Vendor Experiences

While I certainly don't want to increase vendor advertising, I would like to hear what others have to say about specific vendors and products, especially e vendors.

I mean, the two things that we know that we have in common are internet access and a love of teas.

It is through this group that I found several new online vendors, not to mention the Big Apple Teahouse.

--Tom

-oo- ""\o~

------------------------------------ "Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto." Terrance

Mike snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com/10/04

Mike, it is not only appropriate it is helpful and expected by many. The occasional forays into actual discussion regarding specirfic teas are a high point for me. Seriously, most of us welcome specific references to specific teas provided by specific vendors. The more specific, the more value.

I'm seldom bothered by a vendor's self-reference and disagree with those who find vendor's mention of their own sites and wares offensive. I can flip to a URL and make up my own mind. Just don't want to see a steady stream.

snip

Me too.

Can't speak for the group, but that's my opinion. BTW, I'm engaged in dialog with several vendors whose existence I only knew of through this group. Some vendors I'm convinced come to tea for the love of it, not (solely) for the money.

Michael

FWIW, I'm in complete agreement. I'm indebted to Michael for referring me to a vendor that otherwise I might never have found.

I'm also of the opinion that those in the tea business can provide a unique perspective no one else can. No one here is interested in a lot of blatant self-promotion, but clearly those whose business brings them in contact with importers and the gardens themselves have a lot of valuable insights to offer.

Regards, Dean

I sure think so. I promise to read any review you post!

/Lew

Certainly.

I am one of those; advertisers should purchase legitimate advertising, shills should lose their internet access, and spammers should go to jail.

Unforunately, if you post enough (legitimate) reviews, eventually someone will complain about something.

There you have it.

The group denies me authority to speak for it, but if you're offering reviews, I say: Review away.

While intrepidly exploring rec.food.drink.tea, Hamilcar Barca rolled initiative and posted the following:

"I object to that characterization!" he exlaimed with a smirk.

Hi group,

First, I must say that over the years I have found some absolutely wonderful teas discussed here. It's what I have most gotten out of this ng. Without all of you, I never would have ventured into an Indian market and gotten my first box of Lipton Yellow Label.

Just a quick suggestion: Why not include VE in the main subject line of the post. Those that can't stand to read such can safely avoid or filter it, and the rest of us can learn from one another.

Cheers, Christina

All I can say about the success of tea reviewers thank god they eventually go away. You can join the ranks of Allegorical Anodyne or Analytical Alan or others who have nothing more to say than taste great and worth every penny with the occasional critique you can buy it cheaper elsewhere or if you didn't like the taste it was nothing more than your own idiosyncratic personality tastebuds lubricated from watching Paris Hilton milk a cow. If it were me I'd start a BLOG where people have to surf to what I say and based on some arbitrary timeline like brewing a pot of tea it might be picked up by some media outlet because they are the Internet fin de la semana rage on the media shows with the emphasis on individual opinion contradicting polling surveys. As for the shill make sure we get some free samples too. People don't have too much to say if they don't mention how much it cost or where they bought it.

Jim

I know the exact feeling of trepidation and elation. Everytime I go I spend some time with the proprietor because they're just as curious about you. Still the scariest stores are the Russians.

Jim

Well, I guess not everybody would be glad to see more reviews.

As far as I'm concerned, bring 'em on, happy to read.

Joe

Any heading protocol that distinguishes thread types makes life easier for readers of an active group. And makes it more pleasant for those who dislike a topic - it's easy enough to set filters to discard incoming notes on a disfavored topic - or leave them on the server. So I think it's a fine idea. We could add several more categories as well, like reviews of tea houses (as distinct from leaf vendors), travel suggestions, chemistry and technology, whatever some subset especially doesn't like.

Me, I find most value in reviews of tea sub-varieties, which seem to come naturally with vendor reviews. I also find the "prismatic luminescence" (Herb Caen phrase anent wine writing) language un-useful, but maybe there's no better. On the other hand, there's been some impressive work on educating both palates and vocabularies. See, for example:

I'm hoping to get a group together around Boston to set up and try the Ann Noble flavor-wheel game. Has anyone done something similar with tea taste/smell?

-DM

Ahh, the Curmudgeon has spoken, and I expected no less. Isn't this a great medium where everyone can express their opinion!

Incidentally I agree with you about doing something BLOG like, but I didn't fully understand your "week end" comment. I will probably just add a personal review section to my website, then those who are interested, and it appears that there are a few, can simply browse to it. Or maybe, after I am able to practice repeatable objectivity, I can contribute to the review site that already exists, why reinvent the wheel, right?

However, I will still share, and promote the sharing of, vendor critiques in this form because it appears that many of us find them valuable. You of course have the option to plonk the threads that distress you. I am curious though, why are you so against someone expressing an opinion about a vendor?

Actually Jim, I would truly love to share a pot of tea with you one day. You can be quite eloquent at times, in addition to being very (if not overly) opinionated.

