Best Oolong, Green and White tea recommendations please?

[esabet]

Hi;

Recently I have been reading many articles with regard to tea. In the past I have only been drinking Black tea such as Earl Grey and alike.

In general I have a dislike for Teabags as in the past majority were very low quality and I preferred to brew my own loose leaf tea. But must admit that recently I have began to see some decent quality teabags!

Bottom line I love tea and drink minimum four to six cups daily.

After reading some articles I would like to make a switch from black tea and try the following blend:

Green Tea, Oolong Tea and White Tea.

Since I am very new to these types of tea I was hoping someone could give me a good starting point where and what brands of these types of tea they would recommend.

For example we have Teavana in our local mall but the prices are ridiculous. Oolong tea is $25 for every 2 oz.. I am not certain if that is normal or not or, if it is even as good of a quality as they say it is!

All help would be greatly appreciated and please NO VENDORS! I have all the respect for the vendors but some tend to be bias and I would like to avoid that. Thanks.

[TIM]

Hi;

Recently I have been reading many articles with regard to tea. In the past I have only been drinking Black tea such as Earl Grey and alike.

In general I have a dislike for Teabags as in the past majority were very low quality and I preferred to brew my own loose leaf tea. But must admit that recently I have began to see some decent quality teabags!

Bottom line I love tea and drink minimum four to six cups daily.

After reading some articles I would like to make a switch from black tea and try the following blend:

Green Tea, Oolong Tea and White Tea.

Since I am very new to these types of tea I was hoping someone could give me a good starting point where and what brands of these types of tea they would recommend.

For example we have Teavana in our local mall but the prices are ridiculous. Oolong tea is $25 for every 2 oz.. I am not certain if that is normal or not or, if it is even as good of a quality as they say it is!

All help would be greatly appreciated and please NO VENDORS! I have all the respect for the vendors but some tend to be bias and I would like to avoid that. Thanks.

6 cups a day? Wonderful for health, and a Warm welcome to the joy of tea

Where are you located? Cheers T

[auggy]

After reading some articles I would like to make a switch from black tea and try the following blend:

Green Tea, Oolong Tea and White Tea.

Are you saying that you want to try a tea that has a blend of those three or you want to try teas from each category?

I'd suggest just sampling around - Adagio is a great place to start. Lots and lots of samples of different styles will help you figure out what you like and then you can get more focused on the specific offerings in each style. If that makes sense.

[esabet]

................

6 cups a day? Wonderful for health, and a Warm welcome to the joy of tea

Where are you located? Cheers T

I live in Long Island New York. But online vendors will be just fine!

[esabet]

After reading some articles I would like to make a switch from black tea and try the following blend:

Green Tea, Oolong Tea and White Tea.

Are you saying that you want to try a tea that has a blend of those three or you want to try teas from each category?

I'd suggest just sampling around - Adagio is a great place to start. Lots and lots of samples of different styles will help you figure out what you like and then you can get more focused on the specific offerings in each style. If that makes sense.

Actually I would like to make a blend that contains ALL the above teas.

I am also considering adding a fourth kind of tea if these teas alone are not aromatic! But since I am not really familuar with any of these teas I am not sure!

[auggy]

Actually I would like to make a blend that contains ALL the above teas.

I am also considering adding a fourth kind of tea if these teas alone are not aromatic! But since I am not really familuar with any of these teas I am not sure!

Gotcha. Sorry, no idea. I typically only blend when I don't have enough of something to make a full cup and then I am not daring enough to blend across tea types. Good luck!

[esabet]

Actually I would like to make a blend that contains ALL the above teas.

I am also considering adding a fourth kind of tea if these teas alone are not aromatic! But since I am not really familuar with any of these teas I am not sure!

Gotcha. Sorry, no idea. I typically only blend when I don't have enough of something to make a full cup and then I am not daring enough to blend across tea types. Good luck!

Sorry but I am bit confused and perhaps I am missing something which goes to my knowledge of Tea: What is the issue with making a blend? Couldn't I simply buy "sample" of each tea and then brew them together?

Also, with regard to Adagio, what do you mean by samples? How do you rate their tea quality?

[raveme]

personaly i don't consider blending ALL types of tea such a good idea... the beauty of green tea for example is it's subtle aromas and flavours that get easily covered if blended. with black teas, that have strong flavours, is someting else.

i think you won't get anythink good if you mix all types of tea.

[Victoria]

I really wouldn't suggest blending the 3 types because they have different steeping times and temperatures. I don't think you will be happy with the result. Not to mention the taste. The white tea will be lost and the beauty of the oolong flavor will be tainted.

Is there a reason you want to combine the 3?

[PolyhymnianMuse]

I think your making it out to be a bit harder than it actually is. When making a blend, there really is no formula or way of doing it. In the most general of terms, really all your doing is mixing different teas together and then brewing the blend as a single tea itself...

When we talk about samples, in regards to anywhere you'll buy tea, its exactly that... a sample. It really depends what and where your getting it but most samples range from 10 grams up to as much as 50 grams (mostly puerh comes in samples this big though). Although adagio just has a sample tin "size" and to the bet of my knowledge they just fill the tin completly instead of weighing a specific amount for a sample. If you plan on experimenting with blends, I would agree with what has been mentioned and order a couple sample tins from adagio to play with. Adagio is really good tea, you probably wont find a top quality competition grade oolong, but you'll surely get great quality tea that tastes good.

