I have lived in Vancouver, BC for most of my life after moving here at a young age.
A bit about my "tea background": I've been drinking the historied leaf-water since the day I could walk, but my tea preferences have been shaped by my parents'/family's tastes. Up until last month I'd only had Taiwanese tea in any substantial quantity.
My favorites are Gaoshan Oolong varieties from Alishan, in particular Jin Xuan, and DaYuLing (sad bc taiwan govt is taking down the farms that produce it), and Dongfang Meiren. 2nd tier would be Tieguanyin; green teas I've had are pretty much just Longjing, matcha, sencha, and genmaicha, gyokuro. Not a big fan of most greens, but they're just okay. At home, we usually brew with kyusu teapot and serve using wabi sabi teacups, Euro-style bone china or just plain old mug+infuser. For special occasions my dad takes out his gongfu tea set.
Anyways~ my worldview of teas was changed when a friend offered me some pure leaf "black tea w/ vanilla" teabags. Said she got a box from influenster and that it was all the jazz. So I tried out a cuppa. Afterwards. Me: there's some pretty good different tea out there; I should go try some.
Thus began my journey into the wider world of tea. This led to the discovery of Indian teas (darjeeling), especially since I can distinctly remember characters in books I've read/anime watched noting that their tea was darjeeling. I like how darjeelings are very well categorized and documented by type, leaf grade, estate, harvest date etc. Taiwanese tea makers usually don't disclose this type of info in detail. Step 1. drink coffee no more (check)
Step 2. drink more tea (and drink more teas) *work in progress
Don't know if I should try chinese teas (from the mainland)--- puer cakes, white tea pearls, Yunnan blacks. Most of what I know about these is from Steepster reviews, and my mom really disdains goods from china (food included) as being of lesser quality compared to TW and JP, not to mention unsafe b/c of pollution and bad farming practices. Any suggestions on chinese tea and good vendors?