Asian Marts and tea selection

I've had not-so-amazing experience with Ten Ren, even though they pretty much specialize in tea. Not terrible but not that great. I think the issue is that americans don't drink tea, and even when they do, they certainly don't drink good tea; and most immigrants from china are also used to low grade teas. I've known a few chinese folks at work and none of them knew much of anything about teas. One of them told me that gong-fu teas are very low quality teas drunk by the kung fu crowd after exhausting physical workouts.

Since most teas need to be fresh, that's what you get. I don't see any problem with this, online tea ordering is very convenient. I always seem to get my order within two days, if I order early in the morning, I get it the next day in the evening, even though I order standard shipping. This may be because I'm in the major shipping hub, new york. Plus you get a really huge selection, fast turnover = freshness, reviews, samples as a standard practice in many stores... what's not to like?

I don't even bother with stores anymore. Last time if I remember right I got a couple of cans of Twinnings 3-4 years ago.

The only place where you can reliably get good teas is china, in a fairly well-to-do locations, where a good percentage of affluent people will be tea fans. In england, I bet, you can get very good black teas almost everywhere. In italy you can get freshly roasted and ground coffee as a standard luxury. In russia you can get good indian teas, and sometimes decent georgian teas.

Here, it's not going to happen unless public tastes change.

Don't give up yet. I started my love for tea from my many trips to those same types of stores. The best way to learn what you like is to find what you don't. The nice thing is that with inexpensive teas you can get a feel for what each type/category of tea is about for very little money.

Play around with the water temps, and brewing times to make those teas into something more palateable. It can be done. In the process you will learn a lot intuitively. I'd venture to guess that the experience you have had is 50/50 between you and the tea. Half of it is your brewing skill level and the other half is probably attributed to poor tea. But it is much better to learn on $4 1/2lb. tea than on $140

Don't be afraid of the small boxes of teabags for $1 or so. Oolongs, Osmanthus oolong, jasmine green, sencha, plain green tea, keemun, puerh, white, etc. They are a greta way to try the different flavors even though they aren't that great. Notice which ones you gravitate towards and like best (even if best is relative).

Next, begin to try different brands and prices in those areas you liked. They will vary wildly. Once you've narrowed it down to a couple, try an online seller who offers samples. get a few $1-2 samples of each. Now you'll understand the differences. Then move onto orders of say 50-100g of your favorites from different vendors. Soon you'll know and be adept at brewing. This isn't an overnight process, I've been at it for easily over 12 years making that journey.

Also, don't forget to revisit some of those original teas you cast off, your tastes will change and many of those original castoffs will become favorites.

Hime brand Bancha, Sunflower brand jasmine green (yellow/gold tin), Teck Soon brand teabags, Wei-Chuan brand teabags, Foo-Joy brand teabags/loose tea, Numi brand tea, even stuff like Tazo or Republic of Tea. Start there, mostly all available cheaply and at those Asian marts.

We're here to help, and any one will point you in a good direction... just don't be afraid to walk before you run... and expect to fall down a few times.

- Dominic

On Oct 8, 2:00 pm, Tea Sunrise wrote:

Perhaps, we are fortunate here on the west coast; although I haven't come across anything to rave about.I n the Bay Area, we have two Chinatowns handy - San Francisco and Oakland. Occasionally, the Oakland markets have a find in a loose tea. I've discovered that the trick is to grab the tea as soon as it is unpacked since most groceries store in huge glass jars in bright florescent light and the jars are opened and closed constantly. FooJoy has a high end catagory and that's okay. Even the TieGuanYin is passable. Hime is a average Japanese Brand that has a pretty decent Bancha. I've found some very nice Silver Needle (loose) in Oakland Chinatown in an herb store; but, nothing distinguished anywhere else. We do have rather fine specilaty tea shops in San Francisco and there's no need to go further. In Chicago (uptown) Chinatown, I've found very nice, everyday oolongs in nondescript tins in the Vietnamese markets. If you are near Chicago, try TeaGschwender or I Dream Of Tea in Evanston (a sweet and very knowlegable Chinese couple own this place). I do suggest avoiding anything from Prince of Peace. Yuck! Any tea I've tried of this label tastes like newspaper and dead fish! Frankly, I'd suggest spending about the same amount of money, dump the teabags, and go to a good, reliable online source and buy sample amounts. Generally, that will run the same or a little less than wasting money on grocery store teas. All the decent vendors offer sampler packs of 25 grams or so for a couple of bucks. One more thing, any pu-erh you're likely to find in a grocery store is probably dirt. Shen

Oh, one more thing - In my experience in shopping in Asian markets here, in LA, New York, and Chicago, as well as in Asia, the customers are there to buy "everyday" goods. Most working class Asian grocery shoppers in this country DO buy crappy tea in bags or loose in boxes. This is not to say that working- class Asians do not enjoy a good cup of tea; just that boxed or small cheap tinned teas are the everyday norm. Actually, the biggest seller tea in the Asian markets here is that weird jasmine in the orange tin with black lettering. Most of the middle class Asians I know drink an ordinary grocery jar bo-lay with their meals which you can buy loose or in the box (sometimes labelled "Boney"). For bigger family dinners or special occasions, my Asian friends bring out the good stuff - either from the mainland or Taiwan direct or from a high-end shop (or sometimes (ugh!) even Ten-Ren). Shen

I have had good luck with the tins of black tea and Jasmine tea. personally, I only buy green or oolong by mail or from one very special tea merchant nearby. the problem is green tea "goes bad" much more quickly. Question - do you like green tea otherwise? many people don;t and can't tell what's good or bad. I have found Twining's gunpowder green a good place to start. Try brewing itdifferent ways so you see how the taste can alter. Good luck