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choffman, You make sense. To be disappointing to some newbies and perhaps too blunt, I don't think there are great shortcuts. For example, one might think just to follow Victoria posts, but she does not talk much about prices and value for $ (which is a big concern for some people). I think my gut ...

There is not a lot of activity on the forum. If people don't want to read the limited amount of posts in their areas of interest, they are just looking for quick advice on shopping which they will do a couple of times a year. I treasure the talk. I do talk about myself and my teas more than some ma...

Yeah, but that HK stuff is mostly roasted to death, only tolerable over some greasy food or dim sum... Yah. Mostly but I've found some good ones, either well roasted, well rested or both. Some not roasted to death too. I figure what I consider not roasted to death, a lot will, as I like the roasty ...

I just learned last weekend that Dongding Oolong used to be half opened leaf style and that the ball-shape is a later addition. Not sure if I posted this last year or not, but these are 4 examples of Dong Ding over the decades. I don't remember the years anymore (it might say it in Chinese... wife ...

That day I was using filtered tap water, but I don't know the TDS of the water. We usually mix between filtered and unfiltered tap, sometimes in different towns, in order to get a 'range' of water types.

I'm glad that it is working better for you with the Iceland Spring!

Think about it this way: could you get above average cheese in Asia? Most likely not and if then for a multitude of the normal retail price. I suspect that this might be true about Taiwan but not about China. There are terrific teas -- way above average-- that are available to the west. One just ne...

Some more tea from Shin Cheng Fang Bug bitten ... not sure exactly what it is. Chinese characters are in pictures. Oh boy! This is so good. So sweet and fruity, complex and thick, soysauce in the later, longer steeps. Steeped almost a dozen times. Yep, that is definitely HY Chen's bug-bitten. Not s...

If everybody just starts throwing together vendors they like in this thread, I'm sure the mods would be happy to aggregate them and toss them somewhere. (I hope I'm not speaking out of line here).

The closest thing I can think of is the reddit User Choice Vendor List on r/tea, although I have a feeling that the group here on TeaForum would rank vendors a little bit differently since usually (in my experience) there is more of an appreciation for higher quality tea here.

Which did you enjoy the most? I’ve enjoyed Asahi and Uji-hikari cultivars from TDJ this year. The former is rich and chocolate-y, the latter is lighter but has a lingonberry finish that’s delightful. Both form a foam easily and do not need to be sifted first. All 4 were of pretty good quality, but ...

A few new updates here: . The unroasted is particularly exciting this year I am taking a lot of time to make final judgment but so far this Winter's tea from Taiwan seems to me to be significantly better than normal. The weather that lowered the yield also improved the taste! (Talking in general, I...

Happy to contribute. Thanks so much to the TeaForum team and to all the members for making this site a wonderful place.

A few new updates here: Two new teas: Rose Oolong - An HY Chen special, this is a Spring Shan Lin Xi from 1400 meters that has been combined with fresh rose petals to create a delightful flavor and aroma. Perfect for Valentine's day, or just whenever you want to be knocked off your feet by the smell...

I also had that kind of blind tasting a few times, it was a great exercise. Would you consider giving the references for the four teas? You mean in terms of what they each are? Certainly. The 1st one is Uji Matcha Chiyo Mukashi from O-Cha . $1.13 per gram. The 2nd one is Uji Matcha Kiku Mukashi fro...

I have a set of identical porcelain gaiwans that I marked on the bottom 1, 2, 3, 4 that I have used for this. I have not had a helper to mix them up for me, so had to do it with my eyes closed, but even with the limited ability to 'blind' myself, it is great fun. The trick is to distract yourself w...