Any opinions on Ten Ren brand tea from Taiwan? I tried High Mountain
Oolong for something like $35.00 for 300 grams. I really liked it, but
wondered if it was worth it and if anyone had experience with their
teas. It was the medium expensive oolong at the local Asian market.
Very fresh and floral tasting.

I think Ten Ren is ok but kind of the McDonalds of tea. It's neither
especially expensive nor extremely high quality, so you're pretty safe,
but on the other hand it won't blow your socks off.

They have chain stores all over the place - there is one in Chinatown
in NYC.

I like TenRen loose teas. AFAIK their commercial loose teas aren't for
export. Their export teabags don't compare. I recently paid $7/150g
for bags of Green and TungTing. Another very good commercial brand
from Taiwan is Good Young. Again buy their loose teas and not teabags.
I've never had a bad Pouchong from Taiwan from anybody. So to wrap
it up, I like commercial loose teas from Taiwan.

Jim

bloehard wrote:
Any opinions on Ten Ren brand tea from Taiwan? I tried High Mountain
Oolong for something like $35.00 for 300 grams. I really liked it, but
wondered if it was worth it and if anyone had experience with their
teas. It was the medium expensive oolong at the local Asian market.
Very fresh and floral tasting.

Space Cowboy wrote:
I like TenRen loose teas. AFAIK their commercial loose teas aren't for
export. Their export teabags don't compare. I recently paid $7/150g
for bags of Green and TungTing. Another very good commercial brand
from Taiwan is Good Young. Again buy their loose teas and not teabags.
I've never had a bad Pouchong from Taiwan from anybody. So to wrap
it up, I like commercial loose teas from Taiwan.

Most of the teabags of theirs I have tried were very stale, even ones
purchased at the Ten Ren stores.

The Ten Ren stores have a wide variety of loose teas, although for the
most part the more expensive ones and the oddities aren't stocked very
conistently. For example, the NYC store has lapsang souchong, which
the Rockville store does not... but Rockville has two grades of the
Oriental Beauty tea while the NYC store has only one.

Ten Ren usually has five or six grades of each variety, but the stores
don't stock all of them. For the most part, they get more fragrant as
you go up in price. The cheap teas are very inexpensive, and the high
end teas are very expensive although many of the stores only stock the
stuff in the middle.

The second-to-lowest grade tung ting is pretty good, and reasonably
priced. I love the oriental beauty teas. The king's tea and the
lapsang are both kind of nasty.

Oh yes, and their osmanthus teas are interesting. As you go up in
price, the teas have less osmanthus and more tea flavour.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

If you are looking for high grade of taiwan tea. you should take a look at :
www.jardinduthe.ca , this store offers an excellence taiwan Dong Ding (
tong ting ) oolong tea.


"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Space Cowboy wrote:
I like TenRen loose teas. AFAIK their commercial loose teas aren't for
export. Their export teabags don't compare. I recently paid $7/150g
for bags of Green and TungTing. Another very good commercial brand
from Taiwan is Good Young. Again buy their loose teas and not teabags.
I've never had a bad Pouchong from Taiwan from anybody. So to wrap
it up, I like commercial loose teas from Taiwan.

Most of the teabags of theirs I have tried were very stale, even ones
purchased at the Ten Ren stores.

The Ten Ren stores have a wide variety of loose teas, although for the
most part the more expensive ones and the oddities aren't stocked very
conistently. For example, the NYC store has lapsang souchong, which
the Rockville store does not... but Rockville has two grades of the
Oriental Beauty tea while the NYC store has only one.

Ten Ren usually has five or six grades of each variety, but the stores
don't stock all of them. For the most part, they get more fragrant as
you go up in price. The cheap teas are very inexpensive, and the high
end teas are very expensive although many of the stores only stock the
stuff in the middle.

The second-to-lowest grade tung ting is pretty good, and reasonably
priced. I love the oriental beauty teas. The king's tea and the
lapsang are both kind of nasty.

Oh yes, and their osmanthus teas are interesting. As you go up in
price, the teas have less osmanthus and more tea flavour.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On 2 May 2006 11:53:09 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Space Cowboy wrote:
I like TenRen loose teas. AFAIK their commercial loose teas aren't for
export. Their export teabags don't compare. I recently paid $7/150g
for bags of Green and TungTing. Another very good commercial brand
from Taiwan is Good Young. Again buy their loose teas and not teabags.
I've never had a bad Pouchong from Taiwan from anybody. So to wrap
it up, I like commercial loose teas from Taiwan.

Most of the teabags of theirs I have tried were very stale, even ones
purchased at the Ten Ren stores.

The Ten Ren stores have a wide variety of loose teas, although for the
most part the more expensive ones and the oddities aren't stocked very
conistently. For example, the NYC store has lapsang souchong, which
the Rockville store does not... but Rockville has two grades of the
Oriental Beauty tea while the NYC store has only one.

Ten Ren usually has five or six grades of each variety, but the stores
don't stock all of them. For the most part, they get more fragrant as
you go up in price. The cheap teas are very inexpensive, and the high
end teas are very expensive although many of the stores only stock the
stuff in the middle.

The second-to-lowest grade tung ting is pretty good, and reasonably
priced. I love the oriental beauty teas. The king's tea and the
lapsang are both kind of nasty.

