I went to my local Whole Foods and got some samples of Silk Road teas (Dave
Hoffman) so...thought I'd share what I got. I bought about an ounce of each
of these (less in the case of the Phoenix Bird and Yinzhen since it was more
expensive and I'm just trying to get a taste right now)

Oolong:
Phoenix Bird Private Reserve (oolong)
Anxi oolong


Greens:
Tian Mu Mountain
3 Cups Fragrence
Longyu Mountain
Jade Spring
Drum Mountain

White:
Yinzhen Silver Needle

Black:
Guangdong Black

Pu-ehr:
Camel's breath mini tuocha
Green (looseleaf) pu-ehr
Aged Puehr Largeleaf

I haven't tried any version of any of these every before from any vendor
except for a puehr mini tuocha (not necessarily Camel's Breath) so this
should be a very enjoyable experience. Just htought I'd share since I'm
happy!

No affiliation yadda...


Melinda


--
"The country has entered an era in which
questions are not asked, for questions are
daughters of disquiet or arrogance, both
fruits of temptation and the food of sacrilege." Djaout

In article >,
"Melinda" > wrote:

> I went to my local Whole Foods and got some samples of Silk Road teas (Dave
> Hoffman) so...thought I'd share what I got.

let us know how they turn out. the wf market here carries silk road as
well, but the greens are often too old....i think they sit too long.
i've had good luck with oolongs and puer's, however.......p*

Wow, that is quite the haul. I look forward to the reviews...

Well...I'll try my best but I have a hard time putting things into words a
lot of times...

Having said that, the Camel's breath tuochas were smooth though the liquer
smelled slightly "fishy" (doesn't bother me, puer is odd that way or has
been for me and I have a wide range of tolerance) But it infused multiple
times of course and was very good to sip throughout the evening.

The aged large leaf puer that I have just infused this evening is verryy
nice compared to any puer I've had before. It's very smooth and doesn't seem
as in-your-face as other puers I've had. I infused at boiling for around a
minute and a half though, not too long. My second steep is going longer and
is awaiting me in the kitchen.

The Jade Spring green is nice, a little sweet and fruity. A lighter tasting
green I guess I could say. It has some stems attached to the leaves for
those who are interested, though not a large proportion. It looks nice in
the glass..the leaves aren't small and twisty they're longer, but not flat
like a long jing. It's almost white it's so light.

The Phoenix Oolong has a wet wood smell in addition to the other oolong
characteristics (after it has been infused, I mean the wet leaves). I
haven't decided enough about that one to say more yet. It's..dark and not as
dried apricot as some of the oolongs I've had (bai hao for instance).

Pilo I hear what you're saying...I don't know how old these greens are but
I'm happy to be able to get a wide range of samples. The one thing I really
didn't like about these bulk bins is that they only had scoops and not
tongs, and I don't need to tell you what people shoving a scoop into a jar
full of dry large leaves does...many little broken bits. I tried to be
gentle for those who would come after me..:/

Melinda


"RB Watts" > wrote in message
...
> Wow, that is quite the haul. I look forward to the reviews...

> The Jade Spring green is nice, a little sweet and fruity. A lighter
> tasting green I guess It's almost white it's so light.
>


I take that back, it's not that light (I compared it to my Yinzhen), but it
is a lighter green.

> Melinda
>
>
> "RB Watts" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Wow, that is quite the haul. I look forward to the reviews...
>
>

Has something changed at Whole Foods? It's been about a year but the
previous visits they had the standard teas in their own brand label
tins. I thought them expensive but their Smoky Russian is one of the
best I've tasted.

Jim

Melinda wrote:
....
> Pilo I hear what you're saying...I don't know how old these greens
are but
> I'm happy to be able to get a wide range of samples. The one thing I
really
> didn't like about these bulk bins is that they only had scoops and
not
> tongs, and I don't need to tell you what people shoving a scoop into
a jar
> full of dry large leaves does...many little broken bits. I tried to
be
> gentle for those who would come after me..:/
>
> Melinda

the whole foods in edgewater, n.j. doesn't carry silk road teas-
i wish they did so i could try some of hoffman's teas i hear so many good
things
"Melinda" > wrote in message
...
>I went to my local Whole Foods and got some samples of Silk Road teas (Dave
>Hoffman) so...thought I'd share what I got. I bought about an ounce of each
>of these (less in the case of the Phoenix Bird and Yinzhen since it was
>more expensive and I'm just trying to get a taste right now)
>
> Oolong:
> Phoenix Bird Private Reserve (oolong)
> Anxi oolong
>
>
> Greens:
> Tian Mu Mountain
> 3 Cups Fragrence
> Longyu Mountain
> Jade Spring
> Drum Mountain
>
> White:
> Yinzhen Silver Needle
>
> Black:
> Guangdong Black
>
> Pu-ehr:
> Camel's breath mini tuocha
> Green (looseleaf) pu-ehr
> Aged Puehr Largeleaf
>
> I haven't tried any version of any of these every before from any vendor
> except for a puehr mini tuocha (not necessarily Camel's Breath) so this
> should be a very enjoyable experience. Just htought I'd share since I'm
> happy!
>
> No affiliation yadda...
>
>
> Melinda
>
>
> --
> "The country has entered an era in which
> questions are not asked, for questions are
> daughters of disquiet or arrogance, both
> fruits of temptation and the food of sacrilege." Djaout
>

"Space Cowboy" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Has something changed at Whole Foods? It's been about a year but the
> previous visits they had the standard teas in their own brand label
> tins. I thought them expensive but their Smoky Russian is one of the
> best I've tasted.
>
> Jim

The offerings will vary by location, and quite a bit. This was especially
obvious to me with the tea. I was in the Ridgewood location and very
surprised by the lack of tea variety while the stores I visit in the SF
Bay Area have so much more. None has the variety that the OP
reported on!
Karen
"Life doesn't always parse."
Malachy McCormick, A Decent Cup of Tea

Hi Melinda,

You must be out West somewhere. East Coast - or at least New England - Whole
Foods don't carry Silk Road at all. In fact, I once asked the tea person at
the store I usually go to about the possibility of getting SR teas, and she
had never even heard of SR.

