In the past I've had hit and miss experiences with TenRen, one white
tea in a clear bag was average, another tea I don't remember also
wasn't too exciting, but recently I got their dark oolong 2nd grade
and ti kuan yin 3rd grade and for the price they're excellent in my
estimation. Which other teas are good there, and which ones are not so
good? How much could I save by ordering the same tea from stores like
teaspring and hao de which are in China? thx! -ak

On Apr 3, 4:29 pm, wrote:
In the past I've had hit and miss experiences with TenRen, one white
tea in a clear bag was average, another tea I don't remember also
wasn't too exciting, but recently I got their dark oolong 2nd grade
and ti kuan yin 3rd grade and for the price they're excellent in my
estimation. Which other teas are good there, and which ones are not so
good? How much could I save by ordering the same tea from stores like
teaspring and hao de which are in China? thx! -ak

Wait... it's after April Fools Day isn't it? Seriously though, hit or
miss with a large number of misses pretty much sums it up. It's not
that there is anything inherently wrong, just that for the most part
equal or better tea can be had for cheaper elsewhere and online. I
have heard some good things about a few of their oolongs and
especially the boxed tins they sell... but I'm not one for green or
flowery oolongs so it limits my experience. They will occasionally
have a really special tea or two though.

I got a pretty good Dragonwell from them, but not much else. Teaspring
can easily match or beat them in a number of teas. My experience was
met with disinterested, hurried, and slightly rude Taiwanese women who
weren't the least bit interested in offering any information or
assistance even though I was spending quite a bit of money with them.
YMMV, and it seems it varies with each tea too. Houde is in a class
above Ten Ren from my experiences.

- Dominic
http://teasphere.wordpress.com

On Apr 3, 2:29*pm, wrote:
In the past I've had hit and miss experiences with TenRen, one white
tea in a clear bag was average, another tea I don't remember also
wasn't too exciting, but recently I got their dark oolong 2nd grade
and ti kuan yin 3rd grade and for the price they're excellent in my
estimation. Which other teas are good there, and which ones are not so
good? How much could I save by ordering the same tea from stores like
teaspring and hao de which are in China? thx! -ak

HouDe is not in China; he's in Texas.
Both HouDe and Teapsring, as well as Jing's Tea Shop are worth every
penny.
HouDe, especially, is extremely honest and reliable and stives for top
quality.
Actually, when I saw the header on your post, most initial response
was "nothing".
Shen

On Apr 3, 2:29*pm, wrote:
In the past I've had hit and miss experiences with TenRen, one white
tea in a clear bag was average, another tea I don't remember also
wasn't too exciting, but recently I got their dark oolong 2nd grade
and ti kuan yin 3rd grade and for the price they're excellent in my
estimation. Which other teas are good there, and which ones are not so
good? How much could I save by ordering the same tea from stores like
teaspring and hao de which are in China? thx! -ak

HouDe is not in China; he's in Texas.
Both HouDe and Teapsring, as well as Jing's Tea Shop are worth every
penny.
HouDe, especially, is extremely honest and reliable and strives for
top
quality.
Actually, when I saw the header on your post, most initial response
was "nothing".
Shen

In article ,
wrote:
In the past I've had hit and miss experiences with TenRen, one white
tea in a clear bag was average, another tea I don't remember also
wasn't too exciting, but recently I got their dark oolong 2nd grade
and ti kuan yin 3rd grade and for the price they're excellent in my
estimation. Which other teas are good there, and which ones are not so
good? How much could I save by ordering the same tea from stores like
teaspring and hao de which are in China? thx! -ak

The Ten Ren teas are all from Taiwan, and are different than mainland
Chinese teas.

The pricing and quality at Ten Ren do not seem to be correlated well
at all. I strongly recommend getting the second to lowest grade Oriental
Beauty tea, and also their second lowest grade tikuanyin. Most of their
more expensive teas are very overpriced. Oh yes, and the cheapest osmanthus
is worth trying if you like flavoured teas; as you go to higher grades they
seem to get more heavily scented and the tea flavours are lost under the
osmanthus flavours.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Apr 4, 10:28*am, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
In article ,

wrote:
In the past I've had hit and miss experiences with TenRen, one white
tea in a clear bag was average, another tea I don't remember also
wasn't too exciting, but recently I got their dark oolong 2nd grade
and ti kuan yin 3rd grade and for the price they're excellent in my
estimation. Which other teas are good there, and which ones are not so
good? How much could I save by ordering the same tea from stores like
teaspring and hao de which are in China? thx! -ak

The Ten Ren teas are all from Taiwan, and are different than mainland
Chinese teas.

