Threads
11 discussions
- — 01
Counterfeit warning archive — named lots and vendors
A community-driven, evidence-based archive of counterfeit Chinese tea lots, named producers, and vendor reports. Collected warnings, photo evidence, and known fakes from the field. Cross-referenced with factory codes and auction histories. Updated as new reports come in.
- — 02
Phoenix old-bush dancong — alert protocol
When a genuine old-bush dancong lot surfaces, the window to acquire is measured in hours — not days. How collectors verify provenance, navigate broker chains, and avoid the majority of claims that collapse under scrutiny. Mei Yang draws on Phoenix Mountain fieldwork to outline a repeatable alert protocol.
- — 03
Dry-cellared finds — the Kunming and continental record
A thread for collectors and archives of dry-stored puerh. We share finds from Kunming, Ulaanbaatar, and the Siberian pause — Buryatia — with documented provenance, because wrapper aging tells half the story.
- — 04
Ethics of the rare-tea trade — what we don’t post
A frank look at the lots tea.dog quietly declines to circulate — unverifiable provenance, suspect village 'discoveries', and the laundering patterns we have learned to recognise across two decades in Hunan and Yunnan.
- — 05
Reading Hong Kong storage marks on vintage cakes
Liu Shenyang opens a thread on identifying classical Hong Kong storage through physical markers on vintage cakes — wrapper foxing patterns, neifei darkening, and compression slumping — what they reveal about warehouse conditions.
- — 06
How the alert system actually works
A working note on what tea.dog’s alerts actually catch, what they miss, and how to tune a watchlist so the signal you receive is the one you would have chased on foot anyway.
- — 07
Aged Liu Bao basket finds — the Guangxi corner
Aged Liù Bǎo (六堡) from Guǎngxī is turning up in its original bamboo baskets in Guangzhou and Hong Kong — but before you taste, read the basket. Amgalan Chin shares field notes on spotting true vintage through weave, date marks, and storage character.
- — 08
Pre-2000 pressings — authentication checklist
A field-hardened checklist for serious collectors assessing pre-2000 *Shēng Pǔ'ěr* (生普洱) pressings. From *nèi fēi* (内飞) positioning and wrapper paper oxidation to ink degradation patterns — the objective markers that separate genuine stored tea from opportunistic fabrications.
- — 09
When a price is too good — under-priced vs suspect
Collectors often face a puzzle: is that improbably low price a once-in-a-lifetime find, or a warning that deserves a hard pass? Amgalan Chin draws on field experience across Yunnan and trans‑Siberian tea routes to separate the bargains from the traps.
- — 10
Vintage pu’er — the condition language we use
Before you chase a wrapper photo on tea.dog, learn the condition vocabulary we use in the alerts — wrapper, neifei, compression, storage trail — so the description tells you whether a cake is worth the call.
- — 11
Vintage tieguanyin — the quiet corner of the aged-tea world
Beyond the well-trodden path of aged pu’er resides a quieter treasure — Anxi Tiěguānyīn from the 1980s and 90s. Who still hunts these surviving vintages, how do they taste after thirty years, and what does the market look like today? Fang Ting opens the conversation.