  I think every Western puerh vendor offers something unique as far as semi aged/ aged puerh and some of it is probably good value but none offer both the selection combo of uniqueness and value that Teas We Like has on offer.

Here is some I have reviewed here on the blog with a quick note to help you determine if you may resonate with one of these cakes.  For your convenience I have also ranked them...

1-      2005 Nanqiao Double Lion Bulang-  Very Strong Qi, classic Bulang profile, a nice rich taste with less smoke and more sweet taste for a Bulang,  dry Malaysian storage, the dynamic between sweetness and strength, roughness and refinement, humidly stored but still quite powerful the inherent balance of this tea is very enjoyable

2-      2001 Naked Yiwu 001-  Very depressing Qi sensation, Stops me in my thoughts and makes me what to do nothing, exceptional and rare sealed stored Yiwu with subtle soft sweet, floral, and somewhat complex high notes still preserved while offering an obviously aged puerh, best value out of these

3-      2004 Nanqiao Bulang King-  I keep going back for this one mainly for its Qi, very intense overwhelming Qi, dry Taiwanese storage, interesting, unusual, and complex dry woody, peat, and bitter herbaceous wood taste, very little sweetness, this one is all about the intense alertness and exploration of unique not sweet tastes, this one has good value but I think some might be turned off from the unique taste profile, the more I drink this, the more I appreciate it

4-      2006 Rustic Zhongcha- true rustic taste and production,  not that smokey and quite sweet and robust taste,  stimulating and vibrant mouthfeeling and taste early, nice upbeat Qi sensation which is pretty strong, poor stamina typical of factory puerh, dry Malaysian storage

5-      2001 Zhongcha Huangyin- Vibrant berry and fruity tastes with bitterness, Quick  powerful alerting Qi sensation,  quick warming and even sweat inducing Qi, a wild tea blended profile, variability in the blend where sometimes it is very bitter and other times only quite mildly bitter, Dry Taiwanese storage, good value

6-      2003 Hong Kong Henry “Conscientious Prescription”7542, woody innocence, sour orange citrus woody pine camphor taste, unique tasting puerh that stands out,  Taiwanese drier storage, relaxing head floating Qi, would be interesting to age

7-      2008 Dayi 8582 batch 801- Ok not the same batch or storage but you can check out this review, a solid proper cheaper factory puerh that shouldn’t be completely written off as a drinker option or even for longer term storage, I’m interested in trying the Teas We Like batch/storage

Still haven’t hit the higher priced options but wouldn’t hesitate to explore these at a later time.  There is very little risk in a place like Teas We Like compared to Taobao or Auctions and even blind full cake purchases from Western vendors.  If you already enjoy aged and semiaged factory cakes, the minimal risk is selection of the cake that suites your tastes the most.  I’m happy not having to wade through or spend the money on samples or take risks elsewhere, call me lame these days.  Alternatively, their selection is small, so those who like variety and could afford such things could even cake each one.  Either way, Teas We Like is a goldmine.

Great job!

Peace