Adagio's Wuyi oolong

Owes its flavors to oxidation levels between green & black tea.


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Adagio's Wuyi oolong

by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:16

Hi,

I was wondering what is that Wuyi oolong that you are selling? you call it Wuyi ensemble but from what i saw on the picture in your website, the shape of the leaves and the color make it looks like it is the Wuyi Narcissus or Shui Xian. Are you planning on getting some other oolong from Wuyi?

Seb

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:16

Sebastien--

Thanks for the post.

It is indeed a Shui Xian, and one of the best you'll find!

Here it is:

http://www.adagio.com/oolong/wuyi_ensemble.html

Enjoy,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:16

Chris,

I am wondering... Why do you give other names than their original names to teas? The translation of Shui Xian in English is Narcissus (because the name of the tea tree race is narcissus). I don't really like it, i d rather go for some da hong pao . If you like the wuyi rock tea then i ll let you know when my website is up. I am preparing one for the european market, so maybe we can do some trading lol and i can make you discover some really good tea that chinese people only keep for themself.

PS: Why a french name? i am curious as i am french... :o

Sebastian

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:17

Seb--

Although we love the french, the reason for the name "ensemble" was actually as a musical reference. By perusing our site, you'll find that pretty much all of our tea names follow this musical theme. In fact, "Adagio" is a muscial term meaning "slow" (how we want our tea to be appreciated).

For more info on our name and branding ideas, click here:

http://www.teamuse.com/article_030301.html

Hope this helps,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:17

Hey Chris,

I understood that all the names for your website were about music, i. myself, studied piano for more than 10 years But i still don't get why most of tea companies on the net still don't educate people about chinese tea by giving them the real name of the teas. If one goes to China, he wouldn't be able to ask for any tea that he likes, even in english

Sipping a nice cup of Dancong, Osmanthus flavor, thinking of you guys

rock on,
SEb

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:18

This may be dangerous, but I'm going to concur with Sebastien here. I don't buy tea from Adagio because the gimmicky names don't tell me nearly as much I'd like to know about the tea. However, they've more than compensated with their huge online contribution, and I think they've done the tea world (and themselves) an unparalled service. They've sold me on their longterm lifestyle, if not their current product. I'll definitely stick around to see what happens, and if I'm not still unemployed, I'll drop some bucks. Also, I must discredit my opinion with the fact that I'm a music school graduate, and I've seen more cloying music-affinity posturing from the future band teachers of America than the average citizen. I'll bet y'all wince when you see another tearoom named after a pun on the word "tea," so take me with a grain of salt.

Evan Draper

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:18

Okay, I was looking at product descriptions, and they seem more thorough than I remember. I just have a hard time accepting any tea that uses an arbitrary association with a very specific musical term to increase sales. Please forgive this tiny curmudgeon. Sigh.

Evan Draper

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:18

[Evan]
I just have a hard time accepting any tea that uses an arbitrary association with a very specific musical term to increase sales.

[sebastien]
It s not just the fact of using musical terms for increasing sales, it is really a matter of educating people and keeping things alive. At this rate, in 20 years tea won't be called tea anymore!

The question i am wondering is why on earth is dragon well called dragon well on the website and not something like crescendo, or symphonie (or whatever that sounds musical) when their Wuyi Shui Xian (narcissus) is called "wuyi ensemble". I mean the Shui Xian is not a si da ming song or even a ming song but it is one of the most famous wuyi oolong.

Maybe someone can explain why some tea have some other appelation than their name.

Sebastien

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:18

Sebastien and Evan--

Thanks for the posts.

Here's an article with the reasoning behind the name and brand theme, written by our owner himself, Michael Cramer:

http://www.teamuse.com/article_030301.html

It's Marketing 101!

Good taste is our forte,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:18

Chris,

Thanks for the link on marketing 101 but i am not interested in it. I am interested in tea. I think you didn't understand my question, my bad. I will try to reformulate it in a clearer way:

Why the dragon well (which is the litteral translation for Long Jing) is called dragon well on your site while other famous tea have name that are related with music, such as wuyi ensemble for the wuyi Shui Xian? Is dragon well a musical term?

Sebastien

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by teachat » Jun 8th, '05, 13:19

Sebastien--

Thanks for the reply.

Actually, most of the teas have musical terms. For example, the Dragonwell (Lung Ching) is officially called "Dragonwell Requiem." "Dragonwell" itself is not a musical term. Very few teas we offer don't have any musical connotation (this is usually just because we couldn't think of a fitting musical term).

Is there any value added to these names? Probably not. But it is a unique addition that separates our teas from other companies'.

All the best,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

Jun 13th, '05, 19:25

wu yi shui xian

by tealover » Jun 13th, '05, 19:25

dear all,

totally agree with seb & evan. tea merchants should be using the chinese "pin yin" instead of their "make-up" names... if interested, go to google search and type in the "chinese pin yin" and you will find out the info about that tea. my friend also refer me to a tea site called http://www.dynasteaclub.com that they are using "chinese pin yin" for all their oolong. i can send them email for questions and they will answer me back about those tea. i guess they have advantages because the owner is chinese and it's their language!!!

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by chris » Jun 14th, '05, 10:07

Thanks for the post.

It is agreed that having its true name would be the most correct answer. But until we can get Americans to start learning Chinese, we have to come up with names that are more palatable to them.

Hope this helps explain,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

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by Marlene » Jun 14th, '05, 15:16

I do have to admit, Sebation, Evan et al, that I was very attracted to this website at first because of the names. It was about one and a half years ago, I was just getting into tea, and I had no clue. The pretty names attracted me, and the good quality kept me.
Doing what I do when something intrestes me, I dove in head first and learned all I could about tea. The names, tea producing areas, what they're famous for, yixing tea ware, methods of brewing ect. It's a lot to learn, and I think I'll be learning till the day I die.
Their marketing worked. I'm here and I'm always going to be a customer. Doesn't mean I won't buy from anybody else though. I'm adventurous, and Adago doesn't always have exactly what I'm looking for. Jing Tea Shop has a lot of pu erhs and Jaya has a very large selection of darjeelings.
Now Chris, Micheal et al, in defense of seb and evan, the names of your teas are very attractive to beginners but for those who have gotten beyond being attracted to a tea by a pretty name, good discriptions are in order. Most of your teas have ok discriptions, and some have excellent discriptions. I think they all need exellent discriptions. I like to know the native name, estate (or notice that it's a blend), flush, grade as well as discription of aroma, flavor, re-steep ablitly and maybe an oxidation percentage in the oolongs and vintage in the pu erhs. Maybe you guys should each rate the teas yourself. Granted, the prices on your sample tins are good enough that I just usually order a sample first (notice how many samples I order?).
Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, dosn't try it on.
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by chris » Jun 15th, '05, 12:45

You're absolutely correct, Marlene-- the descriptions are definitely due for an overhaul. I'm going to start re-writing them today. I've got Marlene's suggestions, but what is everybody else looking for in a tea's description?

Trying to make the world a better place -- one tea description at a time,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

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