College Tea Group

Well, people value different things, and sometimes, what they value is just the free will, and at least, if there is nobody share with you, you can have them all! :D

Call it "The Tea and Orgy Group"

LOL!!

Or better yet, the Tea and Orgy and Free Pizza Afterwards Group! (the pizza is crucial for the college crowd)

Seriously though, TeaDave, I don't know what to say because I try to get people to drink tea all the time, I send tealess friends free samples, I talk it up...I seem to be a bit of a tea freak since I don't know anyone else apart from the people in these tea groups who are really into it. Tea also doesn't have the Bohemian "writing and thinking in a cafe while drinking a latte" ambience that coffee does in this country (the US). Coffee is hip here...tea isn't really, it's more...I dunno, frufru? Not packing as great a punch as coffee in the caffeine department does matter here and especially to college students studying late at night. Maybe it's not as macho? Unfortunately I think that in the US tea has a distinct association in the minds of people with older ladies in frilly dresses and sunhats. Or men in boaters. As opposed to the rest of the world (Britain, India , China, Japan, Morocco, Iran, Turkey.... come to mind) where the general population accept tea as a very valued pick-me-up.

I do feel sad though that I can't get people more excited about tea. I think what you would need to come up with is something that will make it relavent to the college people. I'm not sure what that would be. One thought is you could set up a tasting booth or something at a local natural foods store close by. Or if there's a place the students go more often you could do it there. Or if you have an international foods fair at your school you could offer tastings. Thing is, I'm not sure most people TAKE to green tea, even good long jing, right off the bat. I wouldn't drink red wine if it weren't for the alcohol content (true confessions here), some people may just not like the taste. Possibly most people. It's not something that we in the Western world are conditioned with. Overwhelmingly the people I see wanting to learn about drinking green tea are doing it as an herbal health thing, not for the tea itself.

Maybe you could do a tea tasting with something they'd be more familiar with...a good assam or ceylon with milk and sugar and toasted english muffins or good hearty sandwiches. Don't make it a "tea party" by any means but offer something they'd be more likely to be familiar with. That's how I started down my road to tea bliss....if you do this be sure to use mugs for the tea and not porcelain cups, make sure they look solid and serious, lol. Really, it changes the attitude.

Melinda

The orgy group, that would certainly arouse interest.

Now let me clarify a bit, when I held my 'tea party' I only called it a tea party because calling it a 'tea group meeting' seemed slightly too cumbersome, especially when I ended up repeating the phrase numerous times. I also enjoyed telling some people that I was throwing a tea party, simply to see the look of shock that appeared on thier faces. And to be precise, I had three people come to the 'tea party', but one was just there as my friend, and didn't want to drink anything with caffiene in it due to a cross-country running meet he was in the next morning. I actually chose the green lung ching, as I hoped it would interest people who wanted it for the health benefits.

Melinda, thanks for your advice, and it does seem right that most people in the US think of tea as a frilly thing. I think even mentioning assam or ceylon tea here is just bound to lead to more confusion in my little group. I know that I've mentioned darjeeling, and assam on the small online message board my group has, and all I ever hear in reply is 'what is assam?' or 'what sort of tea is that?'. I have even had to explain to some of my friends here that there is a difference between black and green teas (shame on them). Strangely enough, my cross-country runner friend had actually heard of and tried turkish caykur rize before, but never had any other kind of tea. And strangely enough, I don't know a single person here who frequently drinks coffee, most simply prefer caffiene laden sodas.

I actually came to tea after reading a short essay by Douglas Adams, where he writes that most Americans don't like tea because they've never had a good cup of it. I followed his description of making tea well, and became hooked on black tea from bags, and then discovered the world of good, loose teas.

I think my next tea-promoting step will be to visit my downstairs neighbors with a pot of some hearty assam on some random evening.

snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com11/29/05

Hi there TeaDave, and welcome aboard the good ship rfdt,

You got two people in your dorm to join you for Long Jing (Dragon Well)? Why, that doesn't sound bad at all. Three people could do a lot of drinking and talkingl, and often do. I've never been to a tea party myself, but I often gather with friends to drink tea and talk talk. Seriously, just keep up the good work, and keep inviting them, and I'll be they'll come -- perhaps not all 39, but enough to satisfy you. As for scoffing, I'm afraid it goes with the territory. You can always talk to us. So, which university is it, and what part of the country are you from, and what's your favorite tea (of the moment)?

Michael

I can count on one hand the number of people I've met in my lifetime who have more than a passing interest in tea. I've weaned a couple of Chinese professionals off coffee. Don't even mention tea to the Brits who drink coffee. My brother-in-law just stopped by after making the rounds on a long road trip introducing the potential new son-in-law who has a 200 hundred acre organic farm in MN. Starbucks is now the Walmart of coffee. My possible in-law needed a coffee fix so we drove around and found an Irish pub with strong coffee. If I'm in college I'm not converting people to tea but using it to get dates. When I was at college I discovered the coffee boiler was nearly always empty when I wanted a cup but next to it was an equally big hot water boiler with tea bags which was never empty. I sent my brother-in-law away with a

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

In Colorado Springs, try "Jamie's British Connection." Look for British and Chinese expat students.

