Fine Tea

**Scotto** · 11-03-2005, 01:00 PM

I thought I would post on one of my other obsessions - fine loose leaf tea. I know there are other forum members out there who share this obsession. Chime in!

I have tried teas from all of the major online sources, at pretty much all prices. I also work with a diverse cultural crowd at work who are good at bringing me stuff from their homelands. I'll drink a pot of tea in the morning while reading the paper, usually a Chinese red ("black") tea or sometimes an English breakfast blend. In the mid-morning a good Oolong, and later lots of Green tea. I am particularly obsessed with Chinese green teas, especially Lung Ching ("Dragon Well").

I also keep track as best I can of what I taste. I'll attach a spreadsheet as an example for those who are interested. I got lazy for a while, but it has a fair amount of stuff in it for those who are interested in trying some teas. You can also filter it by tea type, vendor, etc. I haven't yet gotten nuts enough to keep track of shaving stuff this way, but perhaps our future B&B rating archive will fix all that.

All right, who are the other tea drinkers out there?

Edited: Apparently you can't attach an Excel file.... Nick?

**guenron** · 11-03-2005, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by Scotto

I thought I would post on one of my other obsessions - fine loose leaf tea. I know there are other forum members out there who share this obsession. Chime in!

I have tried teas from all of the major online sources, at pretty much all prices. I also work with a diverse cultural crowd at work who are good at bringing me stuff from their homelands. I'll drink a pot of tea in the morning while reading the paper, usually a Chinese red ("black") tea or sometimes an English breakfast blend. In the mid-morning a good Oolong, and later lots of Green tea. I am particularly obsessed with Chinese green teas, especially Lung Ching ("Dragon Well").

I also keep track as best I can of what I taste. I'll attach a spreadsheet as an example for those who are interested. I got lazy for a while, but it has a fair amount of stuff in it for those who are interested in trying some teas. You can also filter it by tea type, vendor, etc. I haven't yet gotten nuts enough to keep track of shaving stuff this way, but perhaps our future B&B rating archive will fix all that.

All right, who are the other tea drinkers out there?

Edited: Apparently you can't attach an Excel file.... Nick?

Hey Scotto!
If you can get any good Formosa Oolong I would forever be indebted!

**Scotto** · 11-03-2005, 01:24 PM

Ron,

I am actually not a fan of the lower-oxidized Formosa Oolongs, preferring the Chinese high-fired ones. I have had some of the Formosa's from SpecialTeas.com (an excellent vendor), and they are reasonably priced and very good quality. Check them out. If you want to spend more and get even better quality, you can't beat the guys at InPursuitofTea.com in goold old Brooklyn, NY.

**rtaylor61** · 11-03-2005, 01:33 PM

Ron said "goog".

Scotto said "goold".

The word is "good". I'm thinking it must be something in the tea.

Randy

PS. Guys, no fair editing your posts!

**guenron** · 11-03-2005, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by rtaylor61

Ron said "goog".

Scotto said "goold".

The word is "good". I'm thinking it must be something in the tea.

Randy

PS. Guys, no fair editing your posts!

You can tell we have had some lapsang souchong! It smoked...

**designwise1** · 11-03-2005, 04:35 PM

Hey, Scotto.
If you can figure out how to get that Excel file uploaded here I would like to see that.
I'm a big tea fan and have made converts of a few friends as well.

-Gerald

**AACJ** · 11-03-2005, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by designwise1

If you can figure out how to get that Excel file uploaded here I would like to see that.

One way is to open the excel file fully on the screen, do a ctrl-print screen. Then open a picture editor program such as the paint program that comes with Windows. Paste it to the newly opened program and save. Then upload as normal and post to a thread.

It should work.

-edit

I just did this using the instructions above.

**Scotto** · 11-04-2005, 05:50 AM

For those who are interested, I pdf'ed the file. It is not complete - I have sampled hundreds - but it might be helpful. Chime in if you have any questions.

**TimmyBoston** · 12-09-2006, 04:49 AM

Scotto - Do you know of any good online stores to purchase high quality teas?

**Scotto** · 12-09-2006, 05:19 AM

There are quite a few. I think the best balance of price and quality is www.specialteas.com. I have used them for years and have been very pleased. Right now they are offering a free shipping special if you use the coupon code holiday6. For higher quality (and more expensive, of course) teas, I often buy from www.inpursuitoftea.com. Another one is www.imperialtea.com.

