Lately, there has been so much interest on this list regarding the
various types of Indian teas.
I have, in the past, stated my appreciation of the Lochan tea products
and the family of producers for their excellent quality and ethical
behavior in marketing and in dealing with tea workers.
Lochan Teas are offering a great deal for those of us who may have not
tried Indian teas before or just want to get to know the various
selections and subtleties of the varieties grown in different tea
gardens.
On their web site, www.lochantea.com, they are offering a taste of TEN
teas of your choosing for FREE. Just pay the postage.
I think this is a great opportunity to sample unfamiliar selections or
have a sip of the unknown.
Indian teas are quite new to me and I admit I was doubtful that they
would offer the complexities of my China favourites, but I am learning
to relish the nuances of seasonal Darjeeling picks or the layers of
flavours found in myriad Indian tea plantation leaves.
I am passing this information on because of the revelations Indian
teas have offered me lately as I have overcome my myopic, and often
prejudicial, approach to these teas I knew little of, except for my
early childhood teacup of Lipton at my grandmother's table laden with
sugar and milk and served with puddles of unappetizing coddled eggs.
These are not my grannies teas !These Lochan teas have knocked my
socks off and I just wanted to share this sentiment with you because
this sampling sounds like an excellent introduction to the unexplored
for those of us who have dived into the depths of Chinese teas with
such gusto.
Please join me in giving these samples a try so that we can discuss,
compare and review them here with all the enthusiasm that we give to
our cherished Chinese selections.
Also, note, I have nothing to garner from this recommendation. As you
can tell by my posts, I love tea! I love to rave about my discoveries
and enthusiastically share news of a find or a bargain.
Lochan has impressed me; not only with a dedication to high standards;
but, too, with a commitment in fairness to small farmers and workers -
a cause dear to my heart.
Cheers!
Shen

I'm not paying attention to anybody crowing over FREE samples.
Nothing taste better than a free sample to wipe the smudge off your
lips. What you should do is buy the lots and compare it to the
samples. At least, you'd have to compare with other Indian vendors
selling the same tea which is improbable. I'll give you this might be
a good source for Indian tea but with the pimping I'm not buying any
which should increase sales which also prevents me from comparing to
my local tea shoppe which also claims an inside track to Indian teas.

Jim

Shen wrote:
On their web site, they are offering a taste of TEN
teas of your choosing for FREE.

On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:41:05 -0700, Space Cowboy
wrote:

I'm not paying attention to anybody crowing over FREE samples.

Then this one should suite you fine. $40 for 10 oz is not THAT free.

Shen wrote:
On their web site, they are offering a taste of TEN
teas of your choosing for FREE.


Lars
Stockholm

On Sep 8, 11:27 am, Lars wrote:
On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:41:05 -0700, Space Cowboy

wrote:
I'm not paying attention to anybody crowing over FREE samples.

Then this one should suite you fine. $40 for 10 oz is not THAT free.

Shen wrote:
On their web site, they are offering a taste of TEN
teas of your choosing for FREE.

Lars
Stockholm

I'd suggest you write to them directly rather than go through the
site. I was told that it was their standard shipping fee to the US
which is $25.00 since they use courier.
They are good teas. Whether you choose to get them them, of course, is
up to you.
I agree that the shipping is high.
Shen

On Sep 8, 2:15 pm, Shen wrote:
On Sep 8, 11:27 am, Lars wrote:

On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:41:05 -0700, Space Cowboy

wrote:
I'm not paying attention to anybody crowing over FREE samples.

Then this one should suite you fine. $40 for 10 oz is not THAT free.

Shen wrote:
On their web site, they are offering a taste of TEN
teas of your choosing for FREE.

Lars
Stockholm

I'd suggest you write to them directly rather than go through the
site. I was told that it was their standard shipping fee to the US
which is $25.00 since they use courier.
They are good teas. Whether you choose to get them them, of course, is
up to you.
I agree that the shipping is high.
Shen

I have also written to them directly and suggested lowering this
shipping price. Frankly, I had no idea they were asking $40.00 since I
was planning on ordering later this weekend.
I did suggest they consider another way of shipping. My initial order
with them was quite large and I didn't mind paying the $25.00 courier
flat rate. They large package arrived in great shape and swiftly.
Hopefully, feedback from the States regarding the extreme rates will
encourage another method.
Shen

On Sep 9, 2:26 am, Shen wrote:
On Sep 8, 2:15 pm, Shen wrote:





On Sep 8, 11:27 am, Lars wrote:

On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:41:05 -0700, Space Cowboy

wrote:
I'm not paying attention to anybody crowing over FREE samples.

