Buying tea in the real world

[caligatia]

Opening your mailbox after a long day of work and finding some nice tea in it is also very gratifying!

The anticipation of an order coming in can be fun, too, in a masochistic way. When I have a tracking number I check like twice a day to see when the box will arrive.

[edkrueger]

Guess which country consumes the most tea?

[gingkoseto]

Good tea stores (which are barely found out of large cities) could be significantly more expensive (or lower quality/price ratio) than good online stores, considering all the costs to maintain a real store.

I'm not so sure about that. For one thing it's harder to get a lot of customers online. I know that some brick and mortar stores are more expensive, but I've also seen some that are quite a bit cheaper. Those that have both often have the same prices online and off and often seem to be comparable. The biggest determining factor that I've seen is the target demographic. If they are marketing to people that know better than the prices will be lower. For example, my local store Serenity Art - they sell good teas and teaware marketed to the Chinese immigrant community, who are more likely to know what these things should cost. So at SA you get the typical gaiwans for $3-$5. Other shops in the city that are geared toward Americans that want something 'exotic' sell the exact same gaiwans for $15+, just as most online stores do.

But yeah, unfortunately you pretty much have to go to a big city. If you're in a big city then you can look for something that both specializes and caters to the immigrant community. In my city that's in the "new Chinatown," but I don't know about other cities. (Actual Chinatown is downtown, but is getting too expensive for anyone to set up shop there so they are all moving out to my side of town. Serenity Art is actually at an all-Asian shopping center in this area.)

Of course you can always check out the Tea Map (Link at the top of the page.)

That's great! I guess my previous comment about real world tea stores is too subjective

I observed similar trend in some other cities like Toronto and NYC. The new chinatown has some interesting stuff going on, totally different from older chinatown.

On the teamap, the closest tea houses to me are distance away. The closest one doesn't look that interesting. But maybe I can add a few to the teamap. The one that is not on the tea map but closest to me, at least they label production locations for their teas and once I even got long jing in their cafe. They don't have many varieties though. I don't blame them. I guess with current local market, they just can't afford having more varieties, especially those green teas with short shelf life.

[ABx]

...They don't have many varieties though. I don't blame them. I guess with current local market, they just can't afford having more varieties, especially those green teas with short shelf life.

I've actually found that many shops are low on tea this year, and a lot of this years' oolongs, at least, are a bit lacking. Serenity Art has about half the number of teas (and about half of those are last year's oolongs), and a lot of the online stores have gotten fewer new teas this year. Though the economy certainly doesn't help, I believe it was also just a lousy year for tea in general (too much rain, etc).

So keep an eye out, they may have more come next spring

[Victoria]

I guess the part I like about buying in the real is world is the *instant gratification*

Opening your mailbox after a long day of work and finding some nice tea in it is also very gratifying!

I agree. Nothing like opening a box of tea you have been waiting for! Not to mention online is the way to go for variety and freshness. Unless you are living in Taiwan.

[geeber1]

Guess which country consumes the most tea?

Isn't that Ireland?

[kymidwife]

When you live rural and want to shop for international products... the internet IS the real world.

Sarah

[gingkoseto]

Some additional experience of buying tea from real world

For me in my region, I still don't expect to get upscale tea (didn't even find those for high price, let it alone reasonable price). But in recent trips to Boston region Asian grocery, I did find some buy-able teas! I used to think there is no tea worth buying in Asian grocery Then I found:

1. I bought some Shui Xian oolong (shui hsien) carried by a Hong Kong company. $2.99 for a can of 5.3 oz. It's actually pretty good. Since shui xian is a dark-roasted oolong, I don't care much when it was produced. The well-sealed tea can seems to make the tea inside last forever. In Cantonese meals (which dominates Hong Kong), dark-roasted oolong (and puerh) is used most often. As a daily tea, oolong is not as much romanticized in Cantonese region as in the rest of Asia. So I am not surprised about the low price and very happy about the quality. Next time, I think I am going to buy some lapsang souchong in similar tea can package. I don't think most customers in Asian store come for tea, and I don't know how long their teas have been sitting there on shelf. So I will still stay away from the typical short shelf-life tea such as green tea and green oolong

2. I am not a big fan of gun powder. But I bought some entirely out of curiosity and because it almost cost nothing. Gun powder is gun powder, doesn't get much worse or better. Gun powder from Asian store tastes to me exactly the same as gun powder from other more expensive sources. Even though in every store, gun powder is probably the least expensive tea, gun powder from Asian store is BY FAR cheapest in price!

[edkrueger]

Guess which country consumes the most tea?

Isn't that Ireland?

No, its the United States. Per Capita is the UK.

[insanitylater]

i got a big bag of kukicha from wegmans for $3 (it's nice filling your own bag)

it's rishi's brand

[geeber1]

Guess which country consumes the most tea?

Isn't that Ireland?

No, its the United States. Per Capita is the UK.

Interesting. The site I looked at said Ireland, followed by Iraq. Thanks Ed.

[horsencl]

It is Ireland according to the Tea Association of the U.S.A. Do you have a Wegman's or Whole Foods in your area? Both usually have a pretty decent loose leaf selection.