FRIDAY TeaDay 5/16/08

[Chip]

FRIDAY TeaDay 5/16/08

by Chip » May 16th, '08, 04:16

Yesterday, TeaChatters declared that price does matter when it comes to choosing their tea vendors...to varying degrees. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Welcome one and all to TeaDay, fill your pot and come share what is in your cup today...all day! Be sure to check out what everyone else is sipping as well. And you can reflect back on your TeaDay if you need to.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic again visits vendors...today, what is important to you in a vendors selelction. 1000's of teas of every imaginable kind? Or all the way down to a highly specialized vendor...or somewhere in between.

I look forward to seeing you on TeaDay today. Bottoms up...refill!!!

[omegapd]

by omegapd » May 16th, '08, 05:24

Kind of hard to vote on this interesting topic. I'd like to say the more the merrier, but then you have the chance of getting old or stale tea if they don't keep a check on things.

If I settled on a favorite tea, say Chinese greens, I would think that a vendor that specialized in just that with only a few choices would be right up my alley. The chances of getting better quality tea would be higher, I'd assume.

I gotta go with "other". It would depend on what I was looking for that particular day...

Some bagged Ito-En Sencha/Matcha at work this morning...hopefully a favorite strong black tea when I get home.

EW

[Salsero]

by Salsero » May 16th, '08, 05:38

The Puerh is Nanqiao Menghai Jewel 2007 with its Engrish birth certificate.



Happy Tea Day!

[Sydney]

by Sydney » May 16th, '08, 07:40

Mine would use alien technology to make an insanely wide range available in top condition. I chose hundreds.

[chrl42]

by chrl42 » May 16th, '08, 07:49

It differs.
For greens, it should be world tea market with over 1000 of teas. Because my dream is to taste all of green in China. Each region has its own green tea with a characteritics cos it's most traditional form of teas.

For oolongs, I would want a vendor which specializes in Zheng Yan(right cliff) Wuyi Yan Cha, and that's over 100.

[augie]

by augie » May 16th, '08, 08:10

"other" for me too. Just too much to think about.

[Beanbean]

by Beanbean » May 16th, '08, 08:28

I'm pretty sure I would just be overwhelmed if I had to choose from more than 30-40 different teas so I chose a smaller number. I like variety but I also tend to migrate toward my old favorites, India blacks.

Just about to make my first pot of Ceylon for the day.

[Victoria]

by Victoria » May 16th, '08, 08:50

I would prefer less than 25 and very specialized.

In my cup this morning English Breakfast - but it's not hitting the spot, I'm off to try something else. I'm determined to work through ALL my black samples this month!

Happy Friday everyone!

[ThinkingOutLoud]

by ThinkingOutLoud » May 16th, '08, 08:59

I chose 50-100 teas of multible types and regions. I like to explore, but not be overwhelmed.

Irish Breakfast this morning at my home where it's raining, again. I thought it was April showers and May flowers????

[joelbct]

by joelbct » May 16th, '08, 09:18

Other:

100s of teas, but of a specific region or type.

In my experience, region or type-specific vendors usu. offer the highest quality tea. By focusing on a particular region, say, Japan, or a particular type of tea, a vendor is best able to develop a true expertise, as well as close relationships with the farmers/wholesalers.

There are of course exceptions to this rule, but in general I think it is a fair observation.

[RussianSoul]

by RussianSoul » May 16th, '08, 09:26

The Puerh is Nanqiao Menghai Jewel 2007 with its Engrish birth certificate.



Happy Tea Day!

Love your images, Sal! I find that I am looking forward to a new photo every morning.

I am not sure what kind of tea store I'd like. I guess I'd like a green tea specialized place, that would be clean and authentic. So far I've seen either clean or authentic. A hundred teas would be fine, but the number of teas is less important than other qualities I mentioned.

[Victoria]

by Victoria » May 16th, '08, 09:27

I'm baaaaaaaaaack!! This time with some Red Peach Black tea. (Hong Tao Mao Feng) Now this one is a beauty. Organic too.
A much better way to start my day.

[olivierco]

by olivierco » May 16th, '08, 10:56

My ideal vendor would be "Less than 25 and very specialized", but I need to have one vendor per tea origin (japan, china, darjeeling, taiwan, ...)

This morning keemun and now some darejeeling Namring SFTGFOP1

[auggy]

by auggy » May 16th, '08, 11:01

I voted 50-100. I like variety, but too much and I get overwhelmed.

Birthday tea this morning - yum! My Adagio order came in, so lots of new samples to play with. I'm excited!

[Cinnamon Kitty]

by Cinnamon Kitty » May 16th, '08, 11:25

I picked other since the type of vendor that I like depends on the tea I am looking for. I like specialized vendors when I am looking for a specific type of tea, like Japanese Greens, but I like the larger, non-specialized vendors for when I want to sample a bunch of teas to figure out what I like.

This morning is starting with Kyoto Cherry Rose Sencha. I will probably make a travel mug of Peach Oolong with a cinnamon stick in it to bring to my exam at 12:30.