So, maybe there is *one* advantage to living west of the Mississippi.

Doug


"Melinda" > wrote in message
...
>I went to my local Whole Foods and got some samples of Silk Road teas (Dave
>Hoffman) so...thought I'd share what I got. I bought about an ounce of each

I can think of a few more,

Melinda


"Doug Hazen, Jr." > wrote in message
...
> Hi Melinda,
>
> You must be out West somewhere. East Coast - or at least New England -
> Whole Foods don't carry Silk Road at all. In fact, I once asked the tea
> person at the store I usually go to about the possibility of getting SR
> teas, and she had never even heard of SR.
>
> So, maybe there is *one* advantage to living west of the Mississippi.
>
> Doug

My Whole Foods parking lot is loaded with SUVs taking two parking
spaces so that doesn't leave any room for anyone interested in bulk tea
bins.

Jim

Melinda wrote:
> I can think of a few more,
>
> Melinda

I know what you mean SC...many of the shoppers at my local "health food"
store are more interested in their health than the health of the
environment..(like there's ultimately a difference).but I digress...

Jim if you want a sample of this TGY that's the bushy one, E-mail me your
addy of preferance off list and I'll mail you some.

Melinda

--
"The country has entered an era in which
questions are not asked, for questions are
daughters of disquiet or arrogance, both
fruits of temptation and the food of sacrilege." Djaout
"Space Cowboy" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> My Whole Foods parking lot is loaded with SUVs taking two parking
> spaces so that doesn't leave any room for anyone interested in bulk tea
> bins.
>
> Jim
>
> Melinda wrote:
>> I can think of a few more,
>>
>> Melinda
>

Hi Melinda,

I'll have to pass on your kind offer. It's not you but me. I don't do
anything offline even email. I let it hang out here. I made only one
exception to that recently and was embarrassed at what happened. So
end of experiment. I finally came out last year and mentioned my metro
area in this ng but could be determined from my posts in other ngs. I
realize there are plenty of teas out there I'll never get the chance to
drink. I can live with that because I like to forage for myself.
Finding the bush yourself is more fun than somebody finding it for you
;-). I searched a couple of places in my Chinatown for the Butterfly
TGY and no luck. My Chinatown must suck and besides no two Chinatowns
are the same. I thought I knew and after checking with Google where is
your Chinatown located?

Thanks again,
Jim

Melinda wrote:
> I know what you mean SC...many of the shoppers at my local "health
food"
> store are more interested in their health than the health of the
> environment..(like there's ultimately a difference).but I digress...
>
> Jim if you want a sample of this TGY that's the bushy one, E-mail me
your
> addy of preferance off list and I'll mail you some.
>
> Melinda
>
> "Space Cowboy" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> > My Whole Foods parking lot is loaded with SUVs taking two parking
> > spaces so that doesn't leave any room for anyone interested in bulk
tea
> > bins.
> >
> > Jim

I'm in the Northwest but the place I bought the Butterfly brand wasn't in
China town, it was in a Korean/generic Asian grocery store. (There are a lot
of those over here on the left coast as you may well imagine).It's in the
place on the tea shelves where the nicer looking (like gifty type) boxes or
tins of things like Jasmine are sold, at least in the store I found it in.
Happy hunting!

Melinda

--
"The country has entered an era in which
questions are not asked, for questions are
daughters of disquiet or arrogance, both
fruits of temptation and the food of sacrilege." Djaout
"Space Cowboy" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi Melinda,
>
> I'll have to pass on your kind offer. It's not you but me. I don't do
> anything offline even email. I let it hang out here. I made only one
> exception to that recently and was embarrassed at what happened. So
> end of experiment. I finally came out last year and mentioned my metro
> area in this ng but could be determined from my posts in other ngs. I
> realize there are plenty of teas out there I'll never get the chance to
> drink. I can live with that because I like to forage for myself.
> Finding the bush yourself is more fun than somebody finding it for you
> ;-). I searched a couple of places in my Chinatown for the Butterfly
> TGY and no luck. My Chinatown must suck and besides no two Chinatowns
> are the same. I thought I knew and after checking with Google where is
> your Chinatown located?
>
> Thanks again,
> Jim
>
> Melinda wrote:
>> I know what you mean SC...many of the shoppers at my local "health
> food"
>> store are more interested in their health than the health of the
>> environment..(like there's ultimately a difference).but I digress...
>>
>> Jim if you want a sample of this TGY that's the bushy one, E-mail me
> your
>> addy of preferance off list and I'll mail you some.
>>
>> Melinda
>>
>> "Space Cowboy" > wrote in message
>> ups.com...
>> > My Whole Foods parking lot is loaded with SUVs taking two parking
>> > spaces so that doesn't leave any room for anyone interested in bulk
> tea
>> > bins.
>> >
>> > Jim
>