TGFOP Tea Reviews (c) Silverneedles est.2005

All the pu talk left and right, especially on Teachat(Adagio), led me to this store.

As the name implies, PuerhShop is focused on Pu’er Puerh teas.

They have alot of samples(pieces of the puerh cake for less$), and now have cheap & very large Tasting kits.(see left, Year of Green kit 12$)

They’re based in the USA, Indiana.
Website is PuerhShop.com. The site is nicely organized, easy to navigate. Payment thru Paypal or Google Checkout.

Shipping was fast from their store and the US Postal Service did their job well (surprisingly) and i got the package in a 2 days (NYC). (which was good because i got increasingly jittery thinking every 15 minutes

about new tea.)

Communication was fast and good, always responded to emails even before ordering.

Prices: i’m not that familiar with puer & prices, but i read that everywhere prices for pu are going up. I found the prices at this website very accessible and the size of the samples very good. As for quality, i’m not familiar with puer & quality so i don’t know yet.

Package:

• The “sample kits” come in ziploc bags.
• They send along little free samples in little ziplocs with regular order (not with sample kit) seem good for about 2 separate sessions.
• Regular order of looseleaf tea comes in these cute silvery plastic foil (thin), heatsealed airtight - nice.

> Click here for “our”(my) reviews of PuerhShop teas <

Yup, they have a store. Some asian markets in Los Angeles (Mitsuwa) have a standalone Ito En booth, but it wasn’t this big. Actually for a ‘flagship’ store its not that big, i had imagined something with alot more stuff. I suppose its proportional to demand.

Located in Manhattan, 822 Madison ave x 69th, you get a nice walk, and after the thousand dollar bag boutiques in glass skyscrapers, you reach what looks like the city’s part with smaller, old, cute buildings.
822 has their ito en restaurant upstairs, downstairs on the right is the store.

The store is well laid out - looks very good visually, well organized.

There are some pre-packaged loose tea bags, didn’t investigate those.

The looseleaf teas are stored in a wall sized fridge, in air tight bags. Every time you ask for something, the staff takes out the bag, cuts it open, dispense tea, immediately re-seals the bag and puts it back. Awesome system.

They also have 2 little fridges that hold some of the .5L teas, and the canned teas such as Sencha shot, and Weil for tea. They do not have up front any of the 2L bottled teas (i didn’t ask for any so don’t know if they do have.)

In the back there’s the pottery/hardware section, with a good selection of japanese pots, kyusus, good selection of prices from 30 to 300. Next time i’m getting one, i really like how they look and feel.

The staff is very helpful, friendly and not pushy.

Tea selection is mostly japanese, but also have some chinese green, oolong, 1 yunnan gold tips, maybe some others.

They give you the tea in these sealed pretty thick plastic bags.

Very pleasant experience.

>> CLICKYDYCLICK << for Ito En Tea Reviews I made

I cant buy the plain tea bottles at stores in my enchanted forest so i thought to give them a try from online.

Nice website, no issues. Was emailed when delivery sent,
they have a very nice shipment tracking page

^ some data blanked out, for any potential stalkers. take that. unless you’re blonde 96-46-26 <– call me looking for a platonic relationship based on occasional emails that my wife will read.

Packing was ok, just that the small aluminium containers of tea leaf are not well sealed at all, and the mint one stunk up the whole box, and i think it polluted some of the others :\ — yes it poluted the 1st layer of the pilochun in one of the containers next to it… not good … see, this in contrast to other stores which use just plastic bags, WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE FANCY CONTAINERS & PACKING/LABELS WHEN THEY SPOIL TEA????

if wanna be fancy, at least use vacuum or just plain heat-sealed plastic bags that don’t let air in/out.

Their dubiously named teas such as mambo, golden monkey, something melody, harmony…concerto… darjeeling #1,2,44 … wtf?!… seems that normal naming would have confused the average customer… but this inhibited me from inflating the order, so i got something they probably have greater turnover: yes, you guessed it: herbal tea (u can see the little boxes in the pic) - ooo, i got a bilochun from them, forgot!, i should try that …

Overall: good store for American(which i am one) demands of tea & beginner to loose leaf teas.

last point: What adagio has going on -which i think is of great value- is the many ways its enabling people to come together in a tea community, experience & talk about teas: Teachat forums, the live Teachat …chat, Teacritic blog thing, Teamap, and Teamuse, …and more !

