Search found 710 matches

by faj
Sat Mar 16, 2024 4:38 pm
Forum: Vendor Discussion & Recommendation
Topic: Green Tea Vendor Topic
Replies: 55
Views: 31230

Re: Green Tea Vendor Topic

Maybe they thought they were "losing sales" and chose to close that "loophole" (or rather enforcing that discriminatory pricing). I suspect the foreign customers who took advantage of the "true price" were often they highest-volume foreign customers, and what they will gain in margins they will lose...
by faj
Sat Nov 25, 2023 3:33 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Does anyone buy tea during Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales around here?
Replies: 17
Views: 2882

Re: Does anyone buy tea during Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales around here?

For the vendors who start to play this game, there is now way back anymore. If the discount is steep enough, and once you have "trained" your customers, it becomes hard to go back, for sure. As a consumer, you don't chose your vendors' commercial strategy, you kind of have to live with it. It is no...
by faj
Fri Nov 24, 2023 9:43 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Does anyone buy tea during Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales around here?
Replies: 17
Views: 2882

Re: Does anyone buy tea during Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales around here?

I hate the whole BF thing. It's not about being cool, it just makes me feel like a fool to buy at a regular time. But since it is here one may as well 'profit' from it... For better or worse, rebates are a thing. For some products, you can invest research time, patience and mental load in exchange ...
by faj
Sat Jun 24, 2023 4:28 pm
Forum: Green Tea
Topic: 2023 Shincha Harvest tea recommendations?
Replies: 63
Views: 11985

Re: 2023 Shincha Harvest tea recommendations?

I've just been brewing my tea in a glass beaker. It's fun to watch the leaves unfurl as they steep. I always thought that by using glass, I would not be colouring the flavour of the tea. Am I missing out on a lot by not using a kyusu or some other kind of tea pot? I am not a teaware expert by any s...
by faj
Fri May 19, 2023 11:02 am
Forum: Vendor Discussion & Recommendation
Topic: The Essence of Tea
Replies: 126
Views: 47071

Re: The Essence of Tea

1997 horse head cliff sx: pretty bad tasting - and on top of that surprisingly expensive. Tea does not come close to what is described on website and on website reviews- am I drinking the same tea?? I purchased a bit of this a few years back. It was one of the most memorable teas I tasted. Not in t...
by faj
Mon May 15, 2023 7:25 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Lessons from Anosmia: Smell and Taste
Replies: 77
Views: 24446

Re: Lost taste due to Covid

Once I could recognise any smell at all (however frustrating fleeting that was - sometimes literally for just one second), I did try to expose myself to different aromas and try hard to sense, recognise, and differentiate between them, including in tea. It did feel like my mind was trying to fix it...
by faj
Thu Apr 13, 2023 2:52 pm
Forum: Green Tea
Topic: 2023 Shincha Harvest tea recommendations?
Replies: 63
Views: 11985

Re: 2023 Shincha Harvest tea recommendations?

No wonder I've been disappointed by most of the sencha I've been drinking the past few years from O-Cha, Yuuki-Cha, etc. I thought I was just unlucky with the teas I picked but it makes sense that first flush teas would be flavorless. That's the case with Chinese greens and Darjeelings as well. I n...
by faj
Thu Apr 06, 2023 11:58 am
Forum: Herbal Tea
Topic: Do you sweeten your tea and with what?
Replies: 14
Views: 2595

Re: Do you sweeten your tea and with what?

So why don't you sweeten your tea? Because I don't wanna. :) I have never even tried, so I could not for sure say I prefer it without sugar. Sure, health-wise it is preferable, but it is not a case where I even am tempted to do it and refrain from doing so. Let's say I am too close-minded to even t...
by faj
Thu Apr 06, 2023 7:47 am
Forum: Herbal Tea
Topic: Do you sweeten your tea and with what?
Replies: 14
Views: 2595

Re: Do you sweeten your tea and with what?

As others have mentioned, putting additives in higher-quality tea feels like making expensive wine into a spritzer. "Serious" people add crazy-expensive things (think truffles, saffron) to food rather than eating them alone or infusing them, so it is certainly is not a universal thing that experien...
by faj
Fri Mar 31, 2023 12:48 pm
Forum: Green Tea
Topic: 2023 Shincha Harvest tea recommendations?
Replies: 63
Views: 11985

Re: 2023 Shincha Harvest tea recommendations?

Does anyone know when Thes du Japon usually posts their shincha? I cannot provide you with dates, but monitoring the website every few days is not too much of a burden. My main issue in the last couple of years has been that not all teas are available at the same time, some teas run out quickly, an...
by faj
Wed Feb 15, 2023 3:37 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Your day in tea
Replies: 474
Views: 193039

Re: Your day in tea

O-Cha’s 2021 lightly steamed sencha ‘Tsuyu Hikari from Shizuoka’ is so refined, really closer to a gyokuro. It’s a special treat that won’t last long since packs are just 30 grams and I’m using 10g sessions 🍃 Edit: O-Cha’s light steamed Tsuyu Hikari Sencha from Shizuoka is 100 gram pack, so much th...
by faj
Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:18 pm
Forum: Korean Tea
Topic: Korean tea vendors
Replies: 25
Views: 8116

Re: Korean tea vendors

LeoFox wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 4:07 pm
All right guys - got an answer regarding shipping:
Thanks! Not entirely clear, but at least it gives some idea.
by faj
Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:45 am
Forum: Korean Tea
Topic: Korean tea vendors
Replies: 25
Views: 8116

Re: Korean tea vendors

LeoFox wrote:
Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:30 am
Maybe email them but they are slower and more unresponsive than hojo
You do not mince words! I may have to try and hope for the best, as I am not expecting there are many members here with experience getting shipments from them to Canada.
by faj
Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:01 pm
Forum: Korean Tea
Topic: Korean tea vendors
Replies: 25
Views: 8116

Re: Korean tea vendors

I am interested. The problem I have is ordering is done without knowing what the shipping cost is going to be (not even a ballpark, it seems), and once you order you cannot cancel if the shipping cost ends up being unreasonable. Is there a way to get a shipping estimate that anyone knows of?
by faj
Mon Jan 16, 2023 4:11 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Your day in tea
Replies: 474
Views: 193039

Re: Your day in tea

It's not bitterness; it's that it doesn't respond to my usual preparation temps/timings the way I want it to. I usually brew my gyokuro close to sencha, with higher temps than usual for gyokuro. And when I do that, the balance is off in the first infusions. I agree that gyokuro infused with paramet...