TeaChat

Thought this might be an interesting poll... I think everyone on the board here has their preferences as far as tea types, but probably drinks other teas from time to time as well. In my own tea exploration I have found what I like and what I REALLY like. So... what two types of tea could you not do without? I will try and cover all the bases.

On the late great tea cruise, our ship was foundering, and there was only space in the lifeboats for 2 of the great chests, each one of them full of one category of tea, in new ever-fresh-ultra-sealed packages, and all the teawares needed to enjoy it. Oolongs? Blacks? Greens, whites, yellows? The entire vastness universe of non-c. sinensis teas? What would we choose to save? Such a wrenching decision......one clearly had to be oolong, which encompassed a range from nearly green to aged specialties with more than a hint of puerh's earthiness; but.....the second?

Oh, the back and forth, the screaming, the crying, the clubbing of those who were trying to bring the black tea aboard, with the dehydrated cream packets....but in the end, the fanaticism of the pu-heads won out. I might have been just as happy with the chinese greens or the whole range of Korea's output or the Japanese teas, but I could not abide the black teas, and while I was busy clubbing there, the pu-heads carried the day. All we could do was hope that a few packages of other types of tea had been mislaid during repacking, and that there might be occasional serendipitous finds of some drops of gyokuro or a bit of Bai Mu Dan or a touch of balyocha amidst the oolongs and puerhs.

Possibly one of the hardest polls I have come across on here ( why couldn't you just make it three?). As 90% of my tea drinking is spread across three Categories, Japanese Greens, Chinese Oolongs ( starting to bring Taiwanese Oolongs into the mix), and Korean Teas.

Most of my tea drinking is Japanese Tea, so I guess that had to stay. All the Chinese oolongs I drink are mostly of the same type Roasted and Oxidized, so they would not add much variety, but would be a good counter point to the Japanese Greens. While for Korean Tea is has no other qualifier, so that opens it up to any Korean Tea, providing much more variety, all sorts of delicious Korean greens, but if I want something darker or heavier, I can always go with a Balhyocha or Korean Red tea.

So I guess Korean edged out Chinese oolongs ever so slighter. Though if it was just "Oolongs" encompasing both Chinese and Taiwanese in one category, I may need to reconsider my choices.

So to sum up, my choices were: Japanese Tea, and Korean Tea.

I voted black teas and Korean, but I suspect I would have regretted any choice anyway. I can't limit myself to just two!

Interesting results so far!

Pretty spread out across the board... Puerh is currently in the lead after a significant amount of votes with Chinese oolongs in 3rd . Never would have guessed.

It's a hard one for me to pick also. You have to give up something if you're the average high end tea drinker I think. For me Puerh had to go... a tough call. Japanese Teas was a no-brainer, but for the second I wanted something that would be a counterpoint to an all green selection. I chose Taiwanese Teas and the wonderful world of gaoshans and roasted dong ding

I chose Pu and Taiwanese. Even though I haven't had a large selection of any particular group of tea these are the two that really interest me. And if I was stuck drinking two categories of tea I would want something that keeps me interested. I almost picked Chinese oolongs, but I have a hard time saying no to dark roast TGY.

hehe I went pu and taiwanese...suppose with the taiwanese you get bunch of nice variety of oolongs and blacks, and a handful of good greens too

I could survive on Chinese greens and pu'erh.

Argh!! Korean and Pu-erh. No! Korean and oolong. No! Oolong and pu-erh.... I'd never be able to decide.....

The one pick is a no brainer, need I say it ... Japanese greens.

The 2nd pick is seemingly impossible. However by process of elimination I have narrowed it down a very tiny bit.

Chinese greens, Taiwanese teas (glad you lumped all these together!), Chinese oolong, Korean teas. I think Pu-erh fell off the list, sad to say.

So, I am undecided having included just about every true tea on your list of options.

Hey, where is Darjeeling and similar?

I will have to think more about this, but I am not sure I will ever get it down to two teas. And if I did, the 2 teas would change constantly.

Easy to answer this: Japanese teas + the occasional Assam or Ceylon for variety.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

I chose my everyday favorite, Taiwanese and second choice was Japanese greens, since that is only other tea type that I drink on a consistent basis (thanks to all the OTTIs). Chinese green/white/yellow ain't getting any love I simply have not tried/bought enough Chinese greens to know if I would prefer them. I think we need a Chinese green tea OTTI

Chip wrote:The one pick is a no brainer, need I say it ... Japanese greens.

The 2nd pick is seemingly impossible. However by process of elimination I have narrowed it down a very tiny bit.

Chinese greens, Taiwanese teas (glad you lumped all these together!), Chinese oolong, Korean teas. I think Pu-erh fell off the list, sad to say.

So, I am undecided having included just about every true tea on your list of options.

Hey, where is Darjeeling and similar?

I will have to think more about this, but I am not sure I will ever get it down to two teas. And if I did, the 2 teas would change constantly.

You must choose 2 to play the game!! Sorry to make it so hard on you, Chip. That second choice is a killer, eh?

For Darjeelings and Assams and such please select Black Teas. I know they aren't always black teas, but for convenience sake and whatnot...

The results are all over the place now... it's making for a cooler poll than the traditional "what kind of tea do you like best" poll I think.

*shocked* ... Chinese greens only has one vote. I might make it two. I think Chinese greens were my first tea love. I could easily jump right back in ... but wait, that is all greens then.

hmmm ..

FlyedPiper wrote:For Darjeelings and Assams and such please select Black Teas. I know they aren't always black teas, but for convenience sake and whatnot...

Yes, that is what I did. But I specifically mentioned Assam and Ceylon in order to clarify which blacks I would choose.

Best wishes,
sherubtse