> Click to find our tea reviews for Adagio Teas <<

heres the one in NYC, Manhattan:

heres some area pics of Columbus Circle’s Time Warner Center,
Whole Foods is down those escalators, in the basement.
big store there, also very big check-out lines, take few items and use the express line.
The cafe here is about in the middle of the store.

Heres the Whole foods at Union Square.
The cafe is upstairs in the dining hall.

12oz cup is ~ $1.60,
large $1.95 (i think tax is included)

in the larger sizes (as i asked once) they dont put more tea, just more water.

Suppliers seem to be In Pursuit Of Tea or Rishi Tea,
from which they also sell small packages of the looseleaf tea itself.

If theres no/small line service is quick, no issues encountered.

weird name, couldnt remember it the next day. I was thinking Tea… there was something with Tea… and an N… Tean… Ten…. good thing i got a picture….no tea… Tavalon. there.

So … they are a tea bar. Nice white walls by now are rather dingy and dirty looking. Got a feeling of kitchen… laboratory… (maybe from the test tubes laying around with tea leaf in them,, for sale yes).
DJ booth for the hip people that frequent the place, and some late nite raves? and a sidewall with some white-top transparent plastic jars with loose tea in them (which i wouldnt buy) the other wall of this elongated facility is a large mirror (purposed i suppose to maximize the feeling of space)…Didnt really like the setup, i dunno, somewhat not very pleasing to my deranged psyche.

and some LCD/plasmas displaying the menu - which for what purpose they are on TV i dont know… the menu was static… maybe when the DJ starts to scratch and stuff the TVs have a purpose then? oh and the speakers they had sonically sucked with some music they were playing when i was there.

They seem to have alot of business, most people buying the bobo?..booby? “tea”…anyway,

While there were ~1 people in front of me, i waited about 5 minutes for a small cup of tea… maybe it was just that day.

they have a website tavalon.com where you can enjoy spending your money for their tea. have fun!

some “tea reviews” for tea produced at this establishment > CLICKER <

Based in China, in Kunming, Yunnan province
Running the shop is Scott Wilson.
Store is on Ebay

Well regarded among tea-philiacs as having great quality tea leaf.
I think they’re focused on pu-er mostly, but have greens, black, oolongs.
Also has some tea accessories, yixings, gaiwans, and more.

Basic tea prices are low but theres shipping.
Ship time to USA ~4weeks regular, ~10days with airmail(also has tracking#).

Quick communication, no problem.

Pkg is nothing fancy, good thick cardboard box, nothing broken.
tea is in double ziploc bags- even so when opened the box it smelled of black tea - BUT- did not contaminate smells between the bags, as happened recently with an order from Adagio’s.

nugget oolongs are in vacuum packed bags.

>> Click to find our tea review for Yunnan Sourcing LLC <<

ZGC is mostly for wholesale/b2b, so their website is not yet complete, Phil Parda (owner) says its about 1/3 of the stuff they have.

They have a distribution center in the USA-east coast (CT), so delivery times should be good (i got <24hours to NYC).

Selection is large, mostly Chinese teas, as well as accessories, Yixing teapots and gaiwans (email questions if you cant find something on the website.). Prices are varied (i think on the high side).

Communication was not a problem, very quick responses (<2hours).

Packaging:

Teas are in plastic bags with some sort of lining, they’re heat sealed airtight. Some (less fragile) are vacuum packed.

Pottery had its own boxes, nothing was broken.

They send along free samples, but quantity is small, 1-2 infusion sized.

ZGC website.

