Hi all,

I'm at wits' end. I cannot find good tea at a
reasonable price in the USA.

I used to buy tea at Trader Joes, but their tea
intermittently will have a slightly fishy smell to it.
It's only $1.80.

I've gone to Whole Foods for sales on Twinings
around $2, but frankly I find the people who work
at my local store, despite their low salaries, to be snobs.
If you don't go in there looking to be upper middle class
or richer, they can be very mean.

When I go to run of the mill supermarkets however
I find a poor selection at very high prices, and
teas like Lipton, while cheap, I find taste bad.

There is no health food co-op near me,
if there were I would inquire about bulk sales.

Is there a trick to getting good tea?

Chinatown perhaps, or an Indian store?
Mail-order?

Advise appreciated.
Thanks.

wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm at wits' end. I cannot find good tea at a
> reasonable price in the USA.

Hello,

OK if you can supply some basic info I'm sure we can point you in the
right direction. Where in the U.S. are you located? I can all-to-easily
relate being from Pittsburgh, PA but even here good tea can be found if
you know the secrets.

What type of tea do you enjoy or would you like to try? Green, Oolong,
Puerh, Black/Red, White, Herbal, etc? And if you know, from what
region? China, Japan, England, etc.

A few places off the top of my head would be: teaspring.com,
adagio.com, and uptontea.com I chose these three not because they are
the best, but because they have a fairly wide array at fair prices with
even more fair shipping rates. I find adagio to be a bit overpriced and
annoying, but some people like them for certain teas.

And as to the "fishy" smell at Trader Joe's, what kind of tea was this?
Some green teas can smell and taste "fishy" and in fact people like
myself actually seek this out quite rabidly... however, if it was just
some Earl grey stored too close to the tuna/salmon then count me out.

- Dominic
Drinking: Vintage Oolong
teasphere.wordpress.com

On Oct 11, 1:42 pm, "Dominic T." > wrote:
> And as to the "fishy" smell at Trader Joe's, what kind of tea was this?
> Some green teas can smell and taste "fishy" and in fact people like
> myself actually seek this out quite rabidly... however, if it was just
> some Earl grey stored too close to the tuna/salmon then count me out.
Hi Dominic, Tell me about your seeking out quite rabidly...
What does this mean?
I swear that I have tasted some slight maybe hint or nuance of fish in
a tea I drank recently. But I cannot remember tasting it before and it
was either an oolong or yintzen silver needles. This happened recently
so I am going to try t reproduce it and tell you bout it. Tell me about
your opinion.
Jenn

Jenn wrote:
> On Oct 11, 1:42 pm, "Dominic T." > wrote:
> > And as to the "fishy" smell at Trader Joe's, what kind of tea was this?
> > Some green teas can smell and taste "fishy" and in fact people like
> > myself actually seek this out quite rabidly... however, if it was just
> > some Earl grey stored too close to the tuna/salmon then count me out.
> Hi Dominic, Tell me about your seeking out quite rabidly...
> What does this mean?
> I swear that I have tasted some slight maybe hint or nuance of fish in
> a tea I drank recently. But I cannot remember tasting it before and it
> was either an oolong or yintzen silver needles. This happened recently
> so I am going to try t reproduce it and tell you bout it. Tell me about
> your opinion.
> Jenn

The "fishy" taste that many people experience actually has nothing to
do with fish but instead is generally attributed to a vegetal flavor...
which in turn is preceived as "fishy." More often thannot people are
turned off by this, however many people then grow a liking toward this
taste and seek it out... such as myself.

I have had some very fishy tasting senchas and a few other Japanese
greens, I'm always delighted to find new ones and as a matter of fact
have been hunting for a strong "fishy" tasting green for over 4 months
now. It's like an addiction, and I'm not alone in my draw to this
flavor. It just is hard to come by and there is no "go-to" tea for it.
I'm not really sure what causes the flavor, and I have had many teas
that taste fishy in one years crop but not in the next... so my guess
is that it is either environmental or due to processing. 10+ years
later it is still a mystery to me, but I'm always happy to find a green
tea that exhibits the characteristic and then buy up a pound or two.

- Dominic

Hi Dominic,

I primarily go for black tea because I make chai
using that i.e. tea with spices and sweet concentrated milk.

As for the fishy smell, it was from Trader Joe's decaf
English Breakfast tea and I believe in the past I smelled
that from the Earl Grey

Thanks.

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> Hi Dominic,
>
> I primarily go for black tea because I make chai
> using that i.e. tea with spices and sweet concentrated milk.
>
> As for the fishy smell, it was from Trader Joe's decaf
> English Breakfast tea and I believe in the past I smelled
> that from the Earl Grey
>
> Thanks.

Hi, I am by no means a tea expert, but I do love a good cup of chai!

Some chai teas I use (in bags) a
Yogi Black Chai Tea-I buy these in health food stores.
Tazo Chai-www.tazo.com
Davidson's Chai blends-www.davidsonstea.com
and loose chai I was able to get from Wegman's (I don't know if you have one
near you) and from an online store called the Tea Caddy-www.theteacaddy.com

Hope this helps a little. Karen
>

I think the main point here is that most of us by our tea online, not
at stores, so look online for the best tea and prices.