**Groomer Monkey** · 12-09-2006, 05:52 AM

Hi,
yeh, being a Brit in America, I got tired of drinking coffee - great for waking up, but no good for relaxing. Recently, my wife bought me a fantastic cast iron tea set from www.teavana.com (you purists are probably going to scold me).
Also, they do nice flavoured mixes, great for different moods or to achieve different aims: strawberry, slender pu-erh, iron buddha, and oolong mix is good for dieting - helps to suppress my appetite, and the jasmine dragon, phoenix pearls, roobis, tropica mix actually helps me sleep better.
But it's not just the tea, it's the act of making a smll pot of tea, and slowly sipping it whilst it stays warm on the tealight - very relaxing.

www.groomermonkey.com

**TimmyBoston** · 12-09-2006, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Scotto

There are quite a few. I think the best balance of price and quality is www.specialteas.com. I have used them for years and have been very pleased. Right now they are offering a free shipping special if you use the coupon code holiday6. For higher quality (and more expensive, of course) teas, I often buy from www.inpursuitoftea.com. Another one is www.imperialtea.com.

Thanks, Scotto, I'll check out those sites.

**Stauff** · 12-09-2006, 07:55 AM

I think it's cool how obsession seems too develop in a parallel way. Whenever I get a remark of SWMBO that I buy too much of something, it's either shaving stuff or tea.
At breakfast time, I have a small pot of Whittard or Taylor of Harrogate pure Assam (with milk of course), which I find a great tasting and warming tea.
Around ten-eleven, I'll have a cup of Ceylon, Twinings Prince of Wales (the only decent Twinings IMO) or Whittards Original Blend (Ceylon, Assam and Kenya).
Afternoon tea is Taylors Earl Grey or Whittards Royal blend (mix of large leaf Assam and Darjeeling).
Later on: Chinese or japanese green tea, occasionally fresh mint tea.

**Lyrt** · 12-09-2006, 09:21 AM

This past few weeks, I’ve tasted some teas of a Russian company that moved to Paris during the Bolshevik revolution. I appreciated their Polish Earl Grey and their Zubrowka tea. Zubrowka is the bison herb that is sometimes used to flavour some vodkas. It is delicious.

I usually stick to classic Earl Grey, Yinhao Jasmine tea and Japanese teas such as genmaicha (with roasted rice, you may love it or hate it), houjicha (average, everyday tea), gyokuro or shincha (when available).

I drink tea and coffee too much.

**javyn** · 12-09-2006, 05:01 PM

Great idea Scotto. I drink a lot of tea as well. I get my Chinese greens from Kam at funalliance.com. I'm really enjoying his pre-rain Long Jing and Shou Mei white tea. The Shou Mei was really surprising...it is not the broken bay leaf looking stuff I normally got...this stuff was of such a high quality the dry leaves actually did look like eyebrows! (Shou Mei means "long eyebrow" I believe).

It's stout for a white tea, seems like it could almost be an oolong, but extremely sweet.

By the way, Upton's has a GREAT TGFOP Darjeeling. I believe it's like 5 bucks or so for a 4 ounce tin.

Tonight I am enjoying a big mug of honeybush steeped for an hour with a bunch of ginger i squeezed through a garlic press, lots of honey added too.

**Phog Allen** · 12-10-2006, 06:43 AM

Hi Scotto. Were you able to get any of the Spring White Dragon Jasmine Pearls from QED before they vanished? I did and let me tell you, it is superb. I am no tea expert by a LONG shot. However, have you ever tried someting for the first time and simply understood that you were partaking of something that had to be an excellent example of it's type? That's how the QED tea struck me. Such a vibrant yet well behaved taste and aroma. The infusion of the jasmine seemed pefect to my palate and nose. I had never had a white tea before. I didn't know what to expect. The trick really was as Charles said to keep that water temp at about 170F. When you do that this tea is sublime. I swear we are all addicts here with willing enablers all around us.

Regards ,Todd

**javyn** · 12-10-2006, 09:37 AM

AHHHH

must...resist...urge... to crusade against flavored and scented white teas....

**chef8489** · 12-10-2006, 02:02 PM

I am obsessed with tea. I usually use
uptontea
capitaltea
enjoyingtea
gray-seddon
specialtea

There are a lot others I use but these I use the most.

**Scotto** · 12-10-2006, 04:25 PM

I find Upton's teas past their prime; I stopped ordering from them some years ago. As for Charles' tea, it is nice enough, but not so different in quality from stuff you can find elsewhere.

I notice across the board over the past couple of years that the availability of the really high end stuff seems to be decreasing. Not sure if that is due to increased demand, reduced production, or something else.