Thursday..a beautiful TeaDay 6/26/08

[Chip]

TeaChatters voted overwhelmingly for giving a new tea 2-4 tries before throwing in the TeaTowel. You can still vote and discuss this topic.

Welcome TeaFriends to TeaDay. I would suggest we brew and share what is in our cups today...all day. If you need to you can reflect back on your TeaDay.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic asks what is the BEST VALUE for you. Is the bag of low priced tea, the single session of superlative tea, or 5 double cheeseburgers at McD's. They each cost 5 dollars.

I am looking forward to sharing TeaDay with everyone!!! So, bottoms up, refill, and reapeat often...

[Salsero]

The mellow feel of 12-year-old shu. This I could imagine going with a cigar. Clicking on the photo will show you the box it came in.



Clicking HERE will show you the inside wrapper.

[bi lew chun]

^ I like all the wood. Very conducive to shu and cigars.

I'd much rather have a superlative experience for $5 than 100 mediocre experiences. Still, there are some decent 100 gram/~$10 teas out there.

[Terrasi]

Though the tea may not be my favorite ever, I believe I would get more enjoyment out of more tea. A single session of amazing tea could not compare to being moderately happy for a longer time.

I'm soo soo tired, I finally flew back home from North Carolina. I missed the mountains, and I missed my tea (and my family, I guess).

[olivierco]

I prefer to have one good tea session per day than all day low quality tea.

Nice surprise today, I received some Matcha karigane from Hibiki-an, their anniversary gift. It should be brewed as sencha.

This morning keemun and houjicha karigane in a few minutes with my lunch.

[britt]

Of course this depends on one's budget and purpose in drinking tea. Casual tea drinkers who drink tea primarily as a health benefit can achieve this with Maeden and Yamamota sencha teabags or with $5 per 100 gram loose leaf tea from the same companies. To them, $5 per session would seem ridiculous and would severely limit the benefits they seek by limiting their tea intake.

I agree that tea has health benefits but I also enjoy it for many other reasons, and I do prefer quality. I have no problem with $5 per session, but would not accept doing this only once per day in place of all other tea drinking. I'm not sure that I could drink, and enjoy, the cheapest grades of tea all day long either.

I guess this is where balance comes in; I keep a wide variety of tea on hand and the price between them covers a large range, but I consider them all to be of excellent or better quality. If I run out of $60 per 30 gram Uji Matcha Manten, I have no problem pulling out a $15 per 30 gram can of Kiri No Mori. They're both high quality matcha, but one takes quality, and price, to the extreme. IMO both are worth the money.

I guess the end result is I don't like extremes and rather than choose one, I prefer compromise and balance.

[Trey Winston]

I prefer to have one good tea session per day than all day low quality tea.

My sentiments exactly.

[TimeforTea]

It depends. Overall, 100 grams or a quarter pound of loose leaf tea costing 5 bucks would be the best value in my opinion.

However, a single session of a superlative example of your my favorite tea costing 5 bucks every once in a while as a treat would be a good value.

This morning I am enjoying Oolong #18. Hadn't brewed this one in a while.

[Sam.]

I voted 100 grams for $5(+) on the assumption that the quality of the tea was not bad at all, it just wasn't as absolutely amazing as the tea in choice two. Twenty or more sessions of good/regular tea is worth more, to me, than one session of amazing tea.

[neowolf]

Assuming the quality isn't bad, I'll take lots of sessions in favor of one expensive one. But again, this is assuming that the quality isn't crap! If we're talking about lots of cheap bad tea then naturally that's no value at all!

Right now drinking some gunpowder blended with spearmint to wake me up for work!

[Victoria]

I would rather have the single session of the very best.

It's not my fault, the teas I have learned of and discovered since I have joined this board are so exquisitely beautiful, there is no other choice.

In my cup this morning - Adagio Spring Darjeeling

Have a beautiful TeaDay everyone!

[omegapd]

Luckily my favorite teas are inexpensive, so the more for my money, the better...

No tea this morning, except some "low grade" black iced tea with breakfast. Probably going to brew up a cup of Assam in a minute.

[Katrina]

I voted for a single session. I decided that that single session would likely be something I would remember for a long time to come so I placed value on the memory of the experience as well.

About to brew some Golden Monkey...and to try to keep the kid's Play Doh out of it.

[omegapd]

The mellow feel of 12-year-old shu. This I could imagine going with a cigar.

Pu usually goes excellent with a cigar. A good cigar should have some of the same earthy notes as the tea. It's also strong enough to not mess up the flavor of the stick and you can enjoy both. Mixing a smoke and something light bodied or sweet (like a Ceylon) usually turns out awful.

Next time you head a couple hours North, let me know and we can try and work out the kinks.

EW

[kymidwife]

OK... we needed a 3rd voting option here! Both of these are a good value depending on what my needs are at the time. I have no problem paying $5 for a single session if it's something special. I also am not opposed to a bargain if the quality is not crap.

But the reality is, I don't do either of these things much. My tea is somewhere in the middle of the road... not the best of the best, not the cheapest of the cheap... I'm sampling everything I can get my hands on, to learn where my tastes really lie, and then I'll buy and drink what I truly enjoy... period.

If my budget prohibited my buying strictly what I want and love, I'd spend my money to have more tea more often, rather than an occasional amazing single session. Tea has been a daily staple for me for years, and if I had to go back to cheaper tea to afford to drink it all day long, that's what I'd do.

Sarah