Hello.
Has anyone ordered from J-Tea?
http://www.jteainternational.com/

Their teas look/sound good but some of them are rather expensive and I
haven't heard of anyone in this forum ordering from them. (This is
not an ad! I've read the other posts on that topic.) Does anyone know
anything about the competitions in Taiwan and the various tiers? Are
these really indicators of quality? (They do seem to be indicators of
price!). Does anyone know if there are so many competitions that
"winning" is basically meaningless? or are there relatively few
competitions and it means something to someone at least?
Thanks

On 2008-03-25, TokyoB wrote:

Has anyone ordered from J-Tea?
http://www.jteainternational.com/

Their teas look/sound good but some of them are rather expensive and I
haven't heard of anyone in this forum ordering from them. (This is
not an ad! I've read the other posts on that topic.)

They seem to have some of their facts mixed up (like saying that rou gui
is "from An Xi in Fu Jian in the Wu Yi mountain area"* -- and is that
picture showing a rolled tea?? --, and categorizing Tie Guan Yins
separately from either green or roasted oolongs). It's odd that they say
the best oolong harvests in Taiwan are winter and spring - I thought
that for most teas which are harvested more than once a year, fall and
spring were considered the best harvests for almost any type of tea in
either mainland China or Taiwan.

Some of the prices seem high; others seem reasonable, but it's really
hard to say without trying the tea. It definitely looks like he's better
connected in Taiwan, so I'm guessing most of the mainland teas have come
through Taiwan. You'll probably have a better bet getting Taiwanese teas
from him than Chinese teas.

He seems a little cocky (he's quoted as saying he has the "best tea in
the world, here in Eugene.")**, but at least he's enthusiastic, and
trying to develop a market for good tea in the US - and I know from
watching other people try to make a living from this that it's a hard
way to go.

I am curious to see a tea shop like this in Eugene -- I have a friend
who lives there, so when I visit, I'll try to scope it out in person.
And definitely post to the group if you try out his stuff.

w

* http://www.jteainternational.com/teas/bakedoolongs.htm
** http://rgweb.registerguard.com/news/...ction=business

On Mar 25, 5:17 pm, TokyoB wrote:
Hello.
Has anyone ordered from J-Tea?http://www.jteainternational.com/

Their teas look/sound good but some of them are rather expensive and I
haven't heard of anyone in this forum ordering from them. (This is
not an ad! I've read the other posts on that topic.) Does anyone know
anything about the competitions in Taiwan and the various tiers? Are
these really indicators of quality? (They do seem to be indicators of
price!). Does anyone know if there are so many competitions that
"winning" is basically meaningless? or are there relatively few
competitions and it means something to someone at least?
Thanks

I'm not sold at all. I looked into the site and while the intention
may be good it just falls flat big time. Best of luck to him, and if
it scratches a particular itch for you then go for it... otherwise
much better tea at much better prices can be found.

- Dominic