Archive
Master Lam Sam (Old Tea Master) tea tasting notes: Personal tea reflections, connoisseur reviews, and tea wisdom.
Many friends ask me: "Lin Shen, I want to start drinking Pu-erh tea, but there are so many teas on the market. How do I choose?" I have heard this question hundreds of times.
Read article
Summer night. Moonlight cascades down, and the cicadas sing in alternating waves.
Read article
I will never forget the first time I brewed aged tea. I was in my twenties, in a senior's tea room.
Read article
Besides eating zongzi and watching dragon boat races, the Dragon Boat Festival also has a tradition stretching back thousands of years: hanging mugwort.
Read article
This Dragon Boat Festival I prepared the 2023 Jingmai Ancient Tree Raw Pu-erh. Jingmai Mountain is in Lancang County, Pu'er City, Yunnan, at about 1,400 metres elevation.
Read article
Many tea drinkers do not pay attention to storage. They think once you buy tea, you just put it aside and forget about it.
Read article
Many tea drinkers pursue "pure material," believing blended tea is inferior. But after decades in the tea trade, I can say with certainty: a good blend is harder to achieve than pure material.
Read article
At the Water-Splashing Festival in Xishuangbanna, besides splashing water and drinking raw pu-erh, there is something else I love — bamboo tube tea.
Read article
The Water-Splashing Festival is the Dai people's New Year, held every year in mid-April in Xishuangbanna. The festival's signature activity is splashing water — everyone douses each other with blessings, and you end up completely soaked and happier for it.
Read article
Besides the tea market, the March Fair has another experience well worth seeking out — the Bai people's Three-Course Tea.
Read article
The March Fair is a traditional Bai festival and market, held every year from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of the third lunar month in Dali.
Read article
Qingming season, with its drizzling rain. Every year at this time, I take out an aged tea cake, sit by the window, and drink slowly.
Read article