Oh yes, and their osmanthus teas are interesting. As you go up in
price, the teas have less osmanthus and more tea flavour.
--scott


It seemed pretty good, but I have not had alot of oolongs that compare
with it. It was loose and seems to be what the Asians buy around here.
There are just so many behind the counter, and the price goes up from
there. Wondered if I was barking up the right bush.

howard wrote:
If you are looking for high grade of taiwan tea. you should take a look at :
www.jardinduthe.ca , this store offers an excellence taiwan Dong Ding (
tong ting ) oolong tea.

OK I will shop at your store. Thank you for advertising on usenet.

That's probably their King's tea with the large numerals. Look at the
TenRen site and you'll see the corresponding description with the
number. The reason I haven't bought any is because it is behind the
counter with the TCM medicines and expensive and by definition made up
your mind to buy before asking to see the item. Taiwan is it's own tea
producing region and comparing oolong taste to any other region is
apples and oranges. If somebody mentions floral I immediately think of
Taiwan.

Jim

bloehard wrote:
On 2 May 2006 11:53:09 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
....
Space Cowboy wrote:
....
It seemed pretty good, but I have not had alot of oolongs that compare
with it. It was loose and seems to be what the Asians buy around here.
There are just so many behind the counter, and the price goes up from
there. Wondered if I was barking up the right bush.

Space Cowboy wrote:
Taiwan is it's own tea
producing region and comparing oolong taste to any other region is
apples and oranges. If somebody mentions floral I immediately think of
Taiwan.

Jim

I tend to agree. Taiwanese oolong was a real revelation for me. I
think the mouth-feel of gaoshan oolong is also very distinctive.

Space can you recommend an online retailer with a good selection of
Taiwanese oolongs? Hou De has a lot but they are on vacation (in
Taiwan, the lucky sods) and I want instant gratification.

I'm lucky to get my Taiwan fix from commercial brands and my local tea
shoppe. I have ordered from the Taiwan seller TEAHOMEUS on Ebay for
the stuff I can't find locally. Since you know something use Google
and search the .TW domain that sell through mail order. I would but
I'm language dyslexic. Again apples and oranges I've never found a
YunWu from the mainland that compares to a GaoShan from Taiwan.

Jim

PS Since I'm pimping there is a new seller on Ebay named lDLLU who
goes by the name of Gordon with a shop in Shanghai called Dragon Tea
House. His English is very good. I've received one order of Puer
which the other sellers don't carry.


Alex wrote:
Space Cowboy wrote:
Taiwan is it's own tea
producing region and comparing oolong taste to any other region is
apples and oranges. If somebody mentions floral I immediately think of
Taiwan.

Jim

I tend to agree. Taiwanese oolong was a real revelation for me. I
think the mouth-feel of gaoshan oolong is also very distinctive.

Space can you recommend an online retailer with a good selection of
Taiwanese oolongs? Hou De has a lot but they are on vacation (in
Taiwan, the lucky sods) and I want instant gratification.

Had the white tea once. I wasn't aware it was actually a chain of tea
shops. Thanks for alerting me to this; there happens to be one about a
half mile from my house, as it turns out. I bought Ten Ren brand white
tea from an asian market about a year ago and wasn't impressed, but
then I haven't been extremely impressed by any of the white tea i've
tried so far.

Last night I stopped at Ten Ren on the way home and bought some
powdered green tea (a lot like Japanese matcha, it seems) and two
ounces of Pu erh. So far, I like them both a lot. I hope I haven't
acquired a new expensive habit.

I noticed that the shop also sold Uncle Lee teas. Is Uncle Lee a
subsidiary? I drink their Legends of China teas as an everyday brew.

Any opinions on Ten Ren brand tea from Taiwan? I tried High Mountain
Oolong for something like $35.00 for 300 grams. I really liked it, but
wondered if it was worth it and if anyone had experience with their
teas. It was the medium expensive oolong at the local Asian market.
Very fresh and floral tasting.

The TenFu (what it is called on Mainland China) shops here are
absolutely terrible. They sell rubbish for highly marked up prices.

Mydnight wrote:
The TenFu (what it is called on Mainland China) shops here are
absolutely terrible. They sell rubbish for highly marked up prices.

Is TenFu the same thing as Ten Ren? I always assumed it was just
shameless Mainland Chinese intellectual property thievery. And btw I
agree, it does suck.

I've just had their more inexpensive teabags. As teabags go, they're
okay. Toci
bloehard wrote:
Any opinions on Ten Ren brand tea from Taiwan? I tried High Mountain
Oolong for something like $35.00 for 300 grams. I really liked it, but
wondered if it was worth it and if anyone had experience with their
teas. It was the medium expensive oolong at the local Asian market.
Very fresh and floral tasting.

Is TenFu the same thing as Ten Ren? I always assumed it was just
shameless Mainland Chinese intellectual property thievery. And btw I
agree, it does suck.

TenFu/Ren is of Taiwanese origin. On the mainland and in Taiwan (I
think in Taiwan too), the shop is called TenFu, while in foreign
countries, it's called Ten Ren. Why the name change? I have no idea.
Bottom line is that the tea is expensive and poor quality comparatively
speaking to other shops and getting the teas direct from markets.