Our reviews for their teas >> CLICK !! <<

totally OOT (out of tea) cravings overpowering selfcontrol prompts a trip to NY’s Chinatown #2 - Flushing.

and i forget the photo camera…

and… PARKING IS A BITCH. some 1hour spaces on Main st, some 1hour coin operated on Northern, some pay parkings but very crowded in weekend. There’s a Macy’s nearby so maybe a mall parking (free?) is somewhere, but i didnt check.

Ah yes, indeed chinatown, Main street x Northern blvd, more like a ‘normal’ town with many asian peoples roaming the streets, doing their daily routines. Unlike in NYC’s Chinatown in Manhattan a whorehouse of tourist attractions for cheap crap, Flushing seems to contain the normal establishments of supermarkets, store, banks, many many little businesses, and about 3/4, maybe less, non-english store signs. Abummer for me. i felt lost in China. I walked up and down Main street and barely found this place, a supermarket. There were 1-2 businesses that looked like they were selling bobby tea, but im not into bobboly tea or whatever, i like real tea. A tea leaf business in another ‘mall’ had closed.

Well, not exactly what i was looking for, no loose leaf tea sold from containers, but rather a hugemongous isle+1/2, of boxed teas. A hugemongous selection of boxed tea indeed, it conflusterated me, as i had started in the lonely 1/2 isle at the corner, i pick out 1-2 boxes, i turn and start walking, when i notice something familiar in the corner of my eye…when i focus… the whole other friggin side was full of friggin box teas from one end to the other! Boxed i mean tea bags, what looked like looseleaf in containers, looseleaf vacuum packed, and looseleaf in bags not vacuum packed.
There were at least 6 yamamotoyama tbag types, 2-3 ymy loose tea in bags, at least 5 Ten Ren tea bag boxes, and great number of other manufacturers, including Japanese, sencha loose prepackaged, oolongs loose prepackaged, even 3-4 arabian teas.

mmm yeah, the unpacking, … tea bag porn !

got a little present, some sort of crackers.

receipt, and some boxed teas orgy.

so, store rating? not a real tea store, service was - self-service, they did take my money, im not super-excited on that front…but i did get teas in return… something that hopefully will taste like tea.

lookout for these reviews: ** YEAH I DIDNT LIKE ALL , IMHO : SHIT, TEABAGS SUCK DONKEY ASS.
YamaMotoYama oolong bags…
Taiwan TGY…
TenRen Tung ting oolong tbags…
TenRen ti kuan yin tea bags…

Recent roadtrip thru the beautiful state of Vermont guided us to this cute college city by the water.
Just as i walk out of the parking lot, the first thing i see is this establishment!
Dobra - probably czech/polish owners?

Very nice setup inside with tables to sit and enjoy some tea, in a wonderful atmosphere, had a nice feeling while in there.

In the left corner by the door is the tea shoppe. Tea is dispensed from a wooden drawers… unprotected from air/Quantity seems not much, so maybe they refill the drawers.

They have a variety of teas, black, oolongs, greens, couple whites. didnt notice herbals (not that i would look for them anyway).

Take home packaging is just paper bags with twisty top but no lining.

Find my tea reviews from Dobra Tea > CLICK ! <

heres one in las vegas, in the Venetian’s mall.


$1.50 + tax for cup o tea

some looseleaf teas that are scooped from french jars and bagged in store before being dipped into the hot water.
choices: blacks, some green, 1 oolong, some herbals.
tried a couple,

not bad, would do it again.

find my tea reviews from The Coffee Bean > CLICK ! <

3900 w. sunset blvd, Los angeles
right at the corner of Hyperion
in the silverlake area

It has a hippie/feeling congruent with the local population.

inside is small, packed,
a rather large area is dedicated to clothes and other things for sale…
about 5 small round tables and 4-5 larger tables, about 5 outside tables.

1. TEA

they do have a rather varied selection of chinese teas about 5 greens, 5 oolongs, 1 puer, couple black

small cup is $2.5 large is 2.8

they all involve a couple of buggers:

1. tea is stored in ‘glass french jars’ hopefully airtight, on a raft <em>above</em> the area where other drinks are prepared such that vapors running upwards can pass by the tea jars… hmmm not the ideal placement
2. jars are transparent
3. girl couldn’t find the tea i wanted and got the wrong tea…
4. she put boiling water over the tea leaf… oolong… :/ = they dont know how to make tea, except black.

to find any tea reviews from them, type in the search box casbah.

