where on the best places to shop online for tea? Thank you

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 17:54:07 -0500, Sam Strano
> tripped the light fantastic, then quipped:

>where on the best places to shop online for tea? Thank you

You're going to receive a myriad of answers from some, and a possible
admonishment from others. The "best place" to buy tea is subjective,
depending on what you like, how much you expect to pay, etc.
Personally, I like www.theteatable.com. The owner, Lori, is a
registered dietitian and very knowledgable. Friendly, too. With any
order, you can request five generous free samples of her offerings
which are bountiful. Fresh and very reasonably priced, as well. I'm
not associated with her company at all, I'm merely a satisfied
customer.


Tee
http://www.geocities.com/tee_king
Remove -no-spam- to email me.

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 20:24:30 -0500, Tee King
> cast caution to the wind and posted:

>On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 17:54:07 -0500, Sam Strano
> tripped the light fantastic, then quipped:
>
>>where on the best places to shop online for tea? Thank you
>
>You're going to receive a myriad of answers from some, and a possible
>admonishment from others. The "best place" to buy tea is subjective,
>depending on what you like, how much you expect to pay, etc.
>Personally, I like www.theteatable.com. The owner, Lori, is a
>registered dietitian and very knowledgable. Friendly, too. With any
>order, you can request five generous free samples of her offerings
>which are bountiful. Fresh and very reasonably priced, as well. I'm
>not associated with her company at all, I'm merely a satisfied
>customer.
>
>
>Tee
>http://www.geocities.com/tee_king
>Remove -no-spam- to email me.


Well said Tee!

Sam, are you looking for economy or quality? If you can give us an
idea of where your taste leans we may be able to give better advise.
Lacking your desires I might suggest www.UptonTea.com as they have a
wide reliable selection to choose from. Another good place to look
would be http://pages.ripco.net/~c4ha2na9/tea/index.html as you can
find the group FAQ here as well as links to a lot of online tea
vendors.



Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
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First let me introduce myself <g> My name is Beth and I manage a cafe in South
Central PA that specializes in coffee and tea. We started out using bagged
teas and quickly realized that for true quality we needed to get loose leaf.
We were lucky to find a gal named Linda at Divinitea (divinitea.com) who hand
blends her teas and will even make tea to your specification if you want.
Ok that's my intro and the one plug for our supplier.

I found this group when someone suggested I check it out. I am by no means a
tea expert though I am fairly knowledgeable...I've learned by reading and
tasting and experimenting which is one of the reasons I have a feeling I"m
gonna love this group...from what I've read the last few days y'all can teach
me a lot!

Now for a question...the following is the tea list of what we currently offer
at the coffeeshop...if you can think of any we don't have but should please let
me know as I am getting ready to expand our tea selections in the coming weeks
Irish Breakfast
5 Peaks Green Jade
Triple Greens with Jasmine
Jasmine White
Mayan Chai
Peppermint Rooibos
Orange Rooibos
Peach with Ginger
Ginger
A blend of mint, licorice and ginger
Wu Yi Oolong
White Melon
Red Raspberry Rooibos
Jade Butterflies
Sage Woman (a Linda blend with raspberry, chamomile sage and other things)
and a Lemon Sencha

ideas?
Thanks in advance and nice to meet y'all

Speddie
My soul's had enough chicken soup for my...bring on the chocolate!
stolen from kathy's license plate holder

On 26 Mar 2004 02:09:37 GMT, peddy (Beth) tripped
the light fantastic, then quipped:

>Now for a question...the following is the tea list of what we currently offer
>at the coffeeshop...if you can think of any we don't have but should please let
>me know as I am getting ready to expand our tea selections in the coming weeks
>Speddie

Welcome, Speddie. I'd suggest a non-blended black tea, like a malty
assam or a robust keemun; they're wonderful with a hearty meal. For
something a little lighter, a subtle yunnan might be nice. And,
though I'm not a fan of flowery teas, Darjeelings seem to be popular
on menus where fine teas are served, if for no other reason than that
people have heard the name. Black teas are my personal faves, so, of
course, I'm going to lean in that direction.

