Funalliance (Yay or nay)
It looks like a good site. Have you bought from Funalliance? What should I get? I wanted to get 3-4 teas.
Feb 10th, '09, 23:21
Posts: 2299
Joined: Oct 23rd, '06, 19:46
Location: Seattle Area
Contact:
tenuki
only bought teaware from them and so long ago I don't remember. but ya, they exist.
Do something different, something different will happen. ( Gong Fu Garden )
I just checked out their tea. I remember giving them a look over when I was in the market for a tea table, but never looked at much besides that. The prices of the oolongs, and all the teas for that matter, seem to be quite good. I am also curious if anyone has sampled from them and what they thought.
Feb 10th, '09, 23:42
Posts: 5151
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 23:33
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Gainesville, Florida
I bought two teas from Kam two years ago. They were good quality and reasonably priced ... a Snow Flake Dan Cong and a Tie Guan Yin King, both in the everyday tea category, rather than premo stuff.
Sometime a little more recently, I had some small problems with teaware ... pot size issues and a gaiwan that arrived broken. The two pots I have from him are excellent quality, it's just that one was supposedly about 150 ml and turned out to be more like 320 ml and the other, supposed to be 2 oz, turned out to be 1.5 oz. Both first class pots, however.
If you see some tea that looks interesting, I would go for it. Do take into consideration the time of year, of course. Soon it will be a new Chinese green harvest, so any green you buy now will be getting pretty old. Oolongs, however, are probably all recent (autumn, winter) harvest.
Which items were you looking at?
Sometime a little more recently, I had some small problems with teaware ... pot size issues and a gaiwan that arrived broken. The two pots I have from him are excellent quality, it's just that one was supposedly about 150 ml and turned out to be more like 320 ml and the other, supposed to be 2 oz, turned out to be 1.5 oz. Both first class pots, however.
If you see some tea that looks interesting, I would go for it. Do take into consideration the time of year, of course. Soon it will be a new Chinese green harvest, so any green you buy now will be getting pretty old. Oolongs, however, are probably all recent (autumn, winter) harvest.
Which items were you looking at?
I bought my gaiwans from kam, I am more than satisfied, I don`t like yixing teapots that have drawing or writing on it, and his TGY was better than teasprings jade TGY at half the price, he usually has a limited selection of tea but a fair price for decent quality, from time to time he gets limited supply from ultrapremo stuff, but it is quickly sold out, like melon seed +. I can recomend his gaiwans, and cups selection, it is huge, you`ll probably find something you like there.
Feb 11th, '09, 02:06
Posts: 5151
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 23:33
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Gainesville, Florida
I see he also offers and attractive set of three samples for $7, which seems to include shipping.
BTW, Lone Bush means Dan Cong.
BTW, Lone Bush means Dan Cong.
Last edited by Salsero on Feb 11th, '09, 12:30, edited 1 time in total.
Sweet. I just ordered the TGY and the Snow Flake Dan Cong.Salsero wrote:I bought two teas from Kam two years ago. They were good quality and reasonably priced ... a Snow Flake Dan Cong and a Tie Guan Yin King, both in the everyday tea category, rather than premo stuff.
Sometime a little more recently, I had some small problems with teaware ... pot size issues and a gaiwan that arrived broken. The two pots I have from him are excellent quality, it's just that one was supposedly about 150 ml and turned out to be more like 320 ml and the other, supposed to be 2 oz, turned out to be 1.5 oz. Both first class pots, however.
If you see some tea that looks interesting, I would go for it. Do take into consideration the time of year, of course. Soon it will be a new Chinese green harvest, so any green you buy now will be getting pretty old. Oolongs, however, are probably all recent (autumn, winter) harvest.
Which items were you looking at?
Feb 26th, '09, 10:26
Posts: 5151
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 23:33
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Gainesville, Florida
For the Snow Flake, you might start out with a gaiwan 1/4 to 1/3 full (5 gr to 7 gr in a 100 ml gaiwan), boiling water, and very fast infusions, testing the waters at maybe 5 seconds and gradually moving up from there. Imen suggests water slightly below boiling for infusions after the first couple. If you get the infusions too long, you will have excessive astringency and roughness on the tongue. Assuming the current batch works about like the one I had a couple years ago, a patient approach can yield 10+ infusions of light tasting, aromatic tea, with a pleasant feel in the mouth.devites wrote:Just got my order. Any advice on how to brew the TKY and the Snow Flake?
To brew European style, Imen suggests, "When not using kung fu style method, use 1 g in 120 ml gaiwan, steep for 2 minutes in boiling water."
For the TGY, you can brew pretty much the same amount of tea, boiling water all the way, start with a 40 sec infusion, drop back to 20 seconds and feel your way from there.