Cheap tea

Well my main point was that it was really quite good for the price--- far better than anything you can get at a normal grocery store. I have not had the opportunity to try it again, however. I buy most of my tea from Upton. One of my current favorites is Dotel Oya Ceylon BOP which is just awesome.

I thank all of you for your care and interest in my dilemma. I don't have any local ethnic markets available. The nearest is probably Greensburg or Pittsburgh according to Dominic. those are both an hour away or more and I would have to take two toddlers with me just about any day of the month so I don't really think that will work. Which is why I was asking about internet sources.

I'm planning on saving the whole thread for future reference.

I found Uptons finally on the Internet the other day, and will search it as soon as I get some free time when I am not exhausted. I keep falling asleep at the computer before I can make any decisions. Thanks to you all, your appreciative tea friend, Kitty

Hey Kitty,

I'm not exactly sure of what area you are in but I'm sure you are close by me since greensburgh and Pittsburgh are about an hour from me too. If you know where Lower Burrell is, there is a small tea shop there called "Planet Chai" that I have not gone to yet but hear is decent.

The Strip District in Pittsburgh is a goldmine, Lotus Foods, PrestoGeorge, Fortune's Coffee shop, and two or three other good korean and vietnamese markets.

In Monroeville there is a korean Market near the mall (in the same plaza as Elmer's aquarium store). Also there is a great little Indian market next to India Garden restaurant with some great cheap Indian teas.

If you can narrow me down to a rough idea of your area, I can guide you to a number of places sure to be nearby.

Upton's is decent, but I am never 100% satisfied with much from there for what it is, it is decent tea though for the most part.

- Dominic

I am in Somerset, an hour from Monroeville east on the pike. Sorry I didn't see your post sooner, I am having trouble with my email program and it is taking to much time to read all my email. thanks for the message Dominic. Kitty

Ahh. Somerset, nice area. We used to go to "Herb's old tavern" near the raceway every year on Mother's day to take my mom for All you can eat Maryland Blue Crabs. Apparently we had one too many since they went out of business :( Huge bummer for all of us.

I honestly don't know of any places nearby you out there. Outside of the strip district in Pgh. and Monroeville, if you happen to be out those ways ever. I was very impressed with Upton Tea online, and everyone here raves about Jing Tea shop and Houdeasianart.com but I haven't tried them yet. If you are ever near State College, the Wegmans Grocery store there is the jackpot... however their prices are double that of Upton's so I think I may stick with Uptons from now on.

I kinda figured you'd never see my reply anyhow, so thanks for the response. Nice to find someone semi-local around here... everyone else seems to be from the sunny left-coast or NY and in much better tea locations than me.

- Dominic Drinking: Some Assam (just fun to say "some assam" :)

Wow. My grandfather lived in Trent, down the street from Harold's Store. I am surprised to even think of Somerset after all these years.

--scott

Wow. My grandfather lived in Trent, down the street from Harold's Store. I am surprised to even think of Somerset after all these years.

--scott

Wow again!!! I'm about 20 minutes from Trent, but the only store there now is a small Mom and pop "little bit of everything" store called the red and white store. Don't ask me why, it isn't red and white. just white.

My husband's Grand-father used to have a cabin in what is now a state park there. Kitty

Again one more of those threads that reminds me of a project I started with a fellow programmer on alt.smokers.pipes a while ago - the "Swapshack". The basic idea is a place on the web where fellow pipemokers/tea afficionados can privately swap samples of their favoured weed/leaves instead of taking the plunge and ordering larger amounts of something they don´t know yet and probably don´t like too much after it has arrived.

Is there anything like this related to tea ?

Best, Karsten

Kitty schrieb:

Hi Karsten,

I added a "Trading Post" section on my website where I encourage such activity. You can Buy, Sell, Trade, Request, or even give away Tea and/or Teaware there. While the focus of my site is mainly targeted towards puerh, the "Trading Post" is open to anyone and ANY type of Tea or Teaware. Vendors are welcome but I do clearly seperate the vendor ads from the private or non-comercial ads.

It was quite popular when I first added it but the popularity has waned since. Maybe this will kick it off again.

Mike

I think some people in this group are like me. They rather have the tea sitting on their shelf than someone's elses. All things being equal tea is still a bargain even at $10/100g which my local tea shoppe charges. It is cheaper in Chinatown and more expensive on the net. I don't think samples can tell you much about any tea. Too make up my mind about any tea I need a minimum of 100g. I also know making up my mind is a meaningless exercise in hubris. As it turns out over the long haul, I really like this, no I didn't, I really hate that, no I didn't. I have 100's of samples from vendors I've never tasted. It comes under the heading of one of these days. I think of my vendor samples as another pot of tea. People who sample are too cheap to put their money where their taste buds are. If the tea is too expensive to buy, it is too expensive to sample. . Sampling is like eating at a buffet. Everything is an appetizer with no room for the main course.

Jim

ps: I wished I had a sample of foshou.

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

I think Red and White was actually a chain of feed stores for a long time. I doubt the chain still exists. My grandfather's place was facing the river a short bit up. It's been a long time since I have been up there.

My father talks about going to high school football camp in what is now Laurel Hill State Park. It's hard to get him to stop once he starts, too.

--scott