Nigel at 4/9/04


> Be warned to choose your vendor carefully and to know your teas intimately:
>
> http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-4-8/20869.html
>
> Nigel at Teacraft


Good word, "intimately". Scary point well taken. Generally I try to choose
vendors who at least travel to Asia often and have some relationship with
the farmers. I try to stay away from those vendors who work only through
"agents". Further, I choose vendors who are willing and eager to talk to me
about the teas, who answer my questions and are engaged. I avoid those who
don't know and won't find out. I shun those who don't answer e-mails or
phone calls. Beyond that, I'm pretty helpless. (I should add by way of
shameful disclosure, that I have chosen a higher priced tea working under
the assumption that it would be authentic while a cheaper version might not
be.)

Apropos of your last post regarding CTC/dust/orthodox leaf, it seems to me
that ultimately it's little more than style and taste. Just as people read
books differently -- at different speeds, levels of depth, for different
reasons, from different vantage points -- so with tea: People drink it from
any number of perspectives, no one of which is more valid than another.
Since I feel best when my visual sense is involved, I go for full leaf. I
suspect too that more complexity is possible with full leaf since the leaf
doesn't give up all its gifts at once while the little tiny pieces probably
do. Again, styles and tastes reign.

On a third note -- I know I asked before, but I forgot -- a friend of mine,
while living in Cuba, regularly drank a Georgia tea. She'd like to have a
Georgia tea again to bring back those fond memories of Cuba and her life
there. It's not a "high" quality leaf she's looking for. Probably a CTC.
Where do I get this for her?

Best,
Michael