I agree. Any well stocked tea store is like any other. And well
stocked by definition is what sells. Wholesale channels are wholesale
channels. You can get closer to the source by buying from someone who
has an inside track. But that is nothing more than this years crop
not in the channel over last year which is. I'll buy last years
vacuum pack anyday over this years crop which has been sitting on the
shelf for three months. Not every shoppe carries everything so you
have to shop around. You can tell the good tea stores because their
prices are in line with everybody elses. If somebody is selling you
something special it aint. I like the variety by shopping around but
if I only preferred English breakfast then any shoppe will do. When
it comes to tea shoppes in general I'm more concerned how they store
their teas than what they sell perse. My local tea shoppe unloaded
some yellow tea called KoKo which is Chinese for Cocoa just based on
the pinyin. No characters available. I havent found the time to
track it down on the Internet. Like the noodles maybe someone knows.

Jim

Bonky wrote:
> please, Upton's selection is as good as anybody's.