tea club suggestion

[dizzo]

Hi folks.
Im newer to the sport of tea, and have really fallen for oolong. I do keep a long jing stock, but thats about it. Everything ive ordered so far has been from Teavivre, and ive tried them all. Now that my pallet is starting to get a little more capable, I would like to spread my wings a bit. I saw that Yunnan sourcing has a monthly tea club. This may take some of the guesswork out of things for me. Are these a good way to expand my knowledge? Is there a particular tea club that is really highly regarded?

[ethan]

I have found Teaclubs & tea samplers as well to be disappointing. I assume others also have not found much joy from them because there is little talk of them here. (Perhaps now that I have made an assumption, talk to the contrary will arise.)
Private message sent. Cheers

[victoria3]

Certain special teas that fit the bill become my staples, and then I enjoy exploring new teas; learning, reading, tasting, visiting and maybe understanding a little more along the way. It's a nice ride...

[Bok]

Aren’t we a gigantic tea club here?
Take all the advice and suggestions on this forum together and anyone should find enough routes to follow up and sample their way to their taste.

[Bok]

Tea clubs seems like a lot of tuition fee = overpriced for not much value in return. Better to sample on your own and/or follow the advice of the ones in the know (of which you might find a few around here).

Don’t know if you have any tea people near you, but I’ve found the best way to learn is by drinking with people who are experienced with tea. Sample, sample, sample that is how you learn best.

[Rui]

Aren’t we a gigantic tea club here?

I agree.

[Aquarama]

I am looking at clubs from White2Tea and Yunnan Sourcing. Does anyone have experience with both of these clubs? I was thinking of doing the Premium YS club or the W2T club just to try different teas.

[miig]

A club's not bad if you're new and want to get your bearings in the tea business. But I agree that there is tuition tea, and there is another problem: a serious amount of your money will be spent on shipping. It would be better to choose a vendor of good repute or two and try out what they have.

[Aquarama]

A club's not bad if you're new and want to get your bearings in the tea business. But I agree that there is tuition tea, and there is another problem: a serious amount of your money will be spent on shipping. It would be better to choose a vendor of good repute or two and try out what they have.

You mean buying a bunch of individual samples at once?

For the YS club the cost of shipping per order seems around $5-6 which is less than their cheapest shipping option if you were to buy them individually but you are right, that does add up.

If I were to order individual samples to learn about tea what would be the best way to go about it? I have a pretty good understanding of the differences between Green, Red, Oolong, White, Pu-erh teas but know almost nothing about tea terroirs and the different types of tea in each of the broad categories.

[victoria3]

If you don't have time to read and do your own research and exploration, then I guess a tea club subscription is not such a bad idea. Items delivered monthly, with the ability to cancel anytime, is pretty good at 30$ per month from both those vendors. You could start with both subscriptions and cancel one after a while

[CWarren]

I have been a member of several tea clubs and have found some of them worth it while others not so much. The plus side is there are often teas only offered via the club selection and those selections are usually decent teas. The down side is that with the clubs that offer more than one kind of tea each month is that you often get some tea you might not be as big of a fan of. I also found that with some clubs I was often getting tea from the same source or nearby source as they were and it no longer seemed worth it to continue.

In the end like Victoria has said research and exploration can often yield you better results than a gamble on what one vendor may send you. I've stopped all my clubs but one as I've found that the monthly savings affords me to purchase teas of my choosing instead. Instead of say $100-120 for three clubs I purchase one decent cake instead.

I do subscribe to Global Tea Hut as the magazine alone is worth it to me, the community is great and I've yet to be disappointed by the tin of tea and all at a very reasonable donation cost plus the work they are doing I feel is helpful to the tea community in general.

Anyway my long drawn out take on tea clubs.


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[Aquarama]

I think I will try a YS, W2T and the Global Tea Hut clubs for a month or two and reevaluate if I want to stick with them.

[victoria3]

I think I will try a YS, W2T and the Global Tea Hut clubs for a month or two and reevaluate if I want to stick with them.

Please share your findings

[miig]

Enjoy! And, if you got a minute, you can let us know how you like the clubs

[dizzo]

Thanks for sharing Global Tea hut!
I checked them out and the magazine looks very informative. May have to try them myself:)