Tee
http://www.geocities.com/tee_king
Remove -no-spam- to email me.

Beth wrote:

> Now for a question...the following is the tea list of what we currently offer
> at the coffeeshop...if you can think of any we don't have but should please let
> me know as I am getting ready to expand our tea selections in the coming weeks
> Irish Breakfast
> 5 Peaks Green Jade
> Triple Greens with Jasmine
> Jasmine White
> Mayan Chai
> Peppermint Rooibos
> Orange Rooibos
> Peach with Ginger
> Ginger
> A blend of mint, licorice and ginger
> Wu Yi Oolong
> White Melon
> Red Raspberry Rooibos
> Jade Butterflies
> Sage Woman (a Linda blend with raspberry, chamomile sage and other things)
> and a Lemon Sencha
>
> ideas?

More alliteration. For example, "Lemon Sencha" is dull, but "Smashing
Citrus Sencha" jumps right off the menu and practically slits your
throat with an attack of sour S's. And there's no better way to
increase beverage sales than to slit your customers' throats,
figuratively speaking. "Wu Yi Oolong"? Sounds foreign, and foreign is
intimidating. Customers don't want to buy things that scare them. How
about "OooWee Wu Yi Oolong"? Now that's exotic AND fun, like you're
going to be served a cheap Vietnamese prostitute in a cup. Your "Red
Raspberry Roobios" can even be "kicked up a notch" by calling it...are
you ready...BAM!: "Rockin' Red Raspberry Roobios"! Awesome! Make mine
a double! This tea house ****in' rocks!

--crymad

Beth wrote:
>
>
>
> Now for a question...the following is the tea list of what we currently offer
> at the coffeeshop...if you can think of any we don't have but should please let
> me know as I am getting ready to expand our tea selections in the coming weeks
>
It will come down to personal preferences when we suggest teas missing
from the list, and when I get to Pa this coming December I would like to
visit and see how you are doing. Please email me off the this group with
further contact information.

I would like to see at least one or two of the African teas on the menu
and although I do not use it except in blending my own, some Earl Grey
will probably get some recognition.

JJ

On 26 Mar 2004 02:09:37 GMT, Beth > wrote:
> ideas?

Chris Roberson does a FAQ for this group:
<URI:http://pages.ripco.net/~c4ha2na9/tea/faq.html>

Water temperature probably makes the biggest difference in flavor --
far too many coffee shops serve green tea that tastes like boiled
spinach. Here are some heuristics:
black: 100C steam-wand the water from "hot water" button
dark oolong: 85-90C "hot water" button
white: 80-90C "hot water" button mixed with a little cold water
green: 80-85C "hot water" button mixed with more cold water

You could measure the temp with one of the milk thermometers or
something a couple of times to get a feel for it, but it's pretty easy
to get used to, and not a lot of effort.

Storage is very important for unflavored teas. While it's tempting to
keep tea in glass jars so customers can see them, this is not the best
for the tea; keep them in opaque, airtight containers, except perhaps
for ones you go through very quickly. A better way to let people see
and smell the teas is to keep samples of each in little bowls -- it
won't matter if those degrade since they won't be brewed. None of the
ones in your list look like they'd need refrigeration.

While many of us on this newsgroup don't drink a lot of flavored teas,
they do seem to be popular with cafe-goers, so it's likely sensible to
focus on them as heavily as you do. Fruit flavored teas make great
iced tea, which may be more significant in summer.

Earl Grey is probably the most popular flavored black tea in the US.

Steaming the chai blend with milk and water makes a passable imitation
of the real thing, though unfortunately boxed chai seems to have
spoiled most cafe-goers' tastes for the real thing. The "no added
sugar" aspect might be a good way to spin that, if your clientele
includes low-carb folks.

I seem to remember Divinitea offering an organic whole-leaf Assam from
Banaspati estate (a local c*ffee shop buys from them), which is quite
tasty, with a great honeyed aroma, etc.


N.