Question about Kyela teas

Melinda,

I just checked Kylea's site, and I don't see any teas for sale at all.

As far as I can tell, Kyela is Kevin - when he's not around, Kyela goes on standby. Since he specializes in FF and does all his own buying directly from the gardens, I suspect he's in Darjeeling as we speak. I just check his site once a week or so, waiting for him to return. I recall that last year he didn't have 2004 FF's until May or June.

His "service" leaves a lot to be desired and his web site is buggy, but he really does get some unusual teas and he's been generous with samples. I love Darjeeling, so I'm willing to put up with the idiosyncrasies. Not everyone is.

Regards, Dean

snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com4/25/05 16: snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

Melinda, that's the million dollar question, and I'd sure like to know the answer myself.

Michael

DPM_cgbe.4692$WX.3582@trndny014/25/05 20: snipped-for-privacy@junk.com

I've had some of my very best Darjeelings from Kevin, including first and second flushes, and some of the adventurous Darjeeling Oolongs. By far my favorite was Gopaldhara. He does seem a little slow in getting those FF onto his site. There are FF and then there are FF of a bit later. Also, we know that the lower grown FF will come out before the higher grown. Nonetheless, he does seem to be among the slowest to get them to market, and being a Darjeeling guy exclusively, I'd think he'd be in the game quicker. I'm gonna get mine from him too most likely.

Michael

Nonetheless,

Except for possibly the European suppliers (most of which don't ship to the US or even accept US-issued credit cards) the US supplier quickest out of the chute is Upton, and it's always interesting to see what the earliest teas taste like. But often the later FFs have a fuller, richer flavor, and it's these teas that Kevin seems to specialize in.

I really think the problem is that he's got no one minding the store when he's in the hills, and I get the feeling from some of the articles on his site that his heart is there - selling tea is more of a means to an end. This is speculation on my part, but that's just the feeling I get.

Dean