the new tea magazine

Hello everyone,

Earthlink has not been posting new messages from most newsgroups since December 8, so I'm between a rock and a hard place. I read the "new tea mag" posts through google, but I'm responding through my usenet client server, so I *hope* this comes through. Mike, would you e-mail to let me know.

I read most of the new mag, having received it awhile back. I have many criticisms, most too obvious to mention. Here are my major concerns:

Pictures are not properly captioned, even where the pictures are as important as or more important than the text.

In some articles, there is much gracious and flowery language of tea praise, but at this point a lack of substance. A person new to Pu'erh would learn much, an old Pu'erh hand far less.

The paucity of advertising is a mere function of the mag's newness; if economically successful, you will soon see the mag full of ads. I hope quality and quantity of text is not compromised.

I was miffed by the tone of the oolong 5 tea review article. My miffedness reflects my feeling about the mag in general. The article contained a great deal of unnecessary text. (I do *not* refer here to Guang's article. Get good copy editors, and let them have their way with the text. While some articles are well written, others are amateurish and adolescent. Some are overlength. I will

*not* be more specific.

Overall impression: Nicely laid out, in some cases well written and informative. The future is probably bright. (BTW, kill the cute text over picture stuff; it's impossible to read.)

Here is my understanding of the genesis of the first issue: It has gone through an experimental introductory printing, a copy of which I've got. It will go through a second printing aimed at a broader Asian market, and then a third aimed at the Americas. Between each printing, editing and redaction will take place. So, I hope by the time the third printing comes out, the typos, inappropriate word choices, syntactic and factual mistakes that might have crept in are snipped out. I think objectivity and agressive editing will make all the difference. Let's just see.

Michael

Reply to
Michael Plant
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Considering that the Chinese version is rarely error free, I find it highly unlikely that the English version of the magazine will ever be error free.

MarshalN

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Reply to
MarshalN

is there really that much to say about tea?

Reply to
Zarky Zork

Yes, there is! I think it will surpass wine fairly soon. Think about it, it has richer history, more varieties. It is as fun as drinking wine and yet it is none alcoholic (think about the muslims consumption). The ultimate taste of a pu-erh is decided not just the breed, but also their manufacturing process. Best of all, even how to store it can have interesting outcome. The chinese started using pu-erh as gift (we like to bring a bottle of wine to a house dinner, don't we?). The list can go on..... so, you think there is nothing to talk about?

Hee

Zarky Zork wrote:

Reply to
Hee

I don't think so :)

Hee wrote:

Reply to
Phyll
[Hee] ... I think it will surpass wine fairly soon. [Phyll]
[Michael] I think the point is academic since, given the amount of talk and buzz in China alone regarding tea, it's hard to imagine that tea talk hasn't over- taken wine talk already. Of course my personal opinion that tea far surpasses wine in subtlety, complexity, and pure joy of life is in some quarters arguable, but not in my house.

(I'm broadcasting through Google Groups until my damnable service brings back usenet. Damn. This has happened before.)

Sorry for error, Phyll. I'm new at this.

Reply to
mplant

On the flip side of the coin, China is an open ground for various vinous experimentation. The loud buzz is there, but mostly within the industry and hasn't really reached the general consumers' radar. International consultants -- those from France, Italy, USA -- are being invited or hired to make wine in China and India. The expansion of market interest in Asia, made a UK-based Decanter magazine (my favorite wine publication) to launch a Chinese version last year, much like what the Puerh Teapot magazine is already doing now.

Which brings to a point that I've been wondering about: I wonder if the Decanter magazine made similar typos and error [as how the Art of Tea mag has done] when it translated the English article to Chinese (80% of the first issue was translated from English to Chinese).

Sorry...this is rec.food.drink.TEA :)

snipped-for-privacy@pipel> [Hee]

Reply to
Phyll

Hee, sorry to say, I'm with Phyll. I think you're trippin'. The appeal of specialty teas has a long way to go before it gets beyond people who (like me) are OCD enough to keep a gaiwan and several small pots both at home and in the office. Tea and wine both produce a wide range of flavors and experiences, but wine can be accessed simply by pulling a cork - there is no need to sweat things like water temperature, timing, amount of leaf, kind of pot, kind of water ... think of the guy in 'Sideways' drinking his best bottle out of a styrofoam cup in a fast-food restaurant.

I don't know about the richer history, either. Oolong, for instance, is really only 200 years old. Many of the well-known vinyards in Europe were planted by the Romans and have been in continuous production for 2000 years. Furthermore, wine is a social lubricant and relaxant, and tea makes people hyper. I personally appreciate a good chazui (like the one I am having now) as much or more than being drunk with my friends, but it was not always thus.

But, I appreciate your enthusiasm.

Alex Trying to fine-tune my Wuyi technique

Reply to
Alex

kind of reminds me of the old zen master who found a chest full of priceless treatises on zen written hundreds of years before, and burned them.

there are some things that talking about just doesn't make better.

Reply to
Zarky Zork

*Phyll slaps his forehead and makes the sound of one hand clapping*

Zarky Zork wrote:

Reply to
Phyll

snip

That's just the point (or one of them): Those little tea rituals are relaxing, and part of the experience. They're easy, and they enrich. That's why cigarette smoking is a filthy dirty unnecessary habit, but pipe smoking is a sacred trust.

Tea eens are relaxing, me thinks. As for the Romans, it's not a contest after all. I just think tea's the thing. Swirl wine in your glass and look at the legs: Pretentious. turn the tea cup so as to appreciate the subtle hues: Sensitive. I have spoken.

Michael

I appreciate all your collective enthusiasms!

It's quite a trick, in my view; getting WuYi right is no easy task. Let us know where you land with this, please.

Reply to
mplant

While I'm no wine expert, something tells me that winemaking today has very little resemblence to winemaking in Roman times. To think we are making it in more or less the same way as 2000 years ago.... I don't know, it will require a lot of proof which I suspect we do not have.

MarshalN

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Reply to
MarshalN

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