TeaForum.org

Does anyone have any experience with this vendor? Interested in picking up a wide range of teas from them to try but the prices are most definitely NY specific so any confirmation of them being above average would be nice.

T Shop

T Shop is a favorite place for many tea heads. I’ve been there many times and always leave with a few memorable teas. Theresa carries high quality puerh and oolong, and use to hold great tastings at her shop. I’ve shared a few teas from her shop here at TF;

viewtopic.php?p=3499#p3499
and another member post;
viewtopic.php?p=14998#p14998

tshopny generally has pretty good stuff

i've liked all the teas i've tried
maybe check out the korean tea offerings?

Jeanbb wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 08, 2020 5:07 am

but the prices are most definitely NY specific

haha, that's new york for ya
that said, i'd probably go there all the time if i lived nearby

i've also seen/used these gaiwans in person (sold out atm), and i thought they were very nice:

Was going to put an order in but didn't have a straight forward international shipping option. Anyone managed to do so before?

Just a small review of the positives and negatives with my experience after putting through an order, not focusing too much on tasting notes but a broader assessment.

As per usual when trying tea from a new vendor, particularly one of the more expensive side I opted for samplers. As the first negative from my perspective, as opposed to the usual 10-15 the samples are 8 grams each. A little too close to the borderline for my taste on 2 sessions worth however still workable. Not to mention the markup on samples vs 1-2oz is higher than I think I've ever seen between vendors.

One of the main areas the vendor seems to excel in my opinion are high quality teas on the less conventional side for Western stores, such as a traditional heavy roasted tie guan yin, the unroasted dong ding and their various Korean offerings particularly Hadong Hwang Cha and Hadong green. Beyond that, many of the oolongs were completely exceptional, albeit expensive. The yancha being particularly impressive.

In terms of white teas it was a reasonably clear step back and I found the puerhs to be good although not overly evocative. Particularly on the whites each of the 3 offerings were highly enjoyable but apart from the silver needles the other two I feel I could not have picked a taste or textural improvement or even distinction over anything I could find off a store like Yunnan Sourcing for a fifth of the price, maybe the same could be said of most of the raw puerh but to a much lesser extent. Unlikely I'd have any criticisms at a lower price point however. The 2019 Gong Nong was especially good for a more vibrant, fruitier young sheng.

Would recommend and will purchase larger quantities of the tie guan yin, the Hadong Hwang Cha and green along with a variety of oolongs from the vendor in future. A range of what I felt were decent to good but overpriced (not a surprise for a vendor with a NY shop front), along with a reasonably sizeable amount of teas which were very good or approaching absolutely exceptional like the Hadong green and TGY. Good enough that I'll likely sample any offerings I missed on first run-through.

Jeanbb wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 04, 2021 2:37 pm

As the first negative from my perspective, as opposed to the usual 10-15 the samples are 8 grams each. A little too close to the borderline for my taste on 2 sessions worth however still workable.

8g seems to be the standard for single brew packs in China these days. Emphasis on that these are meant as convenient one brew per pack, not as samples. I usually do split them in two sessions in a 45-60ml pot, which is perfect for yancha. My guess is that the vendor just sells them on as they receive them from China.

Of course single serve packs are the new way to charge more for actually less in the end, just as Puerh coins.

In case anyone was curious, here's the contents of my 2022 Lucky Bag. Picked one up since I also wanted to try the lauded 2010 Yibang. Was tempted to pick up some of the balhyochas to hit free shipping, but wasn't sure what to get so didn't make it unfortunately lol. Shipping was really fast; got tracking almost immediately after I placed the order. Excited to try these!

I'm so gutted I missed out on Old Bush Tie Luo Han (Feng Ke Keng) 老欉鐵羅漢(蜂窠坑) from T Shop NY. I mailed them a while back asking about restock, but never got a reply. I guess it's not an easy question to answer.

I had some aged old bush TLH from Feng Ke Feng via Origin Tea back in 2014. Best yancha I've had. Still have some of it vacuum sealed, but it's such a limited and finite amount of tea that I reserve it for weddings, funerals, and that sort of occasions. No idea if I'll be able to come across Feng Ke Keng TLH again.

Having read a comment mentioning that slightly higher TDS water for oolong works better, tried the TS LCSX (https://www.tshopny.com/shop/old-bush-shui-xian) today first w/ filtered tap at 100 TDS and then with 46 TDS Poland Spring bottled water and was amazed at the difference. I wasn't able to finish the session with PS water, being thrown off by the extreme difference. The PS almost completely hollowed out the tea, leaving mainly roast and a sour aspect and crushed mint in aftertaste, none of the complexity from the tap. This also explains why almost every oolong I’ve taken notes on appears to shift within the same narrow profile (I’ve been using PS for every oolong and most “nicer” teas I took notes for, just to keep things consistent) and also why my notes on some appear to differ from ones I’ve seen people post for teas online from say TXS and ORT. I’m sort of distraught at all the roasted oolongs that I feel like I’ve wasted now…. Another lesson to take tasting notes with a grain of salt I guess. Knowing myself, I can almost certainly guarantee that I would’ve grumbled about price:quality with this being $2.25/g (which is not that unreasonable considering market yancha pricing) for the sample if I’d brewed it the way I normally do. Sad, yet lesson learned.