I was really worried you would take what I said the wrong way which
you didnt. I think the biggest mistake 'today' people feel they have
to make the right choice. I think curiosity more important than
knowledge. And if tea ever becomes established in this country sadly
it will come from multicultural diversity. I have a new mantra, if
you can make coffee you can make tea. I had a relevation last night
there is no reason I couldnt percolate shu. Im going to try to find a
nofrills percolator this weekend. I imagine if I do it right it would
taste like Louisianne with Chickory. It has been 'percolating' in my
subconscious since I tasted some cooked in a yixing pot which I
reported. I have other teas in mind.

Jim

PS Sure people talking too you or me might get better advice than they
ever could from anywhere else including a tea shoppe or the Internet.
Or maybe not. I like to think one function of this NG the Dear Abby
of tea advice.

On Oct 23, 9:31 am, "Dominic T." wrote:
On Oct 23, 10:28 am, Space Cowboy wrote:



I would say walk into any tea shoppe and buy any tea that meets your
fancy. Trust your instincts.
....drink Lipton while waiting for your Upton samples...

I understand what you are saying, but I think you may be missing what
I was aiming for. When I started into tea I did essentially what you
state, but without even knowing that there are different types of
oolongs (roasted, floral, green, etc.) so I would buy oolongs based on
no real foundation and be disappointed when as soon as the hot water
hit the leaf and I would be met with a flowery bouquet. I had wasted
money, time, and tea. To just have been told that some oolongs are
flowery and some are not and a couple names to look out for would have
helped tremendously. To know that Sencha and Dragonwell are both
"green teas" but quite different is similarly helpful, I know because
I had this conversation with a family member (and the confusion and
question came from them because of a trip to Teavanna).

I titled it 10 teas to start with, with the goal of listing 10 teas
that cover almost all of the different flavors and styles tea has to
offer. So with the purchase of even just 10 samples of one of each of
these for say a total of $10-20 from a site like Upton tea a person
could experience a wide array of tea that would help them pinpoint
which areas they want to delve into further, and which they can set
aside for the moment.

Chances are if they have any attraction to say a sencha (even a basic
one) they will then explore that realm with a bit more confidence and
understanding instead of continuing to buy Chinese greens looking for
a taste that will never be there. (again, from personal experience
something a friend had been doing)

We sometimes lose sight of what exactly a person just venturing into
tea *today* has to contend with. It's quite a lot more than I suspect
you are assuming, there is a lot of misinformation, flavored teas,
teas selling for very high prices in grocery stores claiming to be
"the best" with names of gyokuro and puerh and others on them but
offering next to nothing of the real thing.

I had not thought of directly relating the teas in the list to the
brewing primer because I assumed too much and you are correct that I
should state where something like Ceylon or DJ fits in. I had expected
the two pieces of information to be separate guides for separate uses.
I will look into connecting the dots... I had planned on writing more
specific and detailed brewing guides successively to help flesh out
the basic guide in time.

I appreciate you comments and I know it can be hard for us to step
back and see through new eyes (especially since when many of us were
starting out the Internet didn't exist, and tea was a different animal
in the U.S.).

- Dominic