Then this one should suite you fine. $40 for 10 oz is not THAT free.

Shen wrote:
On their web site, they are offering a taste of TEN
teas of your choosing for FREE.

Lars
Stockholm

I'd suggest you write to them directly rather than go through the
site. I was told that it was their standard shipping fee to the US
which is $25.00 since they use courier.
They are good teas. Whether you choose to get them them, of course, is
up to you.
I agree that the shipping is high.
Shen

I have also written to them directly and suggested lowering this
shipping price. Frankly, I had no idea they were asking $40.00 since I
was planning on ordering later this weekend.
I did suggest they consider another way of shipping. My initial order
with them was quite large and I didn't mind paying the $25.00 courier
flat rate. They large package arrived in great shape and swiftly.
Hopefully, feedback from the States regarding the extreme rates will
encourage another method.
Shen- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

hi everyone,

shipping is a standard 25 USD - sorry for the confusion..... changes
will be on the site soon.

the worth of the samples is between 60 to 80 USD as all teas being
sampled are of special quality.

we are using the courier method of shipment which will not lower
prices further.

thank you.

On Sep 9, 2:26 am, Shen wrote:
On Sep 8, 2:15 pm, Shen wrote:





On Sep 8, 11:27 am, Lars wrote:

On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:41:05 -0700, Space Cowboy

wrote:
I'm not paying attention to anybody crowing over FREE samples.

Then this one should suite you fine. $40 for 10 oz is not THAT free.

Shen wrote:
On their web site, they are offering a taste of TEN
teas of your choosing for FREE.

Lars
Stockholm

I'd suggest you write to them directly rather than go through the
site. I was told that it was their standard shipping fee to the US
which is $25.00 since they use courier.
They are good teas. Whether you choose to get them them, of course, is
up to you.
I agree that the shipping is high.
Shen

I have also written to them directly and suggested lowering this
shipping price. Frankly, I had no idea they were asking $40.00 since I
was planning on ordering later this weekend.
I did suggest they consider another way of shipping. My initial order
with them was quite large and I didn't mind paying the $25.00 courier
flat rate. They large package arrived in great shape and swiftly.
Hopefully, feedback from the States regarding the extreme rates will
encourage another method.
Shen- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hello,

We have changed the shipping to 25 USD for the free samples offer.
There was a mistake on our part. Please accept our deepest apologies.

The changes have been made on our site.

Thank You.

"Shen" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Sep 8, 11:27 am, Lars wrote:
On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:41:05 -0700, Space Cowboy

wrote:
I'm not paying attention to anybody crowing over FREE samples.

Then this one should suite you fine. $40 for 10 oz is not THAT free.

Shen wrote:
On their web site, they are offering a taste of TEN
teas of your choosing for FREE.

Lars
Stockholm

I'd suggest you write to them directly rather than go through the
site. I was told that it was their standard shipping fee to the US
which is $25.00 since they use courier.
They are good teas. Whether you choose to get them them, of course, is
up to you.
I agree that the shipping is high.
Shen


Just an added comment...I get packages from India frequently and $25 is
about right for courier from there. I guess they could possibly send it SAL
for less but it would probably take 2 months to get to you.

Side note...it is amazing how the world is so connected with mails these
days...I remember when I couldn't ever dream of ordering things like tea
from China. Then the Internet finally caught up (more or less) to what I
wanted....this global economy is amazing even at my tiny level of
experience.


Melinda

On Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:55:40 +0200, roland koch
wrote:

We charge 17 EUR (about 22 USD) for shipping costs from Germany
to any other EURO Country.

25 USD from India doesn't seem too high for me.

You can not really compare with that. Most things will cost far
less in India than in Germany, including shipping costs.

Mailing a letter from Europe to India will most likely cost 3 or 4
times as much as sending one in the opposite direction.


