Sweet sweet medicine. There is no finer sight than a cabinet filled with a neat row of Red Label. You can – and should – stock up for the coming season. Pro tip: just call these guys up and tell them what you want. They can deliver to your door and you can pay with cash. Taobao not required! Of course, you can still go through normal Taobao channels.

Just give them a call – they are happy to deliver a case right away.

Shanghai

Red Label – 128rmb

Black Label – 192rmb

More Whiskeys

Call Ms. Wang: 62170811

Beijing

Red Label – 126rmb

Black Label – 205rmb

More Whiskeys

Call Ms. Zhou: 68686344

All alcohol is sold through the Taobao Mall and is guaranteed genuine. Have any other alcoholic requests? Comment below.

This one is something so good it bears repeating. You can get cheap, farm fresh coffee beans from China’s Yunnan province. And you should. This is the kind of hidden treasure that might otherwise get expensive organic packaging and a premium price. But you get it in a ziplock bag, and cheap.

Yunnan Coffee Beans

This coffee comes direct from Baoshan in Yunnan, fresh from the farm.

109rmb per kilo

If you need supplies, check our post on coffee stuff.

You are looking at 12 Gentlemen brand tea 十二先生.  It is a kind of premium supertea from 12 mad scientists based in Kunming. Like a boutique wine vinyard that produces only a few casks a year, the 12 Gentlemen put out a limited quantity of superior quality puer tea  普洱茶. Basically, the 12 Gentlemen get downright scientific with it, testing and analyzing combinations of leaves from different years to get the perfect blend.

That’s what I’m thinking, but that may only be because I am unwilling to put forward the 380rmb necessary to buy a cake of 12 Gentlemen. The tea nerds at TeaChat have been doing their best to educate me recently, but I am still skeptical as to my ability to extract 380rmb worth of enjoyment out of this stuff.

The poet Half-Dipper gives some clue about how to think about the flavor:

As the leaves open, a clear cooling sensation appears on my tongue, while a mushroom flavour develops. As infusions pass, this mushroom gradually evolves into something more wood-like.

Cooling mushroom evolving into wood – that sounds like a flavor adventure that I am ready to take.

12 Gentlemen brand tea: ‘Mountains Beyond Mountains’ vintage – 380rmb

Related: 1987: a Good Vintage for Tea

I’ve been meaning to learn a little something about tea for… oh about five years. I imagine immediately turning my expertise into snobbery.

That’s what I would say. Then I would slide the teapot back at the waiter. Cut to me smelling my precious qiaomu 1987 and nodding my head in approval.

This tea gets its name from the year the brand was started – the leaves you buy are actually fresh picked circa 2008, and will need to be stored in a dry place for five or ten years. Just like wine, it gets better the longer it ages.

Click through for an impressive photo-tour of tea production and extreme tea close-ups that are perfect for a soon-to-be expert like me. Qiaomu 1987

Tea – 茶

The New Blend

Starbucks has just recently started offering coffee from China’s southwestern province of Yunnan. The new blend is currently offered only in Starbuck’s mainland China outlets, but Starbucks has confirmed that it could expand to other countries. Word on the street is that the President of Starbucks China wants to make China’s coffee as well-known as China’s tea.

Yunnan coffee is delicous. But for the price of a Starbucks latte, you can buy whole-bean coffee fresh from the farm. And your money will go directly to China’s coffee growers in the mountains of Yunnan Province.

Here is a good seller that ships directly from Yunnan. Yunnan Coffee Beans.

Yunnan’s environment is well-suited to growing coffee. Yunnan’s temperate climate, height above sea level and general geographical situation make the growing conditions comparable with both Indonesia and Colombia. You’ll enjoy it.

If you are just getting started with whole beans, you will need to get a coffee bean grinder as well. Search for 电动磨豆机 You should be able to find a good one for around Y90.

Electric coffee grinder - about 90rmb

You also need a coffee or espresso maker. In this case, you have some options, with coffee makers available for around Y120, and espresso makers starting at around Y500 (and ranging up to Y32,000, ouch!).

Coffee machine – 120rmb

Espresso machine – 800rmb

Single-shot espresso machine – 500rmb

What do you think – have you tried Yunnan coffee? How do you think it stacks up to other regions?

Yunnan Cofee Beans: 云南 咖啡豆