So, the wife and I both like coffee, but she would like a teapot and try real tea. Where does one start? I would like to get her a pot and some tea for christmas, any beginner tea suggestions?
Thanks!
Thanks!
New to "real" tea...
- Thread starter A3M0N
- Start date
I would check out the teas from Adagio Teas. If you are just getting started you should try out teas like Earl Grey, Irish or English Breakfast, maybe Keemun. I don't know if they sell nicer pots but the tea there is supposed to be quality.
If you're new to tea, you've probably only tried black teas so far. I suggest keeping it simple and sampling a few greens and oolongs. Try your local Chinatown.
Teavana is a good place to start, they have a good selection that is well catagorized. They carry chinese, indian and the more familiar teas like earl grey. Their prices and shipping are reasonable. Check the bay for most any tea pot you could want. I just received a new yixing pot from an ebay seller in texas this Friday.
There is a Teavana B&M in the mall near my home. SWMBO and I wandered in yesterday and were greeted warmly with free samples and as much info as we could want. A very nice little shop.
Chinese teapot gallery?
Quote from an earlier post, for the full scoop on Teavana click here! Includes impressions from former employees
! If my life depended on it, I would go to the local chinese grocery store first before choosing Teavana, unless you are fine with high pressure sales tactics.Are the pots any good? Im just wondering im fairly new as well and I took a look and I didnt see anything that appeared to be that good.
Any who I agree with getting up some nice oolongs, some green as well. I personally like the selection of specialteas. If you are interested in puerh get a hold of Steve at jas-etea aka netsurf on here. He will start you off right as he did for me
I'm not familiar with the UK so I can't give you an exact location. Like Ouch said, your local Chinatown is a good place to start. You can also try a local tea shop if there is one in your area.
If you want to order online, then check out the sticky at the top of this forum for shopping links.
If you want to order online, then check out the sticky at the top of this forum for shopping links.
Yes as a matter of fact. Fast shipping and well packaged. It appears to be the real thing and the shipping is much more reasonable. Had to quickly replace a gong fu pot I ordered from China that my wife broke this thanksgiving along with 4 small cups. It was an accident. (really)!
I have some cups coming from China from the seller I bought the original pot and cups from. I will likely buy another pot from one of the Chinese suppliers when I find just the right one.
A3MON et all please forgive my tea site suggestion as I had suffered a brain fart when typing. The site I wanted to recommend was SpecialTeas. I didn't even know that Teavana had a web site!
SpecialTeas fits the description I had given earlier.
This is so very embarrassing. (Hangs head in shame)
SpecialTeas fits the description I had given earlier.
This is so very embarrassing. (Hangs head in shame)
Their really cheap pots are just that. You can brew a cup of tea in them, but they're just barely serviceable. Their mid range pots are pretty decent values. I have this one-
and it's very solid and well made. I've seen it on other sites for ~$100, so the 20-something they charged was very reasonable.
I purchased a few pots from www.necessiteas.com but their prices have doubled in the last few years.
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Their really cheap pots are just that. You can brew a cup of tea in them, but they're just barely serviceable. Their mid range pots are pretty decent values. I have this one-
and it's very solid and well made. I've seen it on other sites for ~$100, so the 20-something they charged was very reasonable.
I purchased a few pots from www.necessiteas.com but their prices have doubled in the last few years.
Wow, I am liking that pot a lot!!! Interested in doing a trade?
That pot makes me uneasy.
Adagio might be worth looking at but the European site isn't a patch on the US one in terms of tea available.
Nothing But Tea will be worth a look. They have a huge range of teas all of which are available in sample sizes. I'm drinking my way through the Black tea sampler at the moment.
I think you will struggle to find such a variety of tea of good quality available in sample sizes elsewhere. If you fall in love with anything in particular there are spe......t vendors you can move onto.
A few exotic tea samples will brighten things up as well.
They have a few teapots too but to be honest you might be as well heading to local department store and picking up something. There's plenty time to become obsessive about brewing devices as is being demonstrated above, can you imagine trying to brew with a teapot which can hold nearly 280ml of water!!! it's huge!!!
Ideally for an all round pot I'd go for something like this:
from O-Cha
Or for something more traditionally British there is always the magic clay of the Brown Betty
Nothing But Tea will be worth a look. They have a huge range of teas all of which are available in sample sizes. I'm drinking my way through the Black tea sampler at the moment.
I think you will struggle to find such a variety of tea of good quality available in sample sizes elsewhere. If you fall in love with anything in particular there are spe......t vendors you can move onto.
A few exotic tea samples will brighten things up as well.
They have a few teapots too but to be honest you might be as well heading to local department store and picking up something. There's plenty time to become obsessive about brewing devices as is being demonstrated above, can you imagine trying to brew with a teapot which can hold nearly 280ml of water!!! it's huge!!!
Ideally for an all round pot I'd go for something like this:
from O-Cha
Or for something more traditionally British there is always the magic clay of the Brown Betty
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