Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[rdl]

I have never seen Tian Ren nor Tian Fu. I've come across several Ten Ren shops

Same thing... just different romanization. Tian Ren is just the more standard pinyin for 天仁 (vs. "Ten Ren").

i assumed as much, but i go by the spelling the company uses. but the main point i was trying to make is that i have never seen a ten fu shop in the usa. i've been to ten ren in taiwan, and ten fu in china, and several ten rens shops in the usa. it seems what is produced in taiwan has the name ten ren, and the chinese products, ten fu. so i am curious where you have gone to a ten ren shop and right next door is a ten fu shop, here in the usa?
sorry to drift so far from the original topic.

[Chip]

Can I still post what oolong I am drinking?

A gift TGY from IPT (ChineseTeaCulture), details of which I am sworn to secrecy.

Really a beautiful TGY ... and very persistant aromas and flavors. Next session I will have to photograph the amazingly green leaves.

[rdl]

Can I still post what oolong I am drinking?
A gift TGY from IPT (ChineseTeaCulture), details of which I am sworn to secrecy.

i did say sorry...
is that eternal secrecy?

[Tead Off]

Paradise Oolong, a dancong from Best Tea House in Hong Kong. This tea is a good example of an ordinary, commercial type dancong, that is sold for more than it should be and doesn't deliver the goods, IMO. It's astringency far outweighs its flavor. It gives you a hint of what it could be when you smell its faint caramelized onion aroma, thinking it will deepen as you brew. No such luck. About US$44/100g after a 15% discount if you ask. I would never buy again.

Don't The Leaves Look Good?

Paradise Dancong-Best Tea House.jpg (75.91 KiB) Viewed 1962 times

[wyardley]

it seems what is produced in taiwan has the name ten ren, and the chinese products, ten fu. so i am curious where you have gone to a ten ren shop and right next door is a ten fu shop, here in the usa?

Well I guess I meant that there is one logo on each awning of one of the ones here. It's really one store.
Does http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 78,,0,3.18 work?

[Tead Off]

It seems that Ten Ren has a bad rep here from the tone of some posters. Is this true, and why? How about Ten Fu in China?

I remember the Ten Ren shop in S.F. about 20 years ago on Grant. It was the 1st tea shop I ever saw in the States and I remember them trying to get me to buy the Taiwanese oolong they sold. I knew nothing then about Taiwan tea. I think I did buy a pot or 2 from them. Can't remember.

[gingkoseto]

It seems that Ten Ren has a bad rep here from the tone of some posters. Is this true, and why? How about Ten Fu in China?

I remember the Ten Ren shop in S.F. about 20 years ago on Grant. It was the 1st tea shop I ever saw in the States and I remember them trying to get me to buy the Taiwanese oolong they sold. I knew nothing then about Taiwan tea. I think I did buy a pot or 2 from them. Can't remember.

I only visited Ten Ren in Toronto and Ten Fu in Beijing.
Ten Fu in Beijing - the reputation is generally expensive. Even their lowest priced tea doesn't taste bad though. But their lowest priced tea is more expensive than many other better tasting teas. I don't think they have bad reputation though. In fact, if you send Ten Fu gift to people, it's always seen as great respect (because of its monetary value). But, you can taste free samples in the store (you can taste expensive tea samples if you look like someone having a lot of disposable income ) Besides, their tea snacks are very tasty and well made. Generally their tea snacks are more fairly priced.

Ten Ren in Toronto - I don't know what people think of them. Most Chinese I know don't go there. It's totally different from Ten Fu in China. Even their Taiwan oolongs are not of the same names or packaging. They only give free samples of herbal tea But I think the operation idea for Ten Ren in NA and Ten Fu in China is quite different. After all, it's better to have one more tea store than nothing.

I am very curious about Ten Ren in Taiwan. Anybody can share some experience?

[rdl]

Well I guess I meant that there is one logo on each awning of one of the ones here. It's really one store.

wyardley, thank you! that is very interesting. i always have seen just ten ren and never like this shop. do you know how long ago that shop opened?

gingkoseto, it seems whenever i mention ten ren to my taiwanese friends i get a quick negative reply. i am not sure why that is. the teas i've had from ten ren were not overly priced and nice. and the ten ren restaurant in taipei has a full menu of foods cooked with tea.
also, i was impressed with the teas i sampled at a ten fu in china.
it's true they are the a big company, maybe that's what brings about the negative feelings. that said, typically, i do purchase my oolong tea elsewhere.

[Chip]

i did say sorry...
is that eternal secrecy?

I was kidding of course ...
Yeah, eternal or for as long as I want to receive tea from Chinese Tea Culture.

[wyardley]

Well I guess I meant that there is one logo on each awning of one of the ones here. It's really one store.

wyardley, thank you! that is very interesting. i always have seen just ten ren and never like this shop. do you know how long ago that shop opened?

It's been open for quite some time. I would say at least 10 years, but probably more - it's been there as long as I can remember. I haven't really looked in a while, but IIRC, the Ten Ren stuff is on one wall and the Ten Fu stuff is on the other. I believe that the guy who runs this one (on Valley Blvd in San Gabriel) is somewhat well known, and definitely knows more about tea than many of the proprietors of other Ten Ren franchises around. I did have a fairly decent modern style Tieguanyin from here (probably about $140/lb, and this was a few years ago). Even so, it was just Ok, and most of it is still sitting in a jar somewhere at home.

gingkoseto, it seems whenever i mention ten ren to my taiwanese friends i get a quick negative reply. i am not sure why that is. the teas i've had from ten ren were not overly priced and nice.

