Survey

As the weather gets warmer, our world gets crazier! China took a beating by a prolonged winter storm, then a deadly earthquake, now flooding in the south, most of the tea growing regions are affected during this spring. As we all know or suspect, price of tea will go up, Dan Cong prices are already up 25 to 35% before the flood, I'm afraid to make that phone call after the flood.

I think we vendors are most interested in is buyer's preference, especially with the spiralling down turn of US economy, are consumers willing to

1, spend the same amount of money as previous year for lesser quantity of same quality?
2, spend the same amount of money as previous year for same quantity of less quality?
3, spend more money for same quantity and same quality of tea?
4, spend more money for better quality regardless of quantity?
5, spend less money for less quantity of same quality?
6, spend less money for same quantity of less quality tea?

Wish I knew the answers to be more business savvy. I'd appreciate it greatly if you would share your thoughts on this. :)

1992 Golden needle white lotus pu-erh (ripen)

Found a batch of 1992 Golden Needle White Lotus pu-erh which has fairly strong Qi, I was up and running for 1.5 hours, using 4 g of leaves. I am having another tasting using barely 2 g of leaves (Will have pictures of this session up soon).

Dry leaves are small and uniform, obvious white frost, strong mulch/bark smell.

Liquid is clear and glowing, beautiful amber color, can turn very dark with more leaves and longer steeping, up wards of 10s infusions.

2 oz pack for $20
8 oz pack for $70
16 oz pack for $120

Shipping is $5 within 48 states for under 2 lbs, $3 for each additional pound. Europe $9 for under one lb, $4 for each additional pound.

Please email "tea at teahabitat dot com" to place an order or for more information. Thanks.

Jars Jars Jars

If you want Jars, we got jars for you!


Green celodon jar (J002), medium size, fits 300 g of fist oolong (high mountain), 1/3 of a broken up pu cake. $12

Yellow Chrysanthemum jar (J003) (actual color is much more vibrant), hand painted, medium size, fits 300 g of fist oolong (high mountain), 1/3 of a broken up pu cake. $12 (Available in white color-J004)

Celadon cup and jar set (S005), small travel size jar, fits 100 g of fist oolong. $18



Yellow chrysanthemum cup and jar set (S006) (actual color is much more vibrant), hand painted, small travel size jar, fits 100 g of fist oolong. $18 (Available in white color-S007)


Shipping rate varies by weight, combined shipping is more cost effective, please email me for shipping charges with items you are interested in. "tea at teahabitat dot com" Thanks!

1997 Wild Hong Yin

***Sold Out***
I haven't written a tea review for a long time, longer than I can remember. The Hong Yin deserves a review of its own. I took out a few things for tasting with RS yesterday, some which we didn't get to try. After I rearranged the furnitures, the tea table is calling out to me for tea drinking at that table side with detail utensils as soon as I arrive to work everyday. I gave in and have tea myself, thinking maybe for just an hour. Tea jars from the day before are still out, so I picked the 1997 Hong Yin from the bunch.



The first time I had it, it wasn't impressive after drinking many signature aromatic and honey water like Dan Congs in one seating. The second time I tried it, it was nice and I didn't pay too much attention to it again. Both tastings were a few months ago from today.

Today's tasting turned out wonderful and impressive. Using Chao Zhou Stove to boil water in a Chao Zhou red clay pot, it sure made a big difference. As I also noticed from last tasting session, the color is a beautiful salmon rosie pink with a touch of peach color. It's the most beautiful and unusual color I have ever seen from tea. Pictured is 4th infusion, it still looks like this at 15th infusion. After a quick steaming in a steamy hot gaiwan, the leaves smell like pu-erh, and looks like seaweed. Tea soup is thick and sweet, somewhat reminded me of plum wine, both the taste and color. This sweet after taste is long lasting, I am still drinking it and still feeling it at 15th infusion for 3 hours. Strong qi from the first 5 infusions, I'm now feeling so relaxed, it's time for a nap. :)

Wild Hong Yin is one of the Phoenix Tea varietals, believed to be the original varietal which the rest are mutated from during the past 900 years or more. Due to the coarse texture/flavor and lack of aroma, the locals do not domestically cultivate them, however there are plenty of trees grow in the wild which are collected by the locals for medicinal use. Only aged Hong Yin is drinkable, similar to green pu-erh. Yong harvest can be too astringent for many stomaches. Aged Hong Yin are used to treat cold, sore throat, sinus problem, cough, fever, upset stomach, infections, bug bites, and allergies. It's a miracle cure for minor health issues.

The long lasting sweetness of this 11 years old tea is winning me over. Something that took a few times to uncover it's greatness will hold its place on my list of preferred teas.

RS came over for some tea drinking yesterday, we had a quite a few teas and many pots of water. For only the 2 of us, we went through 7 teas if I didn't miss any:
Honey orchid gold medalist #5 Dan Cong
Qi Lan Wuyi rock,
Long Jing Green
Rou Gui Wuyi Rock
Lao cong Shui xian wuyi Rock
Dong Fang Hong Dan Cong
Da Yu Qi Dan Cong

Spent leaves fill the big bowl all the way to top, not bad for 2 people eh?!

I want to thank RS for helping me with my website, creator of the current page, created from scratch! :)

Lots on my plate

It's been a while since the last post, I do want to apologize for the absence.

The world tea expo just wrapped up on the past Sunday, one of the biggest tea emphasized event, or shall I say the one and only commercial tea emphasized event in the US. My friend and I walked up and down the isles for 2 days meeting vendors and learning new products. Met a few familiar faces and a lot of new ones. It's a small world indeed, a couple of exhibitors turned out to be seniors of my tea master 20 years ago.

An other project's occupying my time is working on the new website, which I take very little part in. Majority of the work is done by my friend a computer guru FW. If I had to do all the work on my own, it would take another 2 years and the quality would only measure to half of what it will be. Designing a website is no easy task, the details required to make a functional and user friendly site with clarity is enormous. At times I feel lost in a giant sea of information. The new e-commerce site is still under construction at this time, will announce the completion date as soon as possible.

The shop is constantly transforming as well. Rearranging displays, packaging design, gift ideas, promotional ideas, working with local school community are taking a lot of my time. As a new business, I like to regenerate the cosmetics of the business continuously base on a solid foundation.

Well, of course there are tons of bills to pay which takes away a big chunk of my time as well. :P

Work hard and play hard, my play time is drinking good tea with good company. Cheers to you all!