The Real TGY

[Oni]

As I have mentined before I use Tie Guan Yin with my yixing pot, sofar I have tried 3 types, one was from Taiwan and aged and more fermented, and a spring harvest and one fall harvest TGY from funalliance, has anybody tried higher grades of this type of oolong, such as Shen Yun TGY from teaspring, or high grades from Dragon teahouse, I know it is a highly falsified tea, there are many fakes, many not made from the tgy type of bush, but I would like to know about the real deal, the real Anxi TGY that is among the top 10 chinese teas, and it`s also a tribute tea.

[yukondoit]

I am a complete oolong snob and Ti Kuan Yin is DEFINITELY a tea that I love no matter what, even though everyone sells really low grades.

I would check out Seven Cups for Ti Kuan Yin. They have an "old style" and a bunch of other varieties. The old style is fantastic. I was actually surprised, also, to find that I liked Mighty Leaf's Ti Kuan a lot (not the superior, that is just a rip off). It's very floral.

I would definitely check out the old style Ti Kuan Yin from Seven Cups for starters.

[Victoria]

The ones from Jing Tea Shop are excellent.

[Oni]

Mighty leaf, jing teashop, sevencups, they all are expencieve compared to buying from ebay, I wanted to know about the best quality, not the comercial ones, sevencups sells good tea at high price, they buy much of their tea from ebay and sell it under diffrent names for twice the price. For now I trust only Dragon teahouse and Teaspring for chinese tea (Houde is a great ripp-off shop).

[yukondoit]

Seven Cups doesn't buy their tea on eBay. That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. If you want good tea, you have to pay the price -- no high quality tea is cheap, and you get what you pay for. So if you are looking for cheaply priced tea, you will get cheaper tasting tea. That's pretty much how it is.

You can buy good tea on eBay, but there is also a lot of crap. You have no idea where your stuff comes from. Buyers on eBay don't have to have integrity. I NEVER buy tea on eBay, and I mostly drink high-end oolong. Houde is a pretty renowned tea shop as well, and I can't speak for everyone else, but I am pretty happy to spend the money to consistently receive incredible tea.

To me, Seven Cups has the best quality oolong. Some people want the best tea they can find, whatever the price.

[edkrueger]

Oni, Hou De is great. I've never had a tea from them that wasn't great. Especially thier TGY. Also, TGY is not frequently forged, its a pretty common variety, just almost nobody processes it well. Mu-Zha Taiwan is the most competent maker I've had TGY from. http://www.jteainternational.com/ looks like it has some good TGY too.

[Chip]

Mighty leaf, jing teashop, sevencups, they all are expencieve compared to buying from ebay, I wanted to know about the best quality, not the comercial ones, sevencups sells good tea at high price, they buy much of their tea from ebay and sell it under diffrent names for twice the price. For now I trust only Dragon teahouse and Teaspring for chinese tea (Houde is a great ripp-off shop).

What do you base this on? I believe this is a false statement because I happen to know the direct buyer who worked for this vendor in China.

Pretty heavy handed statement. All things are relative. You can certainly buy cheaper on ebay, but you will struggle to find the consistancy that a vendor like Hou de offers.

[yukondoit]

I second Chip. I talk to people at Seven Cups on a regular basis. They are very serious about purchasing the best tea possible and personally select their varieties. Houde and Seven Cups are both incredible sources for the best tea around. To accuse them of renaming eBay tea is really outrageous. I'd rather spend $20 on an ounce of tea at Seven Cups than buy shady crap I don't even like on eBay.

Maybe read up a little on Houde and Seven Cups before you accuse them of ripping people off.

http://www.sevencups.com/about-us/fairt ... a-promise/

[silverneedles]

I recommend a lead test kit ...

[Oni]

Sorry

[TIM]

Mighty leaf, jing teashop, sevencups, they all are expencieve compared to buying from ebay, I wanted to know about the best quality, not the comercial ones, sevencups sells good tea at high price, they buy much of their tea from ebay and sell it under diffrent names for twice the price. For now I trust only Dragon teahouse and Teaspring for chinese tea (Houde is a great ripp-off shop).

http://chadao.blogspot.com/2006/03/anxi ... -thsu.html

Oni
This is not the best grade, roughly around 1200 US per pound whole sale as of 2008. The 1st-3rd price winner is around 3x-5x. Hope this helps. T

[orguz]

Mighty leaf, jing teashop, sevencups, they all are expencieve compared to buying from ebay, I wanted to know about the best quality, not the comercial ones, sevencups sells good tea at high price, they buy much of their tea from ebay and sell it under diffrent names for twice the price. For now I trust only Dragon teahouse and Teaspring for chinese tea (Houde is a great ripp-off shop).

What do you base this on? I believe this is a false statement because I happen to know the direct buyer who worked for this vendor in China.

Pretty heavy handed statement. All things are relative. You can certainly buy cheaper on ebay, but you will struggle to find the consistancy that a vendor like Hou de offers.

HEAR HEAR

[Bubba_tea]

(Houde is a great ripp-off shop).

Oni,
Maybe this is a good deal for you, authentic (the real stuff) Da Hong Pao, but it's a little pricey at $35usd for 50gms. Well, when there is only 400gms per year harvested, you can see why they are asking so much for it. Try it and let us know how you like it. Here's the link for the real, authentic, honest Da Hong Pao:

https://www.teahub.com/Oolong_2008001.htm

Good luck!

[wyardley]

Maybe this is a good deal for you, authentic (the real stuff) Da Hong Pao, but it's a little pricey at $35usd for 50gms. Well, when there is only 400gms per year harvested, you can see why they are asking so much for it. Try it and let us know how you like it. Here's the link for the real, authentic, honest Da Hong Pao:

https://www.teahub.com/Oolong_2008001.htm

Not sure if you're being sarcastic here, but just in case you're not.... If you're talking about the "original"[1] 3 bushes, Teahub doesn't claim that their tea is from those bushes. They're actually not harvesting the tea from those bushes at all these days, and in any event, that tea has only been available for sale (well really auction) 2 or so times... other than that, it's mostly been reserved for heads of state and other dignitaries. And the price when it was auctioned was significantly more than $35/50g.

The very best teas are usually not available for sale at any price. You can get very good tea, but you will usually have to pay a lot of money for it. The unfortunate truth, however, is that you can spend a lot of money and still not get very good tea.

[1] Whether the three bushes you go look at when you visit the scenic area are the actual original DHP bushes is a subject of some debate.

[Salsero]

Sorry

Oni, it is a good person who can recognize an error and apologize. I think you deserve credit for that ... and maybe you will be more careful about what you say in the future.

Dragon Tea House and TeaSpring, by the way, are both very respected tea vendors on this forum. You are right that they are less expensive. Hou De and Seven Cups, on the other hand, cater to consumers who don't worry a lot about price.

Hou De and Seven Cups, as you might have noticed, do have a lot of fans!