There are many problems with reviews online. Many people use reviews as a way to filter out the fodder and find good products. Talking about and discussing tea is also an important and necessary part of the learning process and a part that reviews can help to facilitate. Learning in a vacuum is usually a terrible idea and reviews can be a formative part of learning. People who sell products and vendors have realized that online reviews and opinions affect sales and have reacted in a number of ways. On the most basic level, yelp, ebay, and amazon vendors openly ask for and encourage reviews of their product. Fair enough. On a slightly more sinister level, there are paid reviewers of Amazon products that are on the payroll of the producer and are required to give 5 star reviews. This becomes a huge problem when there are only a few reviews of similar products online, meaning one or two five star reviews can propel a significant amount of sales! Many of these problems persist into tea, to varying degrees. While there isn’t necessarily malintent on the reviewer or the vendor’s part, bias and aspects beyond the quality of tea play frequently heavily into the actual review and people’s perception. This article will specifically examine points of bias in the online tea world. (more…)
Category: Tea Learning
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Yixing Teapots — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #10
Inbetweenisode Episode #10 from James. This is part two of a two part series on Yixing teapots. The second part covers some basic attributes, advantages and characteristics of Yixing.
Please check out these additional resources:
http://www.marshaln.com/tag/yixing/
http://terebess.hu/english/yixing1.html
http://terebess.hu/english/yixing1a.html -
Pu’erh Regions: Yunnan Overview
This article frequently references and links to babelcarp. Babelcarp is a Chinese Tea Lexicon that is an essential resource for tea nerds that want to dive in further and don’t understand Chinese! This article also sources many maps from a TeaChat thread, original sources vary.
Pu’erh tea has been associated with a specific area for a longtime. The term itself is a location (originally a city, now a province). In this way pu’erh is fundamentally different from oolongs, blacks, whites, or green teas. These teas nomenclature signifies the processing and not the location grown. The nomenclature places pu’erh in a realm with some other different consumables, i.e. champagne, Darjeeling tea, or Roquefort. Over the years these geographical ties have been nailed down in increasingly official manners. In 2006, the Yunnan Provincial Supervision Bureau of Technology and Quality specifically stated that Pu’erh tea is a geographically marked product of Yunnan, using large leaf tea leaves that have been dried in the sun (Zhang, Puer Tea Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic). There is tea grown processed and compressed in styles similar to pu’erh in neighboring areas (Laos, Tibet, Burma, etc.), but according to the geographical classifications of pu’erh this tea cannot technically be classified as pu’erh. (more…)
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Yixing Teapots — TeaDB James InBetweenIsode Episode #9
Inbetweenisode Episode #9 from James. This is part one of a two part series on Yixing teapots. The first part covers some very basic concepts, including other resources, modern vs. not, and some basic characteristics of clay teapots.
Please check out these resources:
http://www.marshaln.com/tag/yixing/
http://terebess.hu/english/yixing1.html
http://terebess.hu/english/yixing1a.html -
Tea Urchin, Featured Vendor
The vendor profile for Tea Urchin is a part of our Pu’erh Tea Vendor Series, covering a number of Pu’erh-centric vendors that sell to the west. This interview was conducted with Eugene & Belle of Tea Urchin.
Based in Shanghai, Tea Urchin was created in 2011 by the husband/wife team, Eugene & Belle. Eugene had previously run a blog, titled The Tea Urchin, and the online store adopted the same moniker. When first created Tea Urchin’s selection was predominantly composed of their own pu’erh productions, principally higher-end, small-production gushu. Eugene & Belle still travel to Yunnan yearly to press their own branded cakes but have also branched out into other tea genres, specifically Wuyi Yancha, Dancongs, and most recently Taiwanese Oolongs. Their spring lineup of pu’erh pressings typically consists of ~10 teas, the majority from Xishuangbanna but also including several other pu’erh regions (Jingmai, Xigui, etc.). Tea Urchin’s overall tea selection has also slowly broadened to include many teas from other pu’erh producers as well as a few older teas. (more…)
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White2Tea, Featured Vendor
The vendor profile for White2Tea is a part of our Pu’erh Tea Vendor Series, covering a number of Pu’erh-centric vendors that sell to the west. This interview was conducted with TwoDog of White2Tea.
White2Tea is the prototypical curated vendor. It is run by tea blogger turned vendor (TwoDog), who sells a relatively small but diverse selection of predominately small brands and white labels, a stark contrast with the huge, warehouse-like selection of Yunnan Sourcing, Cha Wang Shop, and ebay vendors. Despite being inherently smaller, White2Tea’s selection covers an impressive range of teas including various ages, areas and storages (both wet and dry). The price range also caters towards different consumers, some teas geared towards beginners and others to experts. Cakes range from $12/beeng to $1,000/beeng. (more…)
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Ripe Pu’erh [October 2014 Tea Drinking Report]
In the month of October 2014, the tea of the month was Ripe Pu’erh. During this month, I had Ripe Pu’erh at least once a day (unless totally unfeasible). I’ll still consume other teas, but the primary focus is understanding and building a palate for a specific type/genre/region of tea through repetition. This is the most personal blogging type style of post for TeaDB, and the goal is to stretch my palate as well as give recommendations to interested parties.
Primary tea producers:
- Menghai Tea Factory
- Xiaguan
- Yunnan Sourcing
Vendors ordered from:
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Pu’erh Regions: Western Xishuangbanna, Menghai County
This article frequently references and links to babelcarp. Babelcarp is a Chinese Tea Lexicon that is an essential resource for tea nerds that want to dive in further and don’t understand Chinese! This article also sources many maps from a TeaChat thread, original sources vary.
Home of the most famous tea factory, several high-profile areas (Lao Banzhang) and many of the most famous cakes from the masterpiece era of Pu’erh, Menghai County is both historically important in old school pu’erh and is featured prominently in much of contemporary pu’erh’s marketing. Much of the importance of region as both a brand and marker of terroir was covered in a post on Yiwu/Eastern Xishuangbanna. Locationwise, Menghai County is the westernmost county in Xishuangbanna, west of both Jinghong and Mengla. (more…)
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Aged Oolongs [September 2014 Tea Drinking Report]
In the month of September 2014, the tea of the month was Aged Oolong. During this month, I had Aged Oolongs at least once a day (unless totally unfeasible). I’ll still consume other teas, but the primary focus is understanding and building a palate for a specific type/genre/region of tea through repetition. This the most personal blogging type style of post for TeaDB, and the goal is to stretch my palate as well as give recommendations to interested parties.
Vendors ordered from:
Also featuring:
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Crimson Lotus Tea, Featured Vendor
The vendor profile for Crimson Lotus Tea is a part of our Pu’erh Tea Vendor Series, covering a number of Pu’erh-centric vendors that sell to the west. This interview was conducted with Glen of Crimson Lotus Tea.
Crimson Lotus Tea is one of the newest and hottest vendors in the pu’erh scene. Formed in late 2013, Crimson Lotus is based in Seattle and is composed of the husband/wife duo of Glen and Lamu Bowers. Lamu was originally from Yunnan, creating an instant familial connection to the land of pu’erh. The pair made their first sourcing trip to Yunnan in Spring 2014 (they also got married on the same trip!). The sourcing trip was well documented on their blog and resulted in a diverse range of pu’erh, Crimson Lotus brand cakes, teapets, and Jianshui teaware offered on their site. Crimson Lotus Tea fits firmly into the curated pu’erh vendor category with a small but eclectic selection of raw and ripe pu’erh. (more…)