Mike

On 12 Feb 2004 07:34:44 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@ix.netcom.com (Space Cowboy) cast caution to the wind and posted:

I got my start with the rec.food.drink.tea FAQ -- thank you, Mr. Christopher Roberson and other contributors. Then I subscribed to rec.food.drink.tea. It's a good newsgroup and a good peoplegroup.

Is there really a problem with (any) reviews here?

Isn't the real, but occasional, problem the fraudulent review by shills?

I'd be glad to help you fill out the form

I believe many of you joined us after Anodyne and Alan left. For you newer guys, then: Holly (known as Anodyne) is a sensitive and thorough observer and tea drinker with a keen and fanciful poetic sense whose musings integrate tea and life. She is an excellent writer and an engaging person and one of the most knowledgeable around, her knowledge derived from personal experience which she freely shares now elsewhere. She apparently committed the mortal sin of decency and was inevitably "driven* away by mean spiritedness.

Alan is a bit of a "scientist" bent on tea tasting uniformity. His vocabulary, while stayed and standardized is true to itself and worthy of note for its consistency. Those interested in attempting objective comparisons among teas could do a lot worse than pulling up some of Alan's old reviews just to see his approach, which I admit is not mine, try as I might. He shares the sin of decency though, and had to be expunged from our little community, a difficult task indeed, but persistent meanness and unrelenting personal attacks did the trick.

When do tea comments turn into tea reviews? Beats me. Maybe we should all pack up our tea stuff and go home.

Michael

I completely lost the thread from the person who recently asked about tea tasting methods for consistency and/or appropriate equipment. I hereby unabashedly throw pride aside and provide the following page from Teacraft, Nigel's company -- that is, Nigel the sometime contributor to discussions here.

This page is for tearoom equipment and, somewhere toward the middle, we find the following offered for sale, and I quote: "Tea Tasting Crockery - the International Standard ISO 3103-1980 defines the exact shapes and dimensions of the tea tasting crockery used throughout the world." (I believe he sells these at reasonable prices individually, but you'd have to ask him. Other places do sell them, but more likely in lots of 12 or whatever.)

Here is his "home page" URL:

Hope this is in some way helpful.

Michael

Actually it was I,

I recently received 20 different puerhs from Michael (shhhh lest I anger the wannabe Usenet Gods) and I want to level the playing field in trying to compare them. I was looking for advise from some of the more experienced members of the group who already engage in this activity.

Both you and Yuriy recommended Alan's posts as a starting point. I have seen them before and will definitely take from them as I develop my own style. I am also looking for other styles as well to learn from.

Thanks,

On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 11:48:42 GMT, Michael Plant cast caution to the wind and posted:

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

The bile you manage to spew at such pleasant and helpful people as Holly and Alan amazes me. The difference between you and them couldn't be more pronounced. Whereas they clearly cared about tea and went to some lengths to increase the available pool of information regarding it, you are nothing but mean-spirited and largely irrelevant. Your style which you think so highly of is simply the pathetic maundering of a bitter old man.

You obviously want to make R.F.D.T a better place (albeit according to some twisted standard all your own); have you considered that by leaving you could do just that?

If you will not leave, perhaps you could keep your postings to the topic of tea and the enjoyment thereof.

With all due respect,

Cameron

I'd start a BLOG. I'd get zero hits. So I'm not going anywhere. Somebody does a big weekend review of Blog sites. I am surprised what the keyboard makes me do. Lots of times I self censor and especially on the cold days my MB spontaneously reboots and many threads go down the drain and I hate repeating myself. But lots of times I can't believe I said that. Mainly I live in a metro area with lots of ethnic stores trying to make a living. Several years ago a Brit shows up in town shouting "I'm going to teach you Yanks all about tea". I heard that before from others long gone. He's still around and his wife makes the best meat pie for lunch. If I'm a young man I'm going to his every Friday night live quartet music with tea social because the ladies are dressed up looking for someone to buy them a pot of tea and take them to the movies across the street. I've seen it done. One stop dating. He's been going to the Las Vegas tea expo for the last couple of years. The last time I talked to him he buys from 30 vendors. So when I wanted some Black Dragon and WuYi he bought some and the extra is part of his inventory. Oh those poor people at the websites need to make a living so let me tell you about what I bought and what it cost and let me repeat the URL for the Nth time and besides I like too suck up and get free samples and since they don't have a store front hope I don't get sick from someone with Hepatitis C grabbing a handfull out of a barrel in a basement and putting it in recycled sandwich bags. If anyone knows of a website sending someone to the Expo let me know and I'll take them off my Browsers prohibited websites. Eventually we get too the Boonies argument and you need an online vendor. I lived in the Boonies before there was the Internet and about twice a year we would go in town and stock up on essentials and I never came back without tea.

Jim

Mike Petro wrote in message news:...