Denny and I just guest starred in the Tea For Me Please Podcast ran by Nicole (see her post here). Was a ton of fun to sit back and just chat about tea! More lax and less structured than your average TeaDB episode, and we talk about how we got into tea, the future of tea in America, how to start learning about tea, etc.
4 responses to “Tea For Me Please Podcast feat. TeaDB!”
Great interview, guys! Nice to get some background on you and your tea interests.
But … if both of you are now drinking puer, when can we expect some videos on that type of tea?
Thanks.
Thanks Peter! The forecast for the near future is a couple black teas from Yezitea, a special episode on gaiwans, and then two darker Taiwanese oolongs from Eco-Cha. Those are probably some of the last episodes we’ll do on Taiwanese oolongs and I do hope to review some pu’erh very soon.
Thanks for the input, we’ll try to get some pu’erh in the lineup soon.
It’s cool to hear your guys’ input on Teavana and the growth potential of tea in the US.
As a person with experience drinking copious amounts of high quality and affordable tea, I can join the chorus of Teavana haters. Nevertheless, I can’t deny that Teavana did in fact play a very early and critical role in my discovery of tea. I believe that Teavana–despite its inaccurate and subpar portrayal of high quality loose leaf tea–has an important role in increasing tea consumption in the US. Once people become open to the idea of preparing loose leaf tea, there’s the potential to expand that interest to varying degrees. And let’s be honest: where do most American’s spend their free time? Malls.
Which brings me to why I appreciate what you guys do: you review online vendors. It’s important to recognize that the best tea shops in this country are confined to only a few regions, and even they have trouble competing with the vast quantity and quality of tea that’s available online. So, as much as I believe places like Teavana can open the door, it’s the online vendors that have the potential to supply Westerners with some of their best experiences.
Thanks Connor. Personally speaking, I have a number of concerns with how Teavana sells health benefits and some of their salesy tactics, but they are the one company in America with the reach and power to really spread loose leaf tea beyond a niche audience. I also hope that their acquisition by Starbucks will eventually move them to be a bit more reputable.
Totally agree on the online vendors. Denny and I are lucky enough to live in one of the American cities where there is somewhat of a local tea presence. That being said, the world of online vendors opens up a whole other world of teas to try. We try our best to create a resource that would be useful for people interested in drinking and exploring tea as a beverage, such as ourselves.
Cheers!
-James