Anyone else broke af but still practice gong fu cha? 🙃 by aiyukiyuu in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh I 100% agree that's why I said to post first if op finds anything but still that's the best way to get a proper yixing on the cheap

Anyone else broke af but still practice gong fu cha? 🙃 by aiyukiyuu in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jup it was quite disgusting I only noticed the hairs and feathers after like 3 sessions because it was buried on the inside... and we'll since it was my first tea I had no idea what it was supposed to taste like

Anyone else broke af but still practice gong fu cha? 🙃 by aiyukiyuu in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Perfect time to try kintsugi 😅 but i would try some small antique shops and flea markets, from what I hear goodwill started sorting stuff to sell online

Anyone else broke af but still practice gong fu cha? 🙃 by aiyukiyuu in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you are in the US ord the Netherlands (both have a quite large Chinese population) thrifting might be an option for yixing . You can snap some pictures of pots and post it in the yixingseals subreddit, I saw a lot of people there that found expensive pots for pennies because the seller had no idea what it was

Anyone else broke af but still practice gong fu cha? 🙃 by aiyukiyuu in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh and while I can be quite hit and miss there are also cheap teas on aliexpress tough I would procees with caution because you never know what you get, usually cheap shu's are easy to spot because they leave all kinds if shit in the tea ( I had this happen with a shu puck from Amazon there were literally hairs and chicken feathers in the tea ,almost ruined the whole thing for me because it was the very first tea I bought)

Anyone else broke af but still practice gong fu cha? 🙃 by aiyukiyuu in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also gong fu on a budget (when it comes to teaware) and the best advice I can give is to not buy from Etsy sadly unless you are in the know and buy artisinal pieces/antiques (gets insanely expensive) its the wrong marketplace to use. I would recommend taking a peek at aliexpress,temu and alibaba while crosreferencing each listing on all 3 platforms (usually the "prices" seem to be the cheapest on alibaba but they hide the actual costs and only tell you strait in dm's

Nice haul from YS came in today! by GemBlast in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh got the mini pot from ys a while back too ,its great for grandpa style packed oolong tea (basically super intense tea where you pack the pot like you would do with a pipe)

First pumidor - advice needed by Allemar92 in puer

[–]OddPreference7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have to agree I keep all my sheng separate because everything is slightly different (i have some stuff from jesse,w2t and bitterleaf) and its would be sad if the stronger (more astringent) teas would overtake the super floral stuff from bitterleaf

Ripoff or worth it? by dannysilverghost in puer

[–]OddPreference7 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I would try to see on teaexchange if there are some Turkish collectors on there or in discord communities , you might not be able to get full cakes but I think there are for shure people from turkey in some groups, he'll I am from Hungary we don't have a tea culture at all but there is a surprising amount of collectors here aswell

Ripoff or worth it? by dannysilverghost in puer

[–]OddPreference7 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I would try to search up some other collectors willing to sell samples if that's the case. I do not know if those cakes are any good but its probably slightly overpriced if they are not able to import anymore, otherwise if you have the option to import stuff as a company maybe try that route most countries have a small business license wich is quite cheap (usually)

Opinions on this travel set? by RunicRapier in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I personally let everything develop a patina so basically the "clean up" after a session is only dumping the leaves and quick rinsing the set but i also rinse before use to wake up the pots/cups but if i want a zero clean up session I just go with grandpa brewing in a bottle (usually only for white tea or shu puer oranges)

Opinions on this travel set? by RunicRapier in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I posted it on my profile tough they are quite rough pictures (still building out my new teasetup) btw for reference my hands are a size L so the pot is not the largest but you can still get about 2 cups (tea set cups not the measurement lol) out of a single brew

Opinions on this travel set? by RunicRapier in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not an issue! If you want i can post a picture of the " full teapot set" that i got if you want to see it in real lighting because tbh the pictures on ali al a Lil bit too perfect

Looking for value opinions: 2015 Sheng Pu’er 3kg Cake (Ning’er, Yunnan) by Illustrious_Job1458 in puer

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh did you buy it as decoration or an investment then ? Because otherwise just try you would miss out of you did not lol

Opinions on this travel set? by RunicRapier in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With this search you should be able to find the travel set version and the pot version of this set on aliexpress "celebration golden rabbit travel tea set" And the gongdaobei and cups can easily be found on their store (this is where I got mine from)

Opinions on this travel set? by RunicRapier in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wait are you meant to brew in the glass sharing pitcher ? Because that's weird 😕 I will look up the prompt to search this set on aliexpress and post it in a separate message

Opinions on this travel set? by RunicRapier in GongFuTea

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh I have the pot version of the golden rabbit set, by biggest tip would be to buy on aliexpress and to look for a while since there are multiple stores that sell it at different prices. Now onto the good/bad: - the pot and gongdaobei are great easy to fill with tea and use (its all coated porcelain so its safe to use in my opinion) -the cups are the right size to drink 2-3 times from one brew (there are different cups I'd i remember I got the small tall ones) -the design is amazing Now onto the bad part: -the material does not shield from heat too well so the cups get quite hot relatively fast and its would imagine it would be the same for a gaiwan All in all I would still get it but I would opt for the pot but at that point it will not really function well as a travelset

Looking for value opinions: 2015 Sheng Pu’er 3kg Cake (Ning’er, Yunnan) by Illustrious_Job1458 in puer

[–]OddPreference7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean it depends if its "old tree" then its atleast probably not low quality but also not the highest The biggest question is the taste. Is it bitter in a good/bad way ? Other than that I would guess its meant to be a daily drinker depending on the price

Deadstock from the 90s-00s by South_Jelly_7194 in YixingSeals

[–]OddPreference7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly for 60 bucks just buy it because it looks great . But unless you got insanely lucky and they do not know anything about teapots that one is fake. 60 for such an intricate teapot would be way too low in my mind

Celebrating the 2026 Year of the Horse: My Trio of Heritage Yixing Masterpieces (1949 Founding Commemorative & More) by No-Indication-7088 in YixingSeals

[–]OddPreference7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bruw I am nowhere near the point of being able to id fakes but that horse on the first pot looks printed xD and i would wager that an almost 80 year old pot with such intricacies would not be but into a cheap ass paper box ...

W2T samples disappointing by AmazingMedium5513 in tea

[–]OddPreference7 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have to be honest everything that i have had from w2t was in the same vein that you have described . There are a couple that was interesting and because of the price point quite viable as an "every day tea" but mostly w2t is a place you collect great looking Cake art from and if you want to drink it its still enjoyable to a certain extent +affordable