SATURDAY TeaDay 5/17/08

[Chip]

SATURDAY TeaDay 5/17/08

by Chip » May 17th, '08, 02:39

Yesterday on TeaDay, TeaChatters answered the question, "Your ideal Tea vendor would have...?" The top response surprised me a bit. "Less than 25 teas and very specialized" easily was the top vote getter.

Welcome to another Saturday edition of TeaDay. Perfect day to brew up some tea and share what is in your cup today...all day! Be sure to check out what everyone else is sipping as well. Reflect back on your TeaDay if you need to!

Today, we continue with the subject of vendors. Today, the question is how many primary tea vendors do you use regularly. Has the nuber been going up lately or down? Is there a trend? I am sure this will get interesting.

I am looking forward to reading what is in everyone's cup today...all day. So, bottoms up TeaChatters...refilll...repeat!

[Salsero]

My first time with Asamushi

by Salsero » May 17th, '08, 02:52

Maiko’s Kinari, the perfect sencha for Ed: it tastes like green tea but the name sounds Irish, like his sort of ex.

“After my first time with Asamushi, I want to whisper in her ear all the ways she is so different from her sister Fukamushi, but I can’t even begin.” Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha, Chapter 4, p 168.

Well, at least for the pic below the only things about Asamushi that matter are that she has the bright yellow-green of Chinese Lu Cha and she photographs great in the nude.



The roses, what good are they if a man has no one to give them to?

[omegapd]

by omegapd » May 17th, '08, 03:07

Two on-line vendors for me. Adagio and Special Teas are the ones I keep going back to. I do try other places occasionally, like New Mexico Tea Co. but thats when I'm looking for something specific that the other places don't carry. I'll also admit to buying a lot of Red Rose from the grocery store.

EW

[tenuki]

by tenuki » May 17th, '08, 04:51

Dirty Pictures...

Clicky
V
<-- Clicky
^
Clicky

[olivierco]

by olivierco » May 17th, '08, 05:59

Mariage frères, Palais des thés, O-cha, Hibiki-an, Ippodo and Kaburagien.
So 6 regular vendors (i.e. I buy at least 200$ a year from them).

I could add adagio in the future if they open an European store

This morning Yunnan golden tips.

[henley]

by henley » May 17th, '08, 06:02

Adagio & Harney are currently my main vendors. However, after having the infamous Orange Blossom Oolong, NM Tea may become a regular. I really like their Organic Monk's Blend, too. So far, it's the only unflavored black tea that I've been as crazy for as CynTEAa is about YG.

Speaking of Monk's Blend, may have to start the day w/that...

[Salsero]

by Salsero » May 17th, '08, 06:31

Dirty Pictures

Very nice, Tenuki. Thanks for letting us watch! And we didn't even have to get our fingers dirty.

[ThinkingOutLoud]

by ThinkingOutLoud » May 17th, '08, 06:32

First of all, Sal, I have not yet commented on one of your pics, but damn, man, that one is gorgeous.

And tenuki, too groovy.

One vendor for me. As mentioned yesterday, I'm slowly working my way through Adagio's offerings. Once I'm done there, I'll move on. I have laser like focus.

Nothing in my cup yet this morning.

[chrl42]

by chrl42 » May 17th, '08, 08:57

I go to Maliendao for tea.
There is my favorite Da Hong Pao store where only sells certificated Zheng Yan Wuyi teas.
For puerhs, I go to Korean-owned stores. Because at least they don't sell wrong tea at wrong price.
For greens, I go to any stores in Maliendao. It's not difficult to find good greens in Beijing.

[Selaphiel]

by Selaphiel » May 17th, '08, 09:07

I`ve used 3 tea vendors so far. O-cha (Japanese tea), Palais des thes (Black tea) and TeaSpring (chinese tea).

Today I`ve started with Gyokuro Yume no ukihashi from Uji. This tea is really delicious, very mellow and nice.

[olivierco]

by olivierco » May 17th, '08, 09:15

Sencha kaburagien after lunch and now some Darjeeling Phuguri FTGFOP1.

[Carnelian]

by Carnelian » May 17th, '08, 09:25

I mainly use Adagio and Dragonwater. I've sampled other brands, but those are the two that I always come back to.

No tea yet, still trying to decide what I want (actually I do know what I want, all of them, but I don't know what to have first)

[Ron Gilmour]

by Ron Gilmour » May 17th, '08, 09:32

Sal, that really is a spectacular pic. You've outdone yourself. However, with all those roses, it's not very butch. You may need to expectorate in public as a counterbalance.

About 90% of my tea comes from 3 vendors: Tao of Tea, Adagio, and Upton's. Judging from yesterday's poll, I guess I'm in a minority for liking the big generalist vendors.

This morning I'm sipping some of Adagio's excellent Ceylon Sonata.

[witches brew]

by witches brew » May 17th, '08, 10:04

This morning was my long awaited date with Hibiki-an shincha Pinnacle. More about that later, in the relevant thread.

As far as regular vendors go, I have three. Ito En and Aphrodisia are my local sources for teas and odd tisanes, respectively, and Adagio is my source for standard tisane ingredients, like peppermint.

[RussianSoul]

by RussianSoul » May 17th, '08, 10:14

I go to Maliendao for tea.
There is my favorite Da Hong Pao store where only sells certificated Zheng Yan Wuyi teas.
For puerhs, I go to Korean-owned stores. Because at least they don't sell wrong tea at wrong price.
For greens, I go to any stores in Maliendao. It's not difficult to find good greens in Beijing.

Yea - yea! Rub it in!

I love to shop locally, the gratification of seeing and smelling the tea, and walking out with your little packages. Unfortunately, this is not Beijing, and tea places are few and far between.

One of teashops I return to is Tea Gschwendner, local for me. I get my Assams there. On the Internet my repeat business goes to Adagio (great samples), O-Cha and Den's (Japanese) and TeaSpring (Chinese). So it is 5.

There are a few others that have a high potential for my business, Hou De for example. But I have not bought tea there yet, so it is story for another day.

Assam Mangalam in my cup (from Tea Gschwendner.)