With that in mind, it depends on what you want. As far as black tea
goes, I used to buy mine from http://www.adagio.com/

....but I don't drink black tea anymore, personally... :P

-Drew


Karen Giesen wrote:
> > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> > Hi Dominic,
> >
> > I primarily go for black tea because I make chai
> > using that i.e. tea with spices and sweet concentrated milk.
> >
> > As for the fishy smell, it was from Trader Joe's decaf
> > English Breakfast tea and I believe in the past I smelled
> > that from the Earl Grey
> >
> > Thanks.
>
> Hi, I am by no means a tea expert, but I do love a good cup of chai!
>
> Some chai teas I use (in bags) a
> Yogi Black Chai Tea-I buy these in health food stores.
> Tazo Chai-www.tazo.com
> Davidson's Chai blends-www.davidsonstea.com
> and loose chai I was able to get from Wegman's (I don't know if you have one
> near you) and from an online store called the Tea Caddy-www.theteacaddy.com
>
> Hope this helps a little. Karen
> >

10/11/06


>
>
> On Oct 11, 1:42 pm, "Dominic T." > wrote:
>> And as to the "fishy" smell at Trader Joe's, what kind of tea was this?
>> Some green teas can smell and taste "fishy" and in fact people like
>> myself actually seek this out quite rabidly... however, if it was just
>> some Earl grey stored too close to the tuna/salmon then count me out.
> Hi Dominic, Tell me about your seeking out quite rabidly...
> What does this mean?
> I swear that I have tasted some slight maybe hint or nuance of fish in
> a tea I drank recently. But I cannot remember tasting it before and it
> was either an oolong or yintzen silver needles. This happened recently
> so I am going to try t reproduce it and tell you bout it. Tell me about
> your opinion.
> Jenn\

Hi Jenn!
I too like that fishy -- seaweedy, perhaps -- bit in
Senchas. I seek it out rabidly.. But, only when
I've forgotten to take my meds.
Michael

The rest of the world drinks cheap tea which has nothing to do with the
taste. You can find them in ethnic stores in large metro areas except
Pittsburgh for penny/gram. I drink my share on a daily basis no matter
what I pay elsewhere. To get you started locally or on the Internet
Ahmad Arabic brands, Brooke Bond Indian brands, Foojoy Chinese brands.
I saw your later post about Chai and the Mamri brand of stout Assam is
the choice in the Indian stores. I highly recommend the CayKur Turkish
brand which is readily available on the Internet. Discount stores like
Ross and Tjmax carry British tea tins. The commercial prices stay a
constant while the estate prices go up.

Jim

PS I always preferred Twinings UK over Twinings US which is no longer
available because they closed their US plant.

wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm at wits' end. I cannot find good tea at a
> reasonable price in the USA.
>
> I used to buy tea at Trader Joes, but their tea
> intermittently will have a slightly fishy smell to it.
> It's only $1.80.
>
> I've gone to Whole Foods for sales on Twinings
> around $2, but frankly I find the people who work
> at my local store, despite their low salaries, to be snobs.
> If you don't go in there looking to be upper middle class
> or richer, they can be very mean.
>
> When I go to run of the mill supermarkets however
> I find a poor selection at very high prices, and
> teas like Lipton, while cheap, I find taste bad.
>
> There is no health food co-op near me,
> if there were I would inquire about bulk sales.
>
> Is there a trick to getting good tea?
>
> Chinatown perhaps, or an Indian store?
> Mail-order?
>
> Advise appreciated.
> Thanks.

wrote:
> Hi Dominic,
>
> I primarily go for black tea because I make chai
> using that i.e. tea with spices and sweet concentrated milk.
>
> As for the fishy smell, it was from Trader Joe's decaf
> English Breakfast tea and I believe in the past I smelled
> that from the Earl Grey
>
> Thanks.

ahh, this is completely polar opposite from my area of knowledge, but
my fiance is a chai fan so I have a little input to offer. She tends to
find that indian markets have a number of chai offerings that beat out
grocery store teas and are generally cheaper. I believe the one she
last bought is by "Fantasy" brand and it comes in a clear plastic "tub"
with a teal-greenish colored plastic lid crammed full of chai teabags.
I picked up a carton of the Tazo Chai that is in liquid form like they
use in coffee shops once for her and she really enjoyed that.

The other option, which we haven't tried simply because I'm not into
chai, is to buy all of the ingredients at the indian market and make
your own. They sell Brooke Bond tea, Lipton green label, and a number
of other loose black tea blends at very low prices.

....as for the Eng. breakfast tea/Earl Grey... ugh, I think it may have
just been stored by the halibut, definitely NOT what I was refering to
being desireable

HTH,
- Dominic

Karen Giesen wrote:

> Tazo Chai-www.tazo.com

I've tried it. It's OK with additional spices and condensed milk.
Incidentally Tazo has been bought by Starbucks,
which I normally avoid.

> Davidson's Chai blends-www.davidsonstea.com
> and loose chai I was able to get from Wegman's (I don't know if you have one
> near you)

I hear there is a Wegmans near me, but I've never seen it.

Thanks.

wrote:
> I hear there is a Wegmans near me, but I've never seen it.
>
> Thanks.

Oh, buddy, if you have a Wegman's you've hit the jackpot! Wegman's
generally has an area called "The Tea Spot" and it is filled with tins
of loose tea (generally Numi brand) and they are all decent with
average prices. The real bonus is that you can bag them yourself so
there are no minimum limits and you can make yourself samplers of every
tea they have and spend less than $20.

Don't be afraid of the prices listed either, $40.00/lb. is very
inexpensive.

- Dominic

Dominic T. wrote:

> Oh, buddy, if you have a Wegman's you've hit the jackpot! Wegman's
> generally has an area called "The Tea Spot" and it is filled with tins
> of loose tea (generally Numi brand) and they are all decent with
> average prices. The real bonus is that you can bag them yourself so
> there are no minimum limits and you can make yourself samplers of every
> tea they have and spend less than $20.

Great. I called and they do have a bulk tea area in the organic
section.
Thanks for the tip...