In the US, tea does have a somewhat flaky sort of association for a lot of people. There's not much you can do aboout that. I'm not complaining because it means there's more tea for us.

--scott

I wish there were a tea appreciation club here on my campus.

I live in Austin, and tea drinking is pretty much controlled by the Central Market and Starbucks franchises, which push the Tazo and Republic of Tea brands. While Republic of Tea makes a good cuppa (my favorite tea being their Moroccan Mint, though I get better results using Twinings Gunpowder Green and na'na mint from a Phonecia) I cannot abide the Tazo bagged teas at Starbucks.

I first discovered tea when I was in high school. My history teacher kept a ready supply of it in his room, and dabbled in loose teas - normally flavored French teas like vanillas. When I was a junior, I got my first taste of Lapsang Souchong. Warned about it by my teac her, I tried it anyway, and found it to be a great tea. For some reason I can never go beyond these blends. I always have the stuff to make my Moroccan Mint with me, and a tin of Mark T. Wendell's Hu Kwa, and at times I keep Kousmichoff or Prince of Wales on hand, especially when I smoke my pipe and I need something fruity. Yet I can never go beyond these flavors/brands. I find British Breakfast tea to be an absolutely repulsive blend of tannic tonguescrapper, and while I keep a tin of genmaicha for my girlfriend, I won't go near the stuff for the life of me.

Mike,

I was in San Antonio until a couple years back. There was a specialty shop in SA when I left that had a good selection of Upton's blends called "Tea-cup Heaven" or something of that ilk. Closer to home, check out the Whole Foods Market chain. I can't vouch from personal experience for the ones in Austin, but many of the Whole Foods stores have a good selection. The one in SA (Quarry Center) carried a good number of vendors wares including some Silk Roads teas at quite reasonable prices. It varies from store to store within the chain, but I would be quite surprised if there wasn't a Whole Foods in Austin that didn't have a good selection of tea to choose from.

Doc Elder

Sorry to be a downer, but my experience with tea at whole foods has mostly been a downer. I've been several times to look, but have only seen them carrying 'herbal' teas, and ones that are specifically marketed for women going through menopause.

Mike, are you on the facebook? you'd be welcome to be an honorary member of my group (don't know if the site allows you to join groups at other schools though), or you could just start your own.

snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com12/1/05

The entire Whole Foods thing turns me off due to its great size and the fact that I couldn't make anybody in there understand what rolled grains are. It took them two workers and three managers and a lot of discussion to discover that they only carry oatmeal, but no rolled anythng else.

On the other hand, the Whole Foods in New York City carries a nice selection of In Pursuit of Tea's teas, which are quite good. I wonder if the Whole Foods stores Doc Elder speaks of also carry IPOT teas. IPOT gets some teas from David Hoffman's company, Silk Road Teas, and some from a variety of other sources.

Mike F, from your previous post it sounds as though you want to explore tea, but you've come to some dead ends. I'm a great fan of Lapsang myself, especially the ones that taste of the tar of the pier. You mentioned you don't like English Breakfast. Perhaps try an Irish or Fiesian (sp?) blend. They might be more to your liking. These blends are so different from company to company that it's hard to generalize anyway, right?

Michael

The WF in my area carries Rishi teas. I tried the golden Yunnan and Oolong, and while not exceptional, were not bad and reasonably priced. They also carry green and white teas, but the storage conditions (large tins) does not bode well for more delicate teas.

Dean

My local Whole Foods carries are large selection of Silk Road Teas. They seem to keep them pretty fresh, as well...........................................................p*

Sure. I'm on Facebook. Mike Fulton at University of Texas Austin

I don't know Michael. I have only tried stuff like Typhoo, Twinings English Breakfast, RoT's EB, and Ahmed's. I have tried Irish Breakfast by Twinings, but it really didn't tickle my fancy nor was it anything to roll one's eyes into the back of the head. Twinings EB should have an octane level.

I loved Scottish Breakfast by Taylors of Harrogate though I found the tin that I received to be quite stale. But Lapsang Souchong and Moroccan Mint tend to be my staples, and on occasion, I indulge in Kusmi's blends - especially if I am having tea with Russian friends from my parish.

pilo snipped-for-privacy@news1.west.earthlink.net12/1/05

That is really good news because, when I get teas directly from SRT or IPOT, they're normally quite fresh; but, the local stores that carry IPOT teas don't necessarily take the same kind of care of them as the IPOT guys do.

Michael