Hi!

[cherylopal]

I would love to introduce myself and say thank you! I've been lurking for several weeks now and have learned sooooo much. I decided to join today.

I've been drinking tea forever- about 10 years ago I discovered The Republic of Tea and thought I was in tea heaven. Then just over a year ago, my cousin introduced me to TeaLuxe and my grocery store started carrying Rishi teas- wow now I was really in heaven. After trying the Rishi teas, I could drink no other. My faves being a puerh and jasmine tea pearls. A few weeks ago, someone on a cooking board mentioned this site and I am truly in a very happy place. I started reading about making tea at work- being a teacher, I needed some ideas that would work in a classroom.

I received two gift cards for xmas and decided to spend them on tea. I bought a beautiful glass teapot with glass infuser but mostly I bought tea- some sencha (yum!) jade cloud green, wuyi oolong (yum!), golden yunnan and hojicha (my current #1 fave). I received from one of my students some tea pouches from Mighty Leaf and love their green teas for work. I have a smaller mug that I use to drink my tea. It’s a white cup rimmed in gold decorated with two pandas that I bought in 1987 from the National Zoo as a souvenir. I am currently heating my water in a small white pot that I bought at Big Lots that reminded me of my grandmother’s pots. I do have an instant read thermometer that I bought to make bread but works great for making tea too.

I have a question for everyone- if you were me and had another $50 to spend- what would you do?

I could easily spend triple that amount but would really like to know what you might suggest. I have been enjoying my tea journey but am open to some good delicious advice.

I have been looking at some gaiwans, more oolong tea, maybe some Darjeeling and more puerh....

[Trey Winston]

Welcome
Make sure you teach your students about tea - now there's useful knowledge! ( )

[olivierco]

Welcome!

I have a question for everyone- if you were me and had another $50 to spend- what would you do?
I could easily spend triple that amount but would really like to know what you might suggest.

I would buy some good gyokuro, sencha and matcha directly from Japan and get a little closer to tea heaven!

[cherylopal]

Welcome
Make sure you teach your students about tea - now there's useful knowledge! ( )

Great idea! We are studying Japan this month and I have some old tea that I didn't care for that I can open and share with them- visually that is. Might have to do a kiddo version of the tea ceremony....

[cherylopal]

Welcome!

I would buy some good gyokuro, sencha and matcha directly from Japan and get a little closer to tea heaven!

Thank you- could you point me to a good place?

[olivierco]

Welcome!

I would buy some good gyokuro, sencha and matcha directly from Japan and get a little closer to tea heaven!

Thank you- could you point me to a good place?

www.o-cha.com

https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/

http://hibiki-an.com/

There are some godd US based shops but since I am living in France, I haven't bought from them.

[Chip]

Welcome to the forum Cherylopal.

Yutaka Midori from O-Cha ... and a 50 grammer of Kame Gyokuro, same source. Just a little over budget, but they are incredibly good.

I hope to see you around the forum, and stop by TeaDay if you please and share what is in your cup today.

[Pentox]

While the suggestions of chip and oliver are both great vendors, they have one downside, they're all fairly heavy commitals. i.e. you're buying a lot of one tea not necessarily knowing how it is. 100g min on a lot of them. Some of the options (more expensive options) have 50g packs. But ipppodo you're looking at killer shipping from Japan. Hibiki-an most of them are larger pack sizes as well.

For 50 dollars I'd suggest Lupicia. You can go the route of Japanese green teas and at the same time spread yourself around to some black teas, herbals, etc. 50g packs are the standard there so you could try out a bit more variety.

Welcome to the forum and you'll find I suggest Lupicia a lot though.

[cherylopal]

Thank you olivierco, chip and pentox- I'll have fun today looking at the places you suggested and doing some tea shopping

[hop_goblin]

Welcome!

[Thé Vert]

Hi, you're welcome here

[disillusioned]

Welcome to the club

[Shelob]

Welcome cherylopal!
I love opals, do you or is that part of your name?
Enjoy this terrific forum! It's the best around
Skye

[cherylopal]

Welcome cherylopal!
I love opals, do you or is that part of your name?

Skye

Opal is my birthstone- I love them too

This is a great forum

[cherylopal]

Welcome to the forum Cherylopal.

from O-Cha ... and a 50 grammer of Kame Gyokuro.

Is this the one?
http://www.o-cha.com/green-tea/gyokuro-kamegirushi.html
thanks