2. COFFEE

they do have good coffee, much better than Starbucks and Coffeebean (always burnt).
its because of the supplier they use (i forget the name).
good coffee.

snacks and salads and some food is also for sale.

Find my tea reviews from Casbah Cafe > CLICKY ! <

in the Colorado Paseo Mall /Pasadena/CA

Conceptually the store looks nice. There is an enough choice of tea with a bit more indian, but present as well are japanese sencha, and chinese oolong. for the beginner it has most of the well known tea types: assam, nilgiri, earl grey, darjeeling, oolong, jasmine pearls.

(at the time of this review)
but, theres a limited selection. like 3 oolongs mostly dark, 1 green. 1 puerh.
Teas are stored in large metal containers on the back wall, and also same teas are in 100g(?) metal tins on the side walls.
There were a couple of the large tea containers that were empty, out of stock…

the rest of the floor is mostly occupied with blocky(occupy alot of space for little use) display setups for 10 expensive tea cups, some accessories and some books.

there are 3-4 tables to sit down. they have free internet if you want to spend some time in the store.

there are usually 2 sample teas brewing by the door.

Staff was friendly and helpful.

they got a website with info www.leaforever.com but the flash navigation is a bit slow.

I’d say this store is ok for a beginner.

Find my tea reviews from Leaforever > CLICKY ! <

in the same shopping mall as Wing Hop Fung except whf is at the street front, TenRen is at the back of the mall.

Nice floor space, well organized. Chinese region looseleaf teas mostly oolong, some accessories, boxed teas. Not as much variety as WHF. The second part of the store is a drink serving arrangement for bobo tea and such (i did not check that out).

The teas i noticed were: ~ 4 varieties of each: puerh, white, oolong green, oolong black, green. there was some lung ching as well.

The teas are categorized by kind, and price. there is no region provenience information.

Teas are stored in large metal containers.

Owner lady was very nice, pleasant, put up with my fiddling even tho i got 1oz of 4 oolongs.

they have a bunch of websites .coms, .nets selling packaged teas, but the one where you can order loose leaf tea i think is tenren.com which also has info on the many store locations.

STORE RATING: YES. will return but due to smaller variety it’ll be #3 on my list.

also. not so sure that quality is high. probably somewhere around medium, maybe medium-low high.

Find my tea reviews from TenRen > CLICK !!!! <

Whats a good tea store?

good selection

friendly staff …its not hard, ok (3/3)
not pushy, dont try to sell after you say i dont need that thanks. (1/3, thanks Chado Tea)

sell 1 x 1oz tea as sample for cheaper than if you buy 4oz /4. damn it, its a sample… you want me to buy more let me have a cheap sample …. (0/3)

should have a place to try out tea, and let you try it out without getting all pissy. i understand abuse, but there arent many people who’re searching for loose leaf tea. its a niche market, get with it.

have some already brewed daily sample tea to try out. (2/3 stores i been to had this).
know the damn tea youre selling,  or at least come out with a paper you can read off of. (0/3 stores)
where is this tea coming from? iowa? china ? what region of china

when was it picked - how long has it been sitting around

Los Angeles - Chinatown (website) aparently they have a website where they sell the products from the market including the teas : www.asiachi.com

the WHF store is part of a mini-mall building. The mall’s underground parking is partly free = with validation (each store validates for 30minutes with purchase; WHF requires 20$ minimum for parking validation). theres street meters, or some side-street parking without meters. Parking tickets for expired-meters is ~ $45

big place, supermarket,

lots of teas (2nd floor), looseleaf, it seems mostly Chinese region teas
ALOT of greens and oolongs,
also present: pu erh bricks and cakes, and lots of commercial boxed tea bags.

loose tea is stored in big glass containers, so they’re exposed to light (dont know if that has any importance to long term storage). didnt look like the lids were air-tight either. there’s another place where they have the green teas, also exposed to light & air.

