Chris -
Thanks for having such a good attitude towards other folks in the industry. I completely agree with you on that one. Especially since my business is a small private one, and I don't do flashy advertising of any sort, I really appreciate the work that the bigger companies are doing to make tea more accepted into Western society.
After looking around your site a little, I can see that you guys have a lot of great ideas for community building and creating a sense of tea culture that really locks into the modern American mindset. You guys really seem to care about your customers and give a lot back to them. I can't make any comment on your teas, since I have never tried any of them, but I'll give two tumbs up to your extensive selection of teas and accessories, excellent graphics design, and sharp fashion sense.
The only thing I can see to improve upon would be offering more Pu Er teas. For example - the green Pu Ers (Sheng Pu Er) might be a more accessible intro to people not familiar with Pu Er than your current double firmented black Pu Er Dante (actually, I have no idea which Pu Er this is, other than it's from Yunnan, Iit might be a good idea to mention which on of the hundreds that it could be that it actually is.. hehe).
Since the black Pu Er has a much more "earthy" flavour, which I've heard some of the more severe detracters describe as "tasting like an old leather boot" or simply as "dirty", it might put people off to Pu Er in general as a "first try" for the world of Pu Er. A nice green Pu Er like the MengKu RongSi Ye Sheng Pu er (Wild Green Pu Er from Rong Co. in MengKu, ShuangJiang, LinCang, YunNan) might be a better option as your only Pu Er offering. I see that yours is loose leaf, and I'm not sure if Mr. Rong offers that or not, as I only deal in the compressed 'bing' form of it. The 2004 harvest is not bad and available very cheaply right now.
Also, it's a personal pet peeve, but as I'm sure you know, Pu Ers should be in thier own category, not lumped in with the black teas. Firmented teas are very different from oxidized teas. One could even make the very direct metapher between grape juice and wine. How would you react to seeing a bottle of fine wine lumped in with a shelf full of juices and vinegars, as if it were no different than the rest?
But, hey -- if that's the worst complaint I can come up with, you're doing a pretty good a job!
Thanks,
Troy
and as conventional oolong wisdom goes, the higher the altitude of the oolong the better the flavor
