MountainTea.com?

[Poseidon]

Has anyone used this vendor before? They have some oolong im interested in and they are fairly cheap. That usually sends a little signal off in my head to ask around and see if anyone has any expirence with the vendor.

Also, has anyone tried an oolong cake? I didnt even know oolong was pressed into cake form like puerh. This tea sounds exquisite.
http://www.mountaintea.com/collections/ ... eauty-cake

[sherubtse]

I have ordered from them several times. They used to have some very good teas at competitive prices. Shipping prices were good as well.

They seem to have gone dormant on the retail side for the past year or so, though they are still producing fine teas, it seems:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1779444

You can find additional info on their teas on their wholesale site:

http://mountainteagarden.com/

Best wishes,
sherubtse

[debunix]

We did a tasting of their teas, and I enjoyed them enough to make an order afterwards. I still have one packet left of the Imperial Pearl, that really resonated with me, so haven't reordered from them since, but probably will again.

[茶藝-TeaArt08]

I spoke with them last year at the end of World Tea Expo. They were friendly and their booth was quite busy. My wife was with me and we started a discussion with them in Mandarin about their cultivars, locations of where their tea was grown in Taiwan, etc. At one point there was an odd moment where my wife and I caught the woman in a question about the cultivar and where it was grown in regards to a tea that was labeled "high mountain." It turned out that the tea was grown low elevation. The woman sighed when she saw that we knew the area and had depth knowledge of Taiwan and Taiwanese tea and had an interesting moment of reluctance around my questioning her further when some of her replies were not consistent. She was friendly and, since it was the end of the show, and all the tea was being sold very cheaply, we sampled their teas and we bought their Jade Wulong, a brick of their pressed Dong Fang Mei Ren tea, and another organic wulong.

I find their Jade Wulong tea to be a very fussy tea with a unique flavor profile. I found it to be easily over-brewed and worked with it to get what I judged was the best outcome from the tea. I've served the tea to tea guests in a tasting set alongside other teas and most guests have not preferred it when I ask them which tea they would like to brew for our session. It's not a bad tea; however, for me, it's not a great tea either. As evidence that I was not especially fond of the tea, I still have some opened and unfinished Jade Wulong left in the tea closet. Any already opened, good tea would not have lasted this long in our house. From the teas I tried and sampled, my clear judgment was that their teas were mediocre compared to what I am accustomed to drinking and buying in Taiwan. I have yet to pour the pressed Dong Fang Mei Ren cake and so can't report on it.

I'll return to some of the teas we have unopened and sit with them again. I'm sincerely reluctant to leave any less than favorable review of a vendor's teas and usually assume operator error more than a fault with a tea itself, believing that even "mediocre" teas can be brewed with skill to improve their outcomes. Nevertheless, none of the teas I sampled from them really blew me away. However, I didn't sample every tea in their line.

Blessings!

[sherubtse]

Thanks for your comments, TeaArt08. Sometime one needs to make negative comments about a vendor so as to help others choose whether to support that vendor or not.

Perhaps you found their teas to be mediocre because you usually drink teas of exceptional quality.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

[Poseidon]

Thank you all for the responses. I think ill try a tong of the linked tea and maybe pick up some other oolongs while im at it. (Im on a Oolong kick right now) Are they shipping from Taiwan or the US?

Again, thanks for the insight!

EDIT: After looking at the site again, they seem to be a taiwan based company.

[sherubtse]

Although they have farms in Taiwan & Sumatra (and maybe China as well), they ship from the U.S. -- California to be specific.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

[Poseidon]

Although they have farms in Taiwan & Sumatra (and maybe China as well), they ship from the U.S. -- California to be specific.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

Thats great news! The 2 week wait from Asia is killer sometimes.

[Alucard]

I think the one I had from them was the "Mountain Oolong" from the spring and I liked it, but to Tea08's point I am not use to really good oolongs so I cant compare to those. I am eyeballing the Imperial Pearl Oolong. I will say their prices are quite low compared to others and shipping was $5 iirc.

[ethan]

I loved the Imperial Pearl. At some point will order again (in quantity); so, I hope Mountain Tea is retailing.
I happen to like MT's black tea from Sumatra, but choose the phrase "happen to like" because I don't think it is necessarily very good, just suiting me. It makes one very good infusion for me though. I plan to order again.
I've enjoyed several of the oolongs (Spring Lishan especially) but also found MT's oolongs to be "fussy".
Prices & shipping costs make trying MT easier.

[idler]

So is this a good site to order from or is it a sham?

[debunix]

If spelled correctly--as Mountaintea.com--they certainly are a site that sells tea, not a sham at all.

[idler]

If spelled correctly--as Mountaintea.com--they certainly are a site that sells tea, not a sham at all.

Well yes, but is it a good quality place to buy tea? Their prices are suspiciously low...

[debunix]

The only way to know if *you* will like their tea is to try it. Any time I order from a new source, I limit my investment until I have a pretty good idea of whether or not *I* like their tea.

[ethan]

MT has been good for me. Look at the OTTI posts. See anyone complaining?