Tea newbie

[fsatsil]

Im mainly a coffee drinker and I still drink my two morning cups, but lately ive been drinking alto more tea especially in the evenings. I find it very relaxing to sit down with a nice hot cup of tea and a book after a long day. Im very picky about my coffee and I drink the best I can get usually from Counter Culture or Intelligentsia but with tea ive been drinking store bought mostly Twinning Green, Lady gray and Oolong. Ive been wanting to try some higher quality loose teas so last weekend while at my local mall i stopped in the Teavana store and picked up a small cup/infuser and a small bag of their Earl gray and Pi Lo Chun green teas both of which I am really enjoying. I guess I just need a little advice on some good places to get tea either online or in the Long Island/NYC area and maybe you guys could recommend a good tea site that has reviews kind of like CoffeeReview.com but for tea. Thanks in advance

 

[plexibass]

http://www.teavana.com/

Teavana is awesome.

 

[Hreafn]

www.chelmsfordtea.com/index.htm
www.thespicemerchant.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi

two really great stores they know their tea.

 

[Carlin]

teavanna = no bueno in my opinion (tea quality and morally)

www.adagio.com is good if you like a wide variety of higher than teabag grade, for a fair price.

What kind's of tea's do you like? I'm a fan of oolongs and puerh's.


Also, ounches views on tea's

My take on tea, via wine analogy:

Black tea is something everyone has had, so it's the white zinfandel or Gallo of the tea world.

Green tea is for people who have discovered tea, the way people who have discovered wine like to order merlot or chardonnay just so they can say the words merlot or chardonnay, which to them is even more important than drinking merlot or chardonnay.

Oolongs are for folks with considerable tastings under their belt; geeks who can go on endlessly about the differences between Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Pu'er is for folks who can tell you who is the best producer of Savenierres (Nicolas Joly Clos de la Coulée de Serrant), whether Chambolle-Musigny or Gevrey-Chambertin produced better wines in a given vintage, or know what Scheurebe tastes like.

 

[fsatsil]

I really like Green, Oolong and Earl Gray are my favorites. Ive heard that Teavana's tea isnt as high quality of some others but its local and the tea was much better then the tea bags im used to. I may try Adagio next they seem to be very well regarded.

 

[fsatsil]

Do they sell single origin teas like they do with coffee? Im pretty knowledgeable about coffee but I dont really know much about tea, I guess ill just have to learn And what is Puerh?

 

[ouch]

Teavana is a rip. You can probably find more information about tea on this site than on any tea forum.

 

[Proinsias]

If you're around NYC and want the really good stuff a visit to the The Tea Gallery might be well worth your time - I think you have to book ahead for a sit in for a tea session as the brick and mortar store is now closed - you can also order online.

For good quality Chinese tea in small quantities I'm a fan of Tea Spring. A huge range of teas, most available in 25g sizes - fantastic for green, though not so great for pu'erh.

Hou De is also hard to fault for quality and I'm sure has many fans around here - not so cheap but really good stuff.

I've never had anything from Teavana, I'm over the pond, but I can't think of any US tea heads who rate them favourably.

 

[fsatsil]

The more research Ive done online the more it seems that Teavana isn't very well regarded by the hardcore tea people. That being said I really really like the Pi Lo Chun green tea that I picked up at Teavana the other day. Im really looking forward to trying some of the really good stuff! I think im going to try some teas from Jas-eTea next, it seems that they are very highly thought of here at B&B. Thanks for all the help everyone, B&B rocks!

 

[tieguanyin]

The more research Ive done online the more it seems that Teavana isn't very well regarded by the hardcore tea people. That being said I really really like the Pi Lo Chun green tea that I picked up at Teavana the other day. Im really looking forward to trying some of the really good stuff! I think im going to try some teas from Jas-eTea next, it seems that they are very highly thought of here at B&B. Thanks for all the help everyone, B&B rocks!

B&B thread on Teavana here.

Feedback from former Teavana employees here !

 

[fsatsil]

Those two threads were pretty interesting. I dont think Ill be back to Teavana anytime soon now that I did a little research. Thanks