Hojo Tea

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pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Tue Aug 27, 2019 8:19 pm

Hojo Tea, founded by Akira HOJO, is a Japanese tea company located in Nagano. they also have a shop in Malaysia.

Hojo Tea sells teaware of good quality with an emphasis on natural clays. i have several pieces that i enjoy using.

he also sells a wide variety of tea.

Mr. Hojo has published many articles on his site. some are rather opinionated, and i don't necessarily agree with everything, but i feel that they are interesting and worth reading.

to order, you have to visit this specific page: https://hojotea.com/item_e/available.htm
this page shows the current teaware inventory.
there is also a pdf linked near the top that has the price list for his teas.
follow the directions at the bottom of the page to order. basically, you email him your order and any questions you may have, and he sends you a paypal invoice.

HOJO Enhancer Script

his site is a bit antiquated imo, and i was having trouble choosing teapots because there were no inventory filtering options.
the page was cluttered with irrelevant offerings (sold out items, teapots not of the size i was looking for, etc), and this meant i had to scroll a lot and also could not see all of the choices that interested me all at once.

and so when i was bored a couple of years ago, i made a userscript (custom code that changes the appearance of a website) for his site that improved my experience.
this script removes items that are sold out, converts to your local currency with realtime exchange rate, and shows only teaware in the size range you specify.

it adds a Settings button in the upper right corner of the page:

hojo-enhancer-script-1.png
hojo-enhancer-script-1.png (66.96 KiB) Viewed 8357 times

and this shows the results:

hojo-enhancer-script-2.png
hojo-enhancer-script-2.png (99.09 KiB) Viewed 8357 times

look at that. only two in-stock Iga pots no bigger than 150mL! sure makes deciding easier.

if you want to install it, you first have to install a browser extension like Tampermonkey.
after that, you can click this to install my hojo enhancer script: tea-code/userscripts/hojo-enhancer/hojo.user.js
Janice
Posts: 260
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Tue Oct 29, 2019 12:34 pm

I was inspired by the post here about new kobiwako pots to rush over to Hojo’s site to reserve a 70 ml pot to complement my 110 ml pot. I heard back in 2 days and then the next day I sent in an order for the pot and several teas. That was 10/15, 2 weeks ago. I did resend my email several days later but I haven’t received a response to either email. The email address worked the first time and was also the one that Hojo used to send a response.

Has anyone else had to wait this long for a response? Any suggestions?

This is the pot I want. I particularly like the shape.
02DA8661-37BB-44C8-93D6-C39E3ACED4A1.jpeg
02DA8661-37BB-44C8-93D6-C39E3ACED4A1.jpeg (60.99 KiB) Viewed 10156 times
Tetsubin
Posts: 47
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:21 am
Location: Sweden

Tue Oct 29, 2019 1:46 pm

Janice wrote:
Tue Oct 29, 2019 12:34 pm
I was inspired by the post here about new kobiwako pots to rush over to Hojo’s site to reserve a 70 ml pot to complement my 110 ml pot. I heard back in 2 days and then the next day I sent in an order for the pot and several teas. That was 10/15, 2 weeks ago. I did resend my email several days later but I haven’t received a response to either email. The email address worked the first time and was also the one that Hojo used to send a response.

Has anyone else had to wait this long for a response? Any suggestions?

This is the pot I want. I particularly like the shape.

Image
I had a few questions to Hojo myself regarding tetsubins (surprise) 10/15 and have yet to hear back from him. I hope everything is alright with him.
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Tue Oct 29, 2019 2:18 pm

I recently sent an inquiry and was surprised to receive no answer after several days. It was my first attempt to contact them, so thought maybe that was normal, but I was thinking of posting here to ask the same question.
User avatar
d.manuk
Posts: 655
Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2017 4:13 pm
Location: Dallas

Tue Oct 29, 2019 2:26 pm

Sometimes he doesn’t respond for 2+ weeks when he’s busy or out sourcing teas.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5779
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:19 pm

Now is the time to source Dancong and Yancha, as they had their rest and are now sold. Maybe he is in China. Internet access can be annoying and slow in the countryside.
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OCTO
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:25 pm
Location: Penang, Malaysia

