recent Tea Gallery sampling

[tenuki]

I ordered a couple teas from the tea gallery in NY, here are my thoughts..

Hundred Year Tree $18.00 / 25 g
Nice strong tea base as you would expect, not very long lasting, interesting tea. overpriced.

2000 Iron Boddhisattva $25.00 / 25 g
Decent tea, way overpriced for what it is, that's all I'm sayin..

Iron Bodhisattva (classic roast) $9.00 / 25 g
I liked this one, it was actually my favorite of the three, and not overpriced. good tea, good value.


A general comment about teagallery - so far in my experience they charge a bit more for their teas than is warrented. Shipping is also a rippoff, and it's slow. I ordered some tea from china from another vendor and some tea from a vendor in canada and both of those got here first (and cost about as much to ship too for more tea in both cases!!)... But decent teas, if a bit overpriced.

[tenuki]

Finally got around to the golden key sample they sent

Golden Key WuYi - $18 / 25g

decent, pretty much as described on their website. overpriced for what it is imo. see a trend here? At $18 / 25g a tea better wow me and this one was merely good imo.

[Herb_Master]

Speaking of trends

You have described several "OK" teas lately, many (if not all) that have in your experience / view been a little overpriced.

This begs the (a) suggestion / (b) question

(a) that you have tasted even better teas for the same price, and / or teas the equal of these that are much better value.

(b) Whatever the price can you name 4 online available teas that WOW you, and at a good price 4 teas that you believe are outstanding value?

4 preferably being 1 each from Taiwan, Fenghuang, Anxi and Wuyi.

[tenuki]

I'll do my best, but you'll have to give me a couple of days. Nice challenge!

[Herb_Master]

I'll do my best, but you'll have to give me a couple of days. Nice challenge!

Take your time, but if not done by Friday I will reply when I return from holiday. Saturday I am off to France for a fortnight and wine will take preference to Tea and Internet

Hoping to explore wines from the 3 smallest wine appellations in France

Marcillac-Vallon
Estaing
and
Entraygues-et-du-Fel

Hoping for wonderful photos of several rivers Lot,Tarn,Aveyron and more
Hoping for wonderful photos of Beautiful villages, France has about 80 but Aveyron has the greatest concentration so we should be able to visit about 14

not up to Geek standard or Sal standard with a camera, but if the location is a winner I may do allright

[TokyoB]

Finally got around to the golden key sample they sent

Golden Key WuYi - $18 / 25g

decent, pretty much as described on their website. overpriced for what it is imo. see a trend here? At $18 / 25g a tea better wow me and this one was merely good imo.

Tenuki - I have to agree with you that their teas are generally priced quite on the high side relative to the taste.

[LaybackPandas]

if it's expensive why are you complaining afterwards?

[Tead Off]

Finally got around to the golden key sample they sent

Golden Key WuYi - $18 / 25g

decent, pretty much as described on their website. overpriced for what it is imo. see a trend here? At $18 / 25g a tea better wow me and this one was merely good imo.

Do they make up these names of the teas they sell? Reminds me of the gimmicks that Samovar Tea Lounge use to sell their waaaaaaaaaaay overpriced teas. My wife brought back an oolong with a very fancy name. Tasted like it was mixed with Thai sticky rice, not bad, but when I asked her how much she paid, my fists started to slowly clench as my blood pressure rose to my head. NYC and SF are 2 high priced rental cities.

[Maitre_Tea]

I don't think they make up the names, but I think that many of them are translations of Chinese names. There are ALOT of different Yancha out there, and some of these varieties, like Golden Key, are rarely seen here in the West...that being said, if anyone knows a vendor who sells Golden Key, let me know please

I've seen Golden Buddha show up at Red Blossom Teas...not sure how it tastes though.

[gingkoseto]

Finally got around to the golden key sample they sent

Golden Key WuYi - $18 / 25g

decent, pretty much as described on their website. overpriced for what it is imo. see a trend here? At $18 / 25g a tea better wow me and this one was merely good imo.