Lars
Stockholm

Hi shen, i logged on to their website and was drawn back by their $40
pricing. with $40 i can have other better options and i find they
really don't have a good selection of teas. that is why i didn't order
from them in the first instance. i really don't like lochan's working
and am convinced by some posts on other thread that ankit is misusing
the group to sell his teas with the so called "sweet words and kind
appearance". see how easily vivek lochan said that "There was a
mistake on our part." if it was a mistake while typing on the site
then i had tried their "click here to avail of this offer" and they
were charging Indian currency $40 value. I have noticed that ankit has
been offering his samples in a majority of threads in order to so
called "promote indian tea" which = to selling his teas here. and the
ultimate thing is sell teas if you like the samples which means ankit
is using this group to market his teas which i believe started some
years ago with the darjeeling white tea samples offer as mentioned in
another thread. now the $ value has dropped to 25. why? ankit was
informed by shen as shen mentioned and in order to avoid the adverse
affect that was already sprouting, lowered the value. no matter what
ankit is using this group and i can't believe people being so dumb in
lieu of some free samples which i believe is not free unless you pay
0.

On 2007-09-09, wrote:
honestly, i really didn't get any useful info by logging on to this
usenet

Sorry no one pre-masticated and spoon fed you exactly the information
you wanted.

i am retiring from this usenet and i am happy that i could make some
friends here, but the usenet is not really a tea lovers dome to enjoy
individual experiences

Here's a free clue: if you want to see more discussion of something,
discuss it. If you want to see less discussion of something, ignore
it. The tenacious whining and prima donna insistence on having the
last word you showed in your posts in the Lochan thread accomplish the
opposite of your purported goal.

unless, unwanted marketing weeds are weeded out. buy for now. you
can plaster me to the walls with your answers but i am not coming
back to get updated. talk tea, not rubbish!

Since you generate quite a bit more noise than signal, you clearly
know all about talking rubbish. Good riddance; please don't come
back.


N.

honestly, i really didn't get any useful info by logging on to this
usenet just discussions and fights and no one seems to be lesser than
the other. All proclaim to be tea masters. this is not however hinted
to all. if one contradicts, there are numerous posts resulting in the
default fight tag. it should be rec.food.tea.fights instead of
rec.food.drink.tea .so if you are reading this, you may not be the
one . i guess review sites are better off for me as its not time
consuming and where you won't find vendors convincing to sell their
teas as it happens here. of all vendors, i have noticed some have
useful info lined up and are tea lovers from the heart but vendors
like ankit, he seems to know everything that is india and indian tea
as commented by space cowboy (i too have a similar idea). i don't know
why shen is so possessed with this vendor? mean no harm shen you were
the first person that helped me to buy teas and i am very much
obliged. one advice, if you stick to one, you will never get the world
of creams lying there for you to try.

I won't be as polite as Nat is.

If you have some specific questions to ask of us, feel free and throw
some questions out there. If not, shut the **** up and leave.

Have a nice day.

On Sep 9, 7:32 am, wrote:
Hi shen, i logged on to their website and was drawn back by their $40
pricing. with $40 i can have other better options and i find they
really don't have a good selection of teas. that is why i didn't order
from them in the first instance. i really don't like lochan's working
and am convinced by some posts on other thread that ankit is misusing
the group to sell his teas with the so called "sweet words and kind
appearance". see how easily vivek lochan said that "There was a
mistake on our part." if it was a mistake while typing on the site
then i had tried their "click here to avail of this offer" and they
were charging Indian currency $40 value. I have noticed that ankit has
been offering his samples in a majority of threads in order to so
called "promote indian tea" which = to selling his teas here. and the
ultimate thing is sell teas if you like the samples which means ankit
is using this group to market his teas which i believe started some
years ago with the darjeeling white tea samples offer as mentioned in
another thread. now the $ value has dropped to 25. why? ankit was
informed by shen as shen mentioned and in order to avoid the adverse
affect that was already sprouting, lowered the value. no matter what
ankit is using this group and i can't believe people being so dumb in
lieu of some free samples which i believe is not free unless you pay
0.

honestly, i really didn't get any useful info by logging on to this
usenet just discussions and fights and no one seems to be lesser than
the other. All proclaim to be tea masters. this is not however hinted
to all. if one contradicts, there are numerous posts resulting in the
default fight tag. it should be rec.food.tea.fights instead of
rec.food.drink.tea .so if you are reading this, you may not be the
one . i guess review sites are better off for me as its not time
consuming and where you won't find vendors convincing to sell their
teas as it happens here. of all vendors, i have noticed some have
useful info lined up and are tea lovers from the heart but vendors
like ankit, he seems to know everything that is india and indian tea
as commented by space cowboy (i too have a similar idea). i don't know
why shen is so possessed with this vendor? mean no harm shen you were
the first person that helped me to buy teas and i am very much
obliged. one advice, if you stick to one, you will never get the world
of creams lying there for you to try.