Lastly, I have to agree with what raveme said. Although teavana is one of VERY few places I have actually seen off the wall blends. I remember trying one a friend had sent me, not sure the name of the specific tea, but the ingredients label looked like a shelf tipped over and various tins of tea dumped all over the floor. Then they just swept it all up, mixed it together, and sold it as some fancy tea blend. Green, white, oolong, black... all tea has differnt qualities and contain things that you will only find in that type of tea, mixing them together might turn out just fine but you will surely miss the complexities and nuances that make the teas great if you bombard them with various other flavors.

EDIT: On a side note, you'll quickly notice not only do a large majority of us here despise teavana, but theres quite a few people here that are refugees and seen the light

[esabet]

I think your making it out to be a bit harder than it actually is. When making a blend, there really is no formula or way of doing it. In the most general of terms, really all your doing is mixing different teas together and then brewing the blend as a single tea itself...

When we talk about samples, in regards to anywhere you'll buy tea, its exactly that... a sample. It really depends what and where your getting it but most samples range from 10 grams up to as much as 50 grams (mostly puerh comes in samples this big though). Although adagio just has a sample tin "size" and to the bet of my knowledge they just fill the tin completly instead of weighing a specific amount for a sample. If you plan on experimenting with blends, I would agree with what has been mentioned and order a couple sample tins from adagio to play with. Adagio is really good tea, you probably wont find a top quality competition grade oolong, but you'll surely get great quality tea that tastes good.

Lastly, I have to agree with what raveme said. Although teavana is one of VERY few places I have actually seen off the wall blends. I remember trying one a friend had sent me, not sure the name of the specific tea, but the ingredients label looked like a shelf tipped over and various tins of tea dumped all over the floor. Then they just swept it all up, mixed it together, and sold it as some fancy tea blend. Green, white, oolong, black... all tea has differnt qualities and contain things that you will only find in that type of tea, mixing them together might turn out just fine but you will surely miss the complexities and nuances that make the teas great if you bombard them with various other flavors.

EDIT: On a side note, you'll quickly notice not only do a large majority of us here despise teavana, but theres quite a few people here that are refugees and seen the light

Thank you very much for such well written and detailed reply.

In regards to Teavana, that was one of my points, regardless of the ridiculous prices, they are, in my opinion, too commercialized and try hard to put a mask of a "customized shop"! I am simply trying to get away from that and find the "right" source.

I think I will take all of your advices and not blend the teas. Instead I will drink all three kinds in one day, but brewed separately so that I can enjoy their individuality!

I just visited Adagio website and it appears in each tea type they have many different types of the same tea. Any recommendations to help my selection would be greatly appreciated. (By the way, in your post did you mean to say that Adagio carries one of the better Oolong teas?)

[Herb_Master]

I live in Long Island New York. But online vendors will be just fine!

For initial forays into the world of Oolong, you can do a lot worse value for money than try the following 2 sites which are recommended by many forum members.

Dragon Tea House http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Dragon-Tea-House

Tea Cuppa http://teacuppa.com/

or for Taiwan Oolongs

Zen8Tea
http://stores.ebay.com/zen8tea


The 3 above should not disappoint you BUT if you would prefer to jump in at the deep end and pay a bit more money these 3 have even more kudos with many of the experienced Oolong drinkers here.

Hou De
http://houdeasianart.com/

SevenCups
http://www.sevencups.com/tea_shop/home.php

TeaHabitat
http://www.teahabitat.com/th/products/phoenix.html

many others on the forum have favourites such as both Jing and JingTeaShop, Teance, GoldenTeahouse, InPursuitofTea and many others

but maybe you can get into a Teashop and try it with an expert brewing it for you
many on the forum highly rate the TeaGallery
http://www.theteagallery.com/

Visit The Tea Gallery
131 Allen Street, New York, NY 10002

We love to have visitors but we are a small boutique and wish to offer the best service for everyone. Until April of 2009, we will be operating by appointment. Please call ahead if you wish to visit so that we can accommodate you.

Phone: 212-777-6148
Regular Hours by Appointment:
Tuesday thru Thursday: 12-5pm
Friday and Saturday: 1-6pm

Closed: Sunday and Monday


We are located at 131 Allen Street between Rivington and Delancy Streets in the Lower East Side.
Our nearest subway station is Delancy Street on the F line.

[devites]

Please don't ever blend different types of teas as you will lose all the good qualities, at least in my opinion.

Welcome to the "real" tea world! My advice for good starting points would be:
Green- Get the green savant sampler from Adagio to pinpoint what you like or you can just get Dragonwell, which is my favorite.
Oolong- Tie Kuan Yin (Adagio)
White- Silver Needle

Adagio is great because of their various sizes, good stable tea, and affordability. Even though I normally get higher quality/expensive teas, I frequently go back to Adagio.

[Beidao]

I think Adagio is a good place to start. I would suggest the White Peony rather than Silver Needles for a newbi, though. I may be wrong but I certainly could not appreciate Silver Needles and other more subtle whites when I was new to other teas than the black. Otherwise, Tie Kuan Yin is a great oolong to start with. For Greens, you may try one Chinese and one Japanese, as the difference is huge. A good Sencha/Kukicha from Japan and a good Dragon Well (Long Jing) from China, for example. Good luck!

Ps. Blending may be fun, but I've found that even when I blend two green oolongs, like Tie Kuan Yin and Dong Ding, the result is less than drinking them individually. Try some blendnings now and then but for learning about different kinds of tea it is not the best way, I'm afraid.

[bi lew chun]

Stash carries a Fusion Green and White, but if its taste in teabag form is any indicator, it's not all that great.