Do they make up these names of the teas they sell?

No, not made up. The names are real, but due to translation, you may see different names for the same tea. Golden Key is a famous variety of Wuyi, but not many people had it, because it is much rarer than dhp. Some people call Golden Key as "jin suo shi". Usually it's overpriced by any vendor since there isn't much of it (same case for Bai Ji Guan and some other Wuyi).

[Tead Off]

Finally got around to the golden key sample they sent

Golden Key WuYi - $18 / 25g

decent, pretty much as described on their website. overpriced for what it is imo. see a trend here? At $18 / 25g a tea better wow me and this one was merely good imo.

Do they make up these names of the teas they sell?

No, not made up. The names are real, but due to translation, you may see different names for the same tea. Golden Key is a famous variety of Wuyi, but not many people had it, because it is much rarer than dhp. Some people call Golden Key as "jin suo shi". Usually it's overpriced by any vendor since there isn't much of it (same case for Bai Ji Guan and some other Wuyi).

But, Bai Ji Guan is one of the main teas of Wuyi and is quite well known, even if it is expensive. Is Golden Key a type of one of the 5 Wuyi Yan cha's?

[gingkoseto]

Finally got around to the golden key sample they sent

Golden Key WuYi - $18 / 25g

decent, pretty much as described on their website. overpriced for what it is imo. see a trend here? At $18 / 25g a tea better wow me and this one was merely good imo.

Do they make up these names of the teas they sell?

No, not made up. The names are real, but due to translation, you may see different names for the same tea. Golden Key is a famous variety of Wuyi, but not many people had it, because it is much rarer than dhp. Some people call Golden Key as "jin suo shi". Usually it's overpriced by any vendor since there isn't much of it (same case for Bai Ji Guan and some other Wuyi).

But, Bai Ji Guan is one of the main teas of Wuyi and is quite well known, even if it is expensive. Is Golden Key a type of one of the 5 Wuyi Yan cha's?

Not one of the 5, but is one of the favorites.

[TIM]

Golden Key is one of the many classic Wuyi:
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=105737#p105737

[Tead Off]

Golden Key is one of the many classic Wuyi:
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=105737#p105737

That Wuyi list is impressive. I will have to remember Golden Key the next time I go to Hong Kong.

Btw, Tim, what is your favorite Wuyi and where do you buy it?

[wyardley]

[some stuff deleted here - wby]
I get why BTH and most of the shops run by their former students use fanciful English names, but it would be nice if the packaging included the actual characters also. I am curious if those teas are grown within the protected areas (on the cliffs), because it seems odd to me that the prices are all the same, and that certain teas aren't more expensive than they already are.

I have had a 金锁匙 (Jīn suǒ shì) from a friend, from Jin Pao (金抛，I think) factory, which was not that expensive (maybe $40 US / jin). I haven't ever tried another one (don't believe I've tried the Tea Gallery one), nor do I know much about the provenance of the one I did try. On certain days, I was able to coax some really pleasant and unusual flavors from it (I think I remember some kind of vanilla-y flavors), but other days it seemed more standard. That may be due to deficiencies in my brewing skills more than deficiencies in the tea.

Personally, I think the differences in processing and the overall quality of the raw material (i.e., maocha) matters quite a lot to the taste of the finished tea; on top of that, you can't always be sure that you're getting the exact varietal that the vendor says you are getting. I feel like sometimes, some of the more obscure yancha are better deals, or at least less likely to be fake or blends than the famous teas. I usually like to ask whoever I'm buying the tea from what teas *they* think are good or what the factory specializes in, rather than trying to guess based on arbitrary preference for, say, qian li xiang or shui jin gui. Finding good tea is hard enough without limiting yourself to a couple of varieties.

Over time, I do think you start to notice some of the tendencies that go with certain teas, but you first need to try examples of the same tea from many different sources.