i am retiring from this usenet and i am happy that i could make some
friends here, but the usenet is not really a tea lovers dome to enjoy
individual experiences, unless, unwanted marketing weeds are weeded
out. buy for now. you can plaster me to the walls with your answers
but i am not coming back to get updated. talk tea, not rubbish!

Hold on there, buddy!
Since you have addressed this whining, childish rant to me, I'll reply
as politely as I can.
I am not possessed by any vendor. Nor are the listers whom you
consider "dumb".
I'm just stating what I know to be true from my experience and I abhor
your audacity and arrogance in calling folks who buy from particular
vendors "dumb".
I try to be courteous; but, you've got my temper cooking now.
I see nothing wrong with sharing an opinion about certain teas or
purveyors. But, there's no need to criticize a poster who extended an
invitation and whose views are rooted in experience. I do tend to be
enthusiastic and positive and actually see nothing wrong in that
behavior. Perhaps, we need more in this world.
In an effort to treat the posters in this group with respect, I share
information that comes my way that may be of value to them.
Responsibility lies with me for voicing this offer from Lochan and my
ignorance as to the increase from their standard shipping charges.
When I and others considered this charge to be excessive, I wrote to
the Lochans and it was adjusted to the normal $25.00 rate. I do know
that it is often a weight currency exchange issue that can cause an
unexpected problem and if Vivek says it was a "mistake", I'll take it
at that.
They honestly seem to be promoting their stock to introduce the
varieties of Indian teas to a wider audience. (Read T'Ching over the
last few months, if you doubt these intentions).
The Lochans need no defense: they are much more knowledgeable about
Indian tea than myself and perhaps, most of us and their reputation in
the tea community has been well-earned. Perhaps, it would behoove you
to learn more about those whom you so easily demean before you pull up
the gall to remark upon their purposes.
There is no harm in noticing that Indian teas have not really been
discussed in depth on this list lately or on others and there is no
harm, either, in offering selections from which we can pick and choose
our likes and dislikes, share our notes and deepen the understanding.
I have not twisted your arm and forced Lochan teas upon you. No one
did.
Periodically, we on this list have to tolerate impertinent drivel on
this list by one particular poster with whom you seem to be in very
good company. Another one whose tirades are no based in experience,
but ignorance, egotistical haughtiness and misappropriated anger.
Your leaving with bring no one regret. You have been unnecessarily
arrogant and rude.
Personally, I find your behavior sad and quite pathetic. There is a
great deal to be learned from the "tea-lovers" on this board. You have
chosen to close your mind to that option.
As for me, I will continue to support what I consider to be true, to
try to purchase from ethical vendors, share my discoveries and
disappointments and make careful choices.
Good-bye!
Shen

On Sep 8, 8:41 am, Space Cowboy wrote:
I'm not paying attention to anybody crowing over FREE samples.
Nothing taste better than a free sample to wipe the smudge off your
lips. What you should do is buy the lots and compare it to the
samples. At least, you'd have to compare with other Indian vendors
selling the same tea which is improbable. I'll give you this might be
a good source for Indian tea but with the pimping I'm not buying any
which should increase sales which also prevents me from comparing to
my local tea shoppe which also claims an inside track to Indian teas.

Jim

Shen wrote:
On their web site, they are offering a taste of TEN
teas of your choosing for FREE.

You seem to pay enough attention to think it necessary to stick your
in your negative two cents again.
Shen

Shut the bleep up. Take your tier pricing elsewhere. For those not
familiar with tier pricing you charge a premium price in one place and
a discount in another. Its totally unethical.

JIm

PS This is a UseNet discussion group. If you want to sell something
start a MarketPlace group.

Ankit Lochan wrote:

hi everyone,

shipping is a standard 25 USD - sorry for the confusion..... changes
will be on the site soon.

the worth of the samples is between 60 to 80 USD as all teas being
sampled are of special quality.

we are using the courier method of shipment which will not lower
prices further.

thank you.