Sencha Zuiko

From Den's Tea  56 g for $19.75

This is really nice stuff, not the best, but very respectable. It is very mellow without overpowering, which is nice, but sometimes a want a green tea that has a little more punch to it. I will probably get more sometime in the not too distant future.

Lotus Ripe puerh

From J-Tea  $102 for a 357 g cake.

I have waited to post on this one until I have made it several times to get a feel for it. Usually my impressions change after making a tea about 6 times or so in a relatively short time span (about one week); there are some teas I love the first few times making them but they can loose their appeal after a few sessions. Overall it is a really nice ripe puerh. Not exceptional but in the top 10-20% for ripe puerh. It is something I can definitely drink everyday, which is the one of the best qualities a tea can have in my opinion. I am always on the lookout for good 'desert island' teas, this would fit in that list. Taking everything into account I would consider it priced a bit high, but it supports the local tea shop. I think it's worth paying a bit more to help keep the doors open of a nice local place like J-Tea.

Pino Digital Kettle Pro Malfunction

Beware if you have Pino Digital Kettle Pro. The plastic handle is hollow and steam can condense in it and drop into the bottom (yellow circle) right next to where all the electronics and heating element are. This caused the wire shown below to corrode over the two years I have used mine on a daily basis. It eventuallyy stopped working and arc a bit when I tried to jiggle it to get it to work. I finally took it apart and easily found the cause. Luckily I was able to get a replacement wire and connector and put it back in service.  Bad designning by the people at Pino. The repair has been working great for about three months now.