Tea Knowledge & Friendship
I'm in about the same position as you. I've been subscribed for 3-4 months and have been enjoying it. However, I can't manage to drink the volume of tea that comes in, so I will need to pause at some point. Or maybe I just need to learn to drink more teaTeaTotaling wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 11:55 amI know EoT has a Facebook discussion related to their monthly Tea Club. I don't have Facebook, and it doesn't seem like much of a discussion, from what I have read. Possibly a few TF friends are already subscribed and we can discuss monthly offerings, along with anything else purchased from EoT. I believe klepto and Chadrinkincat are current Tea Club members, and I bet there are a few more. I am currently three months in.
In the recent past I wondered if I should get a subscription (with EoT or otherwise), and the reason I did not is exactly that. For some reason, I feel tea vendors all try to fulfill a need that only a minority drinkers feel they have: receive significant amounts of teas they do not really get to choose. I assume they want to give subscribers the feeling they are getting their money's worth, but in the end too much tea probably gets some people off subscriptions because many want to choose most of what they drink based on, you know, what they like.
I knew there would be demand for my "less tea but better tea" subscription model. "@faj, tea marketing consultant" : that will be my new business card.TeaTotaling wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 8:22 pmfaj I am very much in line with EoT's primary focus, Puerh, Yancha, and Liu Bao. I certainly would be inclined to keep it going, but I was already sitting on a few thousand grams prior too. Now I'm swimming in tea. The EoT offerings have been decent, but nothing has really captivated me thus far.
I'm finding that is precisely what Song Tea is going for. It's 6 offerings spread over the course of a year, so a delivery every two months. Peter focuses on a highly curated approach, whereas EoT seems to be a more bang for your buck subscription. It would fit the bill for a daily drinker subscription.faj wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 8:35 pmI knew there would be demand for my "less tea but better tea" subscription model. "faj, tea marketing consultant" : that will be