The fact that it's such a big company is one thing, but I think it really has more to do with their tea. Of course, there are some good teas, as someone alluded to above, but I think many of their teas are mediocre at best (just my opinion, but one I've heard frequently from others), and if you're going to buy their more expensive stuff, I think you can get something better from another source. I'm not faulting them exactly - it's difficult to source tea consistently for that large a customer base, and of course, in order to get even a little consistency, I would think that they need to buy from large, plantation style producers.

While I've gotten some teaware here a time or two (teapot pads, scoops), their clay teaware and porcelain is overpriced and not that great (IMHO).

They do a lot of tea outreach and education. I have heard good things from folks who have visited their library / tea center in Taibei, and they have a tea training center (there's a white guy who works there who posts on rec.food.drink.tea occasionally). I would also venture a guess that they're directly or indirectly affiliated with organizations like:
http://www.atcasf.org

This is all well and good, and I'm a fan of education and knowledge, but I do tend to think that some of these endeavors have a not-so-veiled interest in advancing their sales agenda. Just to be clear, I am not criticizing them for this - I think overall, they're doing more good than harm.

[rdl]

wyardley, your reply has that familiar "taiwanese' ring to it. i have not tried the tea they sell here, but i appreciate and agree with your assessment. i just don't agree with the ten ren is junk tea opinion out there. just my experience from buying their tea in asia. many have posted very good sources for oolong teas on TC so there are many opportunities to drink excellent tea.
i am impressed how in this country ten ren and ten fu can sit side by side while what happens on each side of the straights of taiwan are a bit more rocky. we just need more tea diplomacy.
in a few hours i will be drinking a Tea From Taiwan sample.

[teaisme]

I am very curious about Ten Ren in Taiwan. Anybody can share some experience?

whenever i mention ten ren to my taiwanese friends i get a quick negative reply. i am not sure why that is

Yep. They are better off crossing the street to a local tea seller and taking some time to find something much better.

Not to my liking. Sales staff can sometimes get a little pushy, maybe they work off commission?
Tea is usually decent but not worth me buying. Some of their teas I feel are unhealthy. I say this because when I drink them I get a strange cloudiness in my head and the taste of tea and smell of leaves seems off. Both wet and dry. I feel that if I drank too much of it I will throw up. I actually have stopped during a session and poured everything out because it seemed that off. (this has been the case for their sun moon lake high mt tea, and a green dong ding). A couple others were fine. I just don't buy tea anymore from them because of this. Maybe I have tried 6 or so of their teas, all not warranting a repurchase.

The store in puli next to soon moon lake is like the one that wyardley visited. It was under a hotel, and split into two stores. One sold ten ren, one sold ten fu. Sales lady said it was split for the Chinese tourists.
Tea ware like competition tasting sets and gaiwans etc are not really expensive their though (though slightly marked up).

If you are on a very tight budget, you may find a decent daily drinker in there (roasted dong ding comes to mind as the only one I would ever consider drinking again if thirsty). I was gifted 600g in a canister a few years ago and still have a bunch.


Oh yeah, FLT tgy in cup

[TokyoB]

I have been to Ten Ren in NYC, Maryland, and Taipei. I find the tea to be ok at best - fairly low end but overpriced. In the US the salespeople tend to be pushy and not very knowledgeable. I think the teahouses they have in Taiwan are actually a decent place to sit down and have tea and a snack. Just don't expect anything great from the tea, it is ok though. The atmosphere is nice.

[wyardley]

In the US the salespeople tend to be pushy and not very knowledgeable.

Agree. Also, here, they tend to give you some god-awful tea right when you come in - typically a ginseng oolong. This doesn't generally put me in the mood to buy (or try) any tea.

[gingkoseto]

They do a lot of tea outreach and education. I have heard good things from folks who have visited their library / tea center in Taibei, and they have a tea training center (there's a white guy who works there who posts on rec.food.drink.tea occasionally). I would also venture a guess that they're directly or indirectly affiliated with organizations like:
http://www.atcasf.org

This is all well and good, and I'm a fan of education and knowledge, but I do tend to think that some of these endeavors have a not-so-veiled interest in advancing their sales agenda. Just to be clear, I am not criticizing them for this - I think overall, they're doing more good than harm.

This is what I heard too and I think that's pretty good. It seems the owner does want to do some good things to the society, at least after he got rich I feel the same as you about their staff in Toronto store. I guess they just don't spend money on staff training or hiring more knowledgeable staff. Something else confuses me is they are enfranchised but they seem to allow different franchise owners to establish their own websites and web stores. Last year I remember seeing two different Ten Ren web stores with totally different theme designs.

gingkoseto, it seems whenever i mention ten ren to my taiwanese friends i get a quick negative reply. i am not sure why that is. the teas i've had from ten ren were not overly priced and nice.

I guess one reason is they are so large, like the walmart of tea. In US and Canada I often see their supermarket/grocery level products in Asian stores, which may not be entirely bad, but may turn away serious tea drinkers. Maybe this is the case in Taiwan too? In Beijing I didn't see any of Ten Fu's products in supermarket. But I saw a lot of Lipton Tie Guan Yin

And a little more gossips - Ten Ren was involved in a financial scandal in Taiwan around 1990. I guess that's another source of their negative reputation. This was shortly before the owner started to invest in Fujian and gained fast success. Some people say this move saved the company from bankrupting. I have an impression that the owner did a lot of good things after that scandal, probably trying to be a better man. I think Ten Ren/Ten Fu is a very interesting company. Their products are very much over-priced, and there are many comparable products with much lower prices in China. Yet they still managed to open many stores and make people buy their expensive stuff. That's quite a phenomenon.