Another San Diego newbie

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Apr 5th, '13, 22:43
Posts: 118
Joined: Apr 2nd, '13, 20:59

Another San Diego newbie

by saxon75 » Apr 5th, '13, 22:43

Hello all,

I've been a casual tea drinker for most of my life, but started getting more into quality teas a few months ago. Poking around on the Internet looking for reviews and recommendations quickly turned up TeaChat, and so here I am. Nice to meet you all. :)

Growing up I mostly drank the cheap Yamamotoyama genmaicha and hojicha that my Japanese grandma always bought. I still have a soft spot for cheap Japanese teas. Lately I've been drinking just about whatever I can get my hands on--strong European breakfast blends in the morning, greens and oolongs during the day, and pu-erh after dinner. So far my favorites are a Tenren Tung-Ting that a friend of mine brought back from a trip to China, and the Scottish breakfast blend from Upton. (I know Upton doesn't get a lot of love around here, but I have enjoyed several of the black teas I've had from there.) So far most of my Asian-style teas have been cheap tins from the Vietnamese grocery stores in my neighborhood, but I'm always interested in new stuff.

I'd say that right now the recommendations I'm most interested in are for shou pu-erhs and Yunnan blacks. I'm particularly interested in teas that do well with Western-style brewing, as I drink a lot of tea at the office and don't have time for serious gongfu. (I'm sure I may be missing out, but such is life, and I figure less-than-perfect tea is better than no tea at all.)

I'm planning to head down to the Mad Monk tea shop here in San Diego next week to check out their pu-erh offerings, and supposedly they'll be coming back from Taiwan in a few weeks with some of this year's spring oolongs, which I'm looking forward to.

Anyway, hello and nice to meet you all!

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Apr 6th, '13, 11:01
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Another San Diego newbie

by blairswhitaker » Apr 6th, '13, 11:01

Glad to see another SD tea drinker. Their is defiantly a growing tea scene here and Mad Monk gives it a lot of energy.

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Apr 11th, '13, 09:59
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Re: Another San Diego newbie

by Chip » Apr 11th, '13, 09:59

Welcome saxon75 to TeaChat. Glad you joined us, hoping to see you around our forum.

Have a great TeaDay! :mrgreen:

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Apr 11th, '13, 10:07
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Re: Another San Diego newbie

by Muadeeb » Apr 11th, '13, 10:07

Mad Monk is having a tea sale on Saturday, some sort of mini-festival to clear out some inventory before their Taiwan trip. You should check it out. I would go, but I'm probably going to be there Friday night.

Apr 12th, '13, 16:41
Posts: 118
Joined: Apr 2nd, '13, 20:59

Re: Another San Diego newbie

by saxon75 » Apr 12th, '13, 16:41

I was actually just there this past weekend and picked up a couple of teas, so I'm not sure I'm quite ready for another round. Looks fun, though. Thanks for the tip!

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