Scott Dorsey wrote:
> Did you try the Oriental Beauty? You gotta try it. It's worth the trip,
> and I don't think the other teas are. Their ginseng blacks smell like latex
> to me, too.

They didn't have any oriental beauty loose, just canisters, which I
don't really buy and I was surprised to find that a number of their
teas seemed a bit low quality at high prices. The woman working had no
real clue about tea which didn't help either, it was a bit
frustrating... and she didn;t want to bring down the big gold urns of
tea for me to inspect so she made it seem like a chore to help out even
a little. I wasn't going to buy $100+/lb. tea sight unseen. I really
think they could have tried at least a bit to offer some service for
the money I spent. Also the only other customer was buying ginseng and
he got barely any service and he spent over $200... so I just gave up
hope.

> These guys have a lot of stuff in tins, and it's always different on each
> trip, and a lot of it is stale. If you find something you like, you can
> never get it there again. Still, the first time I ever tried panyong congou
> was a tin that I got there, and it was a wonderful introduction to the stuff.

Like I stated above I'm not really one for tea in tins for the same
reason you stated. The quality is suspect and it is generally
older/stale. They did have some very good loose teas available by the
pound though and some of them were extremely high quality at very
reasonable prices... it was just that the selection was limited.

> I remember Pittsburgh when I was a little kid and all the streetlights
> came on around noon... my grandfather ran a pizzaria and an Italian cheese
> factory there. It's a totally different town than it was back then.
> And all of my relatives are out of work and still complaining about the
> steel mills having closed and all these yuppies having moved in.
> --scott

Cool. Yeah back in the day a lot of this area was still run by Mafia,
which was actually a good thing. The streets were busy, it was safe,
clean, and bustling... ever since it has been a downward slide. There
are still some really cool places and good jobs, but only in certain
fields and areas. It is a dying area and the politicians are the cause,
in a city with nothing but waterfronts and the most bridges in the
world it wouldn;t take much to market this city and get it hopping...
but instead they want the quick buck from gambling and want to turn it
into a dive. It will be totally dead in 5-10 years, all I can see is
crime continuing to skyrocket and jobs continue to diminish. A real
shame. It could be like Venice, Italy with all the water, or endless
waterfront shops and boardwalks, or any number of things if only
someone would step up and make it happen.

- Dominic