Thursday TeaDay 1/22/09 Tea vendor satisfaction rating?

[Chip]

Welcome everyone to TeaDay. Please share what is in your cup today.

Yesterday 76% of responders indicated they would try 2-6 new vendors in2009. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. What was your satisfaction rating for your TEA vendors in 2008? Please share, and since everyone said they would be trying at least one new tea vendor in 2009, will/has this satisfaction rating influence your decision to try new vendors this year?

I am looking forward to sharing TeaDay with everyone, bottoms up.

The next TeaChat contest is only days away, stay tuned ...
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[Victoria]

I guess around 50%. Since almost all of them were new, and I'm keeping about half, that sounds right. If I really sat down and listed every one I have a feeling it might be less. I have a tendency to forget about some of the bad choices.

[bearsbearsbears]

Second!

Already having settled into a comfortable set of vendors, and having a good community of teafolk to introduce me to their preferred vendors, 2008 proved a good year for my vendor experiences.

[Salsero]

At least 80% for me. Almost no unpleasant surprises in my tea shopping -- last year just one. Easy peasy. I stick to familiar vendors or those who come vetted by fellow TeaChatters.

[TaiPing Hou Kui]

I would have to say about 75%......I have been extrememly happy with my regular vendors....but had a few bad experiences both with tea and with customer service with a few internet based companies........then there is the tea that I pick up on a whim from Asian markets and the teas I havent been happy with brewing hot I have enjoyed if I cold brew them....so I suppose that wouldnt be a negative thing. Anyway, it has been a long day.....I didnt have to go into work tonight so I decided to take a 10 minute walk down to this patch of bamboo growing near my house and I choped a few stalks down......I have started to build my own tea table out of it and it is proving much more difficult than I anticipated but it should be a fun little project.
*Right now I am brewing some Sencha Karigane

-Nick

[daughteroftheKing]

I've been very happy with all my online vendors (all 3 or 4 of them ). The only truly disappointing one was a local shop: teas all in big glass jars (and lots of harsh western light in that shop), didn't seem very knowledgeable about teas, tea I bought tasted stale, TV playing where you're supposed to be enjoying afternoon tea .

Fortunately, there's a nice new shop on my side of town. Other than having a sample or two made up, they're not "serving tea" yet. But the owner loves tea and seems to genuinely want to share the love-of-tea with others and has a decent assortment for a small place (including some Adagio).

End of day for me: Finishing up some Jasmine with mint on ice.

[omegapd]

Got hosed with one on-line company last year that never sent anything but charged my CC. Overall, when I stick to reputable folks, it's been 100%.

EW

[Trey Winston]

I voted 80-91. It's somewhat hard to put into figures, because none of the vendors I used have really disappointed me. But sometimes I feel I have waited inordinately long for an order to get to me, or I have been less than fully happy with minor procedural factors. So I'm about 85,94 percent happy (turns out it wasn't that hard to put into figures after all).

Having some sencha now, and seriously craving Dragon Well. But I don't have any. Woe is me.

[Drax]

Hrm, I only had 1 poor experience out of about 10 last year (order never even made it), and even that ended well (had everything refunded). Not too bad, but that was all over the course of 3 months -- we'll see how I do w/ a full year.

Trying out a 2006 Qinyin sheng from Menghai Dayeh. So far we're off to a good start. . .

[joelbct]

ER, I said 91-100, because my fave 3-5 vendors were def in that range... Took a while to find the best sources to my taste tho, I remember when I first started searching for decent tea on the internet, was not nearly so lucky

This morning, Golden Buddha Fujian Red from SpecialTeas. Ksoto matcha at work later...

[bsteele]

81-90% for me... I'm relatively new to tea and haven't tried too many vendors... yet.

2009 will be lovely.


I've got a blend of wuyi ensemble, tky, and jasmine #5 in my mug.

[brlarson]

I'm 80-90% happy with my vendors.

I'm 100% happy with their customer service.
The unhappy notes were caused by teas that had barely discernible character or, in one case, a questionable non-tea flavor.

Most of my problems were self-inflicted. One extreme case was with the jade oolong from Mem Imports. When I first tasted it I hated it but now I love it. The problem was that I had overbrewed it. Later experiments showed that 1 minute at 195F produced a delicious tea in any vessel, and if brewed in a quality vessel the liquor became creamier and it developed a hint of citrus.

One last note: Beware bargains from Wuyi!

Keemun this morning.

[gingkoseto]

It's very relative and subjective. What I care most are: 1 if the quality is consistent with price; 2. if the quality is consistent with vendor's description. 3 if the vendor is nice. But if 1 & 2 is satisfied, I can deal with vendors I don't like

Will start the day with some wu dong shui xian from a mainland China supplier that's so far great for above 1, 2, 3

[Smari]

I'd say 91-100% because the vendors I chose, I'm also sticking with. I haven't touch smaller vendors yet due to the fact that I want to be able to try out the bigger guys to know quality differences first.
I'm leaving this year open to the new smaller vendors, so satisfaction levels are expected to fluctuate, if it occurs hehe.

This morning, I'm enjoying one of my faves, genmaicha from Den's. This tea always seem to make me think I'm having a full breakfast

[murrius]

So far I have ordered tea from OCha, Den's, Adagio, and Teaspring. Service has been 100%. Tea has been excellent with the exception of a couple of teas that just aren't in line with my taste (i.e. Adagios Darjeeling #22; like the taste, hate the smell, and TeaSprings Huang Shan Mao Feng; love the perfect buds, can't get by the smokiness).

No tea yet this morning. Didn't know what to have until I read Trey's post. Now I'm craving Dragon Well. Obviously the craving for Dragon Well is infectious.