lots of tea accessories, gaiwans, pots, cups, iron kettles.

they had a a little tea table where they were brewing sample oolong, when i was there, in a little yixing (who knows tho what else has been in this pot…) and then poured into little tiny paper cups.

service: the salesgirl had some trouble understanding the words ‘YUNNAN tea’… which were 3 feet away. she didnt seem to know much about the teas, but did recommend the expensive ones (which i passed on). there were older sales people but i did not bother them. again young sale-girl did not understand ‘mao feng’, the older more experienced woman knew right away and showed me the available selection.

packaging is good, their own branded plastic ziploc bags, the top is heat-melted closed so that you have to cut it to open & access the ziploc. (i dont think it has any special lining, looks like plastic all around.)

STORE RATING: YES. will return and spend all my easily earned dollar bills.

Find my review for WHF’s teas > CLICK ! <

Chado Tea is a local tea store with looseleaf, tea accessories, and another room where they serve food and tea. Dont know how that is.

The store has wide variety: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, there were many herbal.
The guy behind the counter knew the teas, recommended good teas so far. ~ok range of prices.

They did not have info on pick date, or region of origin. (their website seems to have that on some teas.)

Teas are stored in big metal containers, seem to have good lids.

Package is in paper bags with some plastic lining, ok for temporary storage, but not well sealed so the smell leaks out, and i suppose air goes in. their earl grey particularly can not stay in these bags.

they have two locations, one near Beverly Center, and one in Pasadena,
also a website for ordering, and more information.

STORE RATING: YES. will do business here again.

Find my reviews for Chado’s teas > CLICK !!! <

1. teavana in the city

first time with looseleaf was at a Teavana store in SF area. the nice visual setup of the store, carefully planned, with contrast, clean, sparkling clean, and some big silver metal containers … i said… yup they probably sell overpriced crap. and they did, filled up some 2 containers with the herbal rooiboses, paid like 30$ for that 2 years ago. we cursed them, and then when walking back to the car, we observe they accidentally slapped on an extra 2 tin cans, aww, ’so sorry’.

year passes by, the rooibos are 2/3 empty, but they smell like new! fresh!… the tins i like, nice tins, so i decide to get some tins…

online tea store

2. emailed to ask size in inches of the tins…. week later no reply, i call by phone, and get my answer.

3. months later, decide to order some tins and tea. ordered like 30$ stuff. 1 week later, no charge on credit card, i email them. the complete email response (i blued it):

Please call us at 404.995.8221 with your Teavana order# to check the status of your order.

Teavana Mail-order Hours:
9:00 - 5:00pm
Monday -Friday
Thank you!

Derick Armstead
Teavana Internet/Mail order Dept
3475 Lenox Rd. Ste 860
Atlanta, GA 30326
1.887.374.6583

(>_&lt — WTF? do i fuckin work for you… bitch?
… fine… i call, like a good little bitch… longdistance…
the responder says: “the ’system is giving some problems’ ‘lemme call u back’ “
me: …?!.. uh, ok
10min later: “oh, uhm, yeah, your order was just shipped“
me: …?!.. uh, ok

… guess what Teavana… eat my shit, cos u aint gonna eat my money again. crackers.

2007 was in the Glendale mall, i see Teavana, wanted to see what theyre up to these days,
i go in, can barely walk 2 steps and the salespeople start jumping on me with questions. very annoying, i start looking in their catalog(actually i was fake reading), questions again: what kind of tea would you like, green, black - i say: im looking in the book … 1 minute later: have you seen our ‘new’ tea cup? …me: no (and stare back in the book)…. then she starts shoving the cup in my face and clamping on its buttons without me asking for shit… damnit!… i just ran out of the store.

I know what they remind me of…mattress sellers with theyr pushy techniques; oh yeah, or of BOSE, Monstr Cables, brainwashing people with theyr ubiquitous advertisements - nice covers for the flaming pile of shit underneath.

well, for those couple teas i got in the beginning, find them here… > clunk <