TeaSpring Anyone?

[Kolt Perun]

Hey y'all,

New to this sub-forum, but I dabble in teas and coffees occasionally. I have some pu'erh experience, but I thought I would try the oolongs. So I up and went to TeaSpring.com and ordered me some Da Hong Pao, Tie Luo Han, and Dong Ding. Two questions:

1) Is the site reputable? (Can I expect a good value for my money?-They seemed legit imo, but perhaps someone has prior experience with them)

2) What can you say about my selection, and what else along these lines might you recommend?

Much obliged.

-Stan

 

[shah8]

1) They are okay, but I get the feeling that they offer better black teas for the money than most places. However, I never hear about any raves about their oolongs. It should be noted that their serious puerh is at a sister site, called Royal Puerh. Lastly, they were the victims of a serious troll about 6 years ago, and you might find some of that bull upon googling.

2) In general, they are just not where I'd spend money on, for oolongs. Their blacks and greens have more fans, and I have been impressed by their black teas.

 

[Kolt Perun]

Where would you suggest I should go for the quality stuff then?

 

[shah8]

I see you did a relatively wide range of oolongs. There are different shops for different oolongs at different price points. So let's take one class of oolongs. Do you want green, fermented, roasted? Do you like yancha, tgy, dancong? Do you like taiwanese oolongs, their style of roast, or what?

For Taiwanese oolongs, you roll with
Floating Leaves Tea
HouDe
TeaMasters
Sanshui

For Yancha...well, this is all over the place, but
HouDe has some good yancha
Jing Tea Shop
Dragon Tea House
Essence of Tea

For Anxi oolongs...
Jing Tea Shop
Camelia Sinesis

For Dancongs
Jing Tea Shop
HouDe
Tea Habitat

For oolongs from elsewheres, like ballyocha or Indian/Nepalese, or whereever, you'll have to find particular sources, like Thunderbolt Tea for Indian...

Of course, not nearly a complete listing

 

[nff]

I see you did a relatively wide range of oolongs. There are different shops for different oolongs at different price points. So let's take one class of oolongs. Do you want green, fermented, roasted? Do you like yancha, tgy, dancong? Do you like taiwanese oolongs, their style of roast, or what?

For Taiwanese oolongs, you roll with
Floating Leaves Tea
HouDe
TeaMasters
Sanshui

For Yancha...well, this is all over the place, but
HouDe has some good yancha
Jing Tea Shop
Dragon Tea House
Essence of Tea

For Anxi oolongs...
Jing Tea Shop
Camelia Sinesis

For Dancongs
Jing Tea Shop
HouDe
Tea Habitat

For oolongs from elsewheres, like ballyocha or Indian/Nepalese, or whereever, you'll have to find particular sources, like Thunderbolt Tea for Indian...

Of course, not nearly a complete listing

you mentioned camellia sinensis are you canadian?

 

[shah8]

No, I'm not...

And I forgot The Mandarin's Tearoom, which has super-expensive yancha and anxi oolongs. They'll take you to heaven, though.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I never realized that one category of tea (oolong) could be so complicated.

 

[grasshopper]

I purchased my first beeng cha from Daniel and Xu of TeaSpring. My first beeng cha--wow! I still have it. It's a blue label MH shu.

Daniel is the techie and English language guy, and Xu (they're cousins) resides in Fangcun, a tea market bigger than most towns here in my state. They are patient and helpful, utterly professional.

Daniel traveled to Guangzhou to meet me. I spent a day exploring the teashops under their incredibly expert guidance. They are ethical and professional, and they understand the importance of creating a returning clientele.

Xu's passion is green tea, and often in the Spring he and Daniel take to the road to see it plucked. I particularly love this year's Anji Bai Cha and Cha Wang Huang Shan Mao Feng.

They carry good yancha, too. And some of the pu'er they carried early on and in the newer sister site became very, very valuable.

They package their products carefully, often double-boxing the orders. They mail your purchase fast, and that's important. I've received great treatment from TeaSpring for about ten years.

Best to all,
~grasshopper, drinking matcha