Wed Oct 30, 2019 12:52 am

Bok wrote:
Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:19 pm
Now is the time to source Dancong and Yancha....
**ahem**...... :D :D
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OCTO
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:25 pm
Location: Penang, Malaysia

Wed Oct 30, 2019 12:56 am

Janice wrote:
Tue Oct 29, 2019 12:34 pm
I was inspired by the post here about new kobiwako pots to rush over to Hojo’s site to reserve a 70 ml pot to complement my 110 ml pot. I heard back in 2 days and then the next day I sent in an order for the pot and several teas. That was 10/15, 2 weeks ago. I did resend my email several days later but I haven’t received a response to either email. The email address worked the first time and was also the one that Hojo used to send a response.

Has anyone else had to wait this long for a response? Any suggestions?

This is the pot I want. I particularly like the shape.

Image
@Janice

I'm in direct contact with his Marketing Manager here in Malaysia. Do let me know if you would like to contact her personally. I can give you her mobile number. Queries and photos can be sent directly through WhatsApp. That's how I usually get my stuffs from Hojo, Very fast response time.

Cheers!
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Wed Oct 30, 2019 12:57 am

I received a response tonight. It might have been an anti-spam issue.
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Wed Oct 30, 2019 1:02 am

Janice wrote:
Tue Oct 29, 2019 12:34 pm
I heard back in 2 days and then the next day I sent in an order for the pot and several teas.
Good luck with your order...

Out of curiosity, do you have previous experiences with Hojo's teas and comments you could share?
User avatar
OCTO
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:25 pm
Location: Penang, Malaysia

Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:37 am

All this talk on Kobiwako and DanCong making me thirsty....
20191030_213048.jpg
20191030_213048.jpg (287.94 KiB) Viewed 10046 times
Cheers!!

p/s: Try matching with other clays.... :P :P
Janice
Posts: 260
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Wed Oct 30, 2019 7:11 pm

faj wrote:
Wed Oct 30, 2019 1:02 am
Janice wrote:
Tue Oct 29, 2019 12:34 pm
I heard back in 2 days and then the next day I sent in an order for the pot and several teas.
Good luck with your order...

Out of curiosity, do you have previous experiences with Hojo's teas and comments you could share?
I only purchase tea from Hojo when I’m ordering tea ware. I haven’t bought any teas that were worth the extra effort yet. Other people probably have.

I’ve been checking my spam folder daily.
Janice
Posts: 260
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Thu Oct 31, 2019 6:13 pm

OCTO wrote:
Wed Oct 30, 2019 12:56 am
Janice wrote:
Tue Oct 29, 2019 12:34 pm
I was inspired by the post here about new kobiwako pots to rush over to Hojo’s site to reserve a 70 ml pot to complement my 110 ml pot. I heard back in 2 days and then the next day I sent in an order for the pot and several teas. That was 10/15, 2 weeks ago. I did resend my email several days later but I haven’t received a response to either email. The email address worked the first time and was also the one that Hojo used to send a response.

Has anyone else had to wait this long for a response? Any suggestions?

This is the pot I want. I particularly like the shape.

Image
Janice

I'm in direct contact with his Marketing Manager here in Malaysia. Do let me know if you would like to contact her personally. I can give you her mobile number. Queries and photos can be sent directly through WhatsApp. That's how I usually get my stuffs from Hojo, Very fast response time.

Cheers!
@OCTO I would appreciate if you could PM me the telephone #. I’ll install WhatsApp and send a message.

TIA,
Janice
User avatar
OCTO
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:25 pm
Location: Penang, Malaysia

Thu Oct 31, 2019 6:55 pm

Janice wrote:
Thu Oct 31, 2019 6:13 pm

OCTO I would appreciate if you could PM me the telephone #. I’ll install WhatsApp and send a message.

TIA,
Janice
PM sent.
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Sun Nov 03, 2019 3:39 pm

@OCTO, would it be possible for you to please PM me the contact info too? I have tried sending additional emails and am not receiving a response after several days.

Thanks in advance,
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