Vendor Recommendations

Okay, I just made a special trip to Chinatown and bought a 5lb/2.27k bag of Foojoy bonay(puer) restaurant tea for $5. What do I do next? I need some salvation too. Not too much like that pentecostal tent revival but more methodist kumbaya.

Jim

Well, I've been getting good results by using Mike Petro's approach: about as many grams of leaf as ounces of boiling water, and lots of

As a fellow Buddhist, I will share with you my approach to political issues...

It doesn't matter who is in office.

Even if your person is elected, it doesn't mean that he (for now) will make wise decisions. What we as Buddhists can do is send metta, send wisdom, and meditate for those leading the country that they will make the right decisions.

It really gives you a detached approach to the situation.

Hope this helps, Wade

Perhaps not, but it matters how they get there. That's the only way the "will of the people" (such as it is) may be expressed.

Cheers,

- Joel

Space snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com11/4/04

So, how was it? I've had tastey teas from Foojoy, but they don't always hit the mark. Don''t knock pentecostal tent revivals. I love the screaming and the music. For methodists, I like Adam Bede. Are you familiar with Chevala Vargas, not that it's relevant?

Michael

Hey anyone know where I can buy a teapot that will steep 5lbs of tea? Really when I bought this bag the little old chinese lady tries to sell me a gongfu set. The whole situation was hilarious. I got it to match my 5lb bag of Foojoy restaurant oolong from a previous trip. I found $4/2oz bags of Zhongshan Baiye on sale at my local tea shoppe yesterday. I didn't clean him out because we both know it was a steal. I'll go back Sunday and get what is left over. Hopefully nobody will notice the fluffy spirey sliver green shoot like Huangshan Mao Feng. Anyone try the pricey Foojoy premium version? Something like $18/2oz from what I remember.

Jim

White, green, oolong, and black. I like 'em all. The tea whose flavor I've liked most is Taylors of Harrogate China Rose Petal. But now I'm inclined to drink more whites and greens because I've been persuaded that they have more of the healthful stuff in them. I shouldn't have asked for vendors; I should have asked for brands and makers.

I would pop for a little of the very expensive stuff for special occasions, but for daily consumption I'd like a medium-priced tea. I also have been inclined to buy organic produce (for example, I don't eat conventionally grown orchard fruit). I've often wondered whether conventionally grown tea is really inferior to organically grown tea (and whether you can trust the claim of "organic").

George

How about this Zisha teapot?

"This giant teapot has a water capacity of 380kg, height 1.8m and width

snipped-for-privacy@ix.netcom.com (Space Cowboy) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

...

Upton generally is pretty good about black (red) teas, but their greens are fair to middling. I've always heard to go for Specialteas for greens, but a while back I started hearing negative things about SpeacialTeas' greens. Anyone care to elaborate/confirm/deny?

Also, check out Funalliance

Anyway, good luck.

ZBL

I just rec'd a sample of that dragonwell - I find it excellent. Fact is, I just ordered a middlin' stash of it. ;)

"Upton generally is pretty good about black (red) teas, but their greens are fair to middling. I've always heard to go for Specialteas for greens, but a while back I started hearing negative things about SpeacialTeas' greens. Anyone care to elaborate/confirm/deny?"

I am certainly no expert, but the Mao Feng Special Green from Upton that I got awhile back was pretty good to me...the leaves are almost a very dark blue-green and it's got a fresh-mown hay smell in the dry leaf. The dry leaf is also somewhat wiry and twisty like you'd expect a Keemun Mao Feng to be...not sure if that's coincidence or not. I'm not very good describing the smell of the steeped tea...it's got body but isn't super smokey like a gunpowder. I wouldn't describe it as delicate either. It to me just has a strong green-tea scent. Tart, astringent, with a little savoury in the cup later in the first steep (I'm tasting as I write) FWIW. It is NOT the same thing as the Huang Shan Mao Feng that is the famous China tea, but I'm not sure exactly how this is different other than, compared to photos of the latter, this is much darker and not as fuzzy. I had a sample of the Upton Long Jing waaaayyy back when I first started to experiment with green teas, from what I remember it had more of the chestnut flavor that I've heard some people say is more common and less liked (?) but other than that I don't remember much specific about it. It wasn't horrible, or I would've remembered. ;)

I have not had any of the Specialteas greens yet but I want to order some from them. I've had good luck with their red teas, Assams (my little secret vice) and Keemun Mao Feng.

No affiliation with either, just my usual suppliers.

While I'm on the subject (and butting in here) anyone have a sencha that knocks their socks off? I have some I bought at my local Korean store but I'd like to know where I could get some really superior to try, hopefully not the most expensive out there.

Melinda

Oh neat, now where can I find a fire hydrant hooked up to a boiler?

Jim

The bags are conversation pieces. I like the Foojoy teabag lines. The names don't ring a bell. I do enjoy gospel music. I crank up Mahalia Jackson and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama ever once in a while.

Jim

I recently received an order from sencha.com that blew me away. Surreal and transcendent. The web site is ungainly (at least in my browser) but the product was superb.

I wouldn't characterize either vendor that way. I've been pleased with greens from both of them. That being said, I do not order real high-end teas - I stick to the stuff generally less than about $35/pound. I suppose it is possible that a real high-end green tea connoisseur might not be satisfied with their offerings.

-- Randy (if replying by e-mail, remove SPAMFREE and DeLeTe from my address)

"Come to think of it, that's what I was drinking at three in the morning nov. 3, watching the Ohio returns with horror.)"

LOL That was a magical night for me. I sat down with a cup of young hyson and watched "in horror" as cbs, abc, and nbc desperately clung to the possibility of a Kerry win in Ohio. And to see Dan Rather trying to create some excitement out of what was essentially a lopsided Bush victory, was truly precious. lol

Darren

Pilo, could you be more specific about which sencha (from sencha.com) blew you away? I agree about the web site, the weird split screen, being ungainly.

I am on a mini-sencha jag myself (don't know why) and was really pleased with a Sencha Tenryu that I purchased at Wild Lily Tea Room in NYC, about a week ago. It was low-astringency, very smooth, fresh/fragrant dark-green leaf, and $15/50g..

But I want to get more, so I'm up for recommendations too. I wonder about o-cha.com as well, anybody know them?

Joe Kubera

I second this: which sencha was it Pilo? I'm always up for listening to other's experiences, thank-you! :)

Melinda

The sencha was called jade treasure, from sencha.com