I did not notice this in the store, but on the site they have 2
separate
categories, china ti kuan yin and taiwan ti kuan yin. Didn't check all
the other types..


The pricing and quality at Ten Ren do not seem to be correlated well
at all. *I strongly recommend getting the second to lowest grade Oriental
Beauty tea, and also their second lowest grade tikuanyin. *Most of their
more expensive teas are very overpriced. * Oh yes, and the cheapest osmanthus
is worth trying if you like flavoured teas; as you go to higher grades they
seem to get more heavily scented and the tea flavours are lost under the
osmanthus flavours.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. *C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

That's interesting.. I'm not really into flavored teas, but I got
their 2nd to last
grade of ti kuan yin (which is 'grade 3' according to the website),
and it's very
noticeably inferior to 3rd from last tung ting 'dark oolong', which is
'grade 2' in
the store. However, in the store it didn't say whether it's chinese or
taiwan
ti kuan yin, so this may be a different tea.. Which one did you try
and where
did you get it? thanks!

On Apr 3, 5:28*pm, "Dominic T." wrote:


Wait... it's after April Fools Day isn't it? Seriously though, hit or
miss with a large number of misses pretty much sums it up. It's not
that there is anything inherently wrong, just that for the most part
equal or better tea can be had for cheaper elsewhere and online. I
have heard some good things about a few of their oolongs and
especially the boxed tins they sell... but I'm not one for green or
flowery oolongs so it limits my experience. They will occasionally
have a really special tea or two though.

I got a pretty good Dragonwell from them, but not much else. Teaspring
can easily match or beat them in a number of teas. My experience was
met with disinterested, hurried, and slightly rude Taiwanese women who
weren't the least bit interested in offering any information or
assistance even though I was spending quite a bit of money with them.
YMMV, and it seems it varies with each tea too. Houde is in a class
above Ten Ren from my experiences.

- Dominichttp://teasphere.wordpress.com

Those two dark oolongs I tried were quite good, though, and
not expensive. I think it may be a matter of me liking dark
oolongs over medium or green ones. I tried quite a few teas
from IPOT and Imperial Tea Court, and even though some of
them are better in terms of flavor and fragrance complexity,
they also almost always have a tiny bit of brightness and
astringency that subtract from the experience for me. I
need to try to get dark oolongs from IPOT and teaspring and
other places I mentioned. I wish they sorted oolongs in the
category of dark, medium and green!

wrote:
On Apr 4, 10:28=A0am, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
In article .=
com,

wrote:
In the past I've had hit and miss experiences with TenRen, one white
tea in a clear bag was average, another tea I don't remember also
wasn't too exciting, but recently I got their dark oolong 2nd grade
and ti kuan yin 3rd grade and for the price they're excellent in my
estimation. Which other teas are good there, and which ones are not so
good? How much could I save by ordering the same tea from stores like
teaspring and hao de which are in China? thx! -ak

The Ten Ren teas are all from Taiwan, and are different than mainland
Chinese teas.

I did not notice this in the store, but on the site they have 2
separate
categories, china ti kuan yin and taiwan ti kuan yin. Didn't check all
the other types..

They are a Taiwanese company and have traditionally sold only teas from
Taiwan. They may well be selling stuff from the mainland now as well
because it's just so damn much cheaper.

That's interesting.. I'm not really into flavored teas, but I got
their 2nd to last
grade of ti kuan yin (which is 'grade 3' according to the website),
and it's very
noticeably inferior to 3rd from last tung ting 'dark oolong', which is
'grade 2' in
the store. However, in the store it didn't say whether it's chinese or
taiwan
ti kuan yin, so this may be a different tea.. Which one did you try
and where
did you get it? thanks!

I normally buy from the store in Rockville, MD, although I will occasionally
buy from their store in NYC when I am there. I have bought from the big
store in Taipei once, and they have a lot more higher end teas but the lower
end stuff is the same. And to be honest, their higher end teas are more
expensive but not much better.

A lot of people here have complained that of high pressure sales at Ten-Ren,
but I have noticed that only once. And that was in NYC, where I kind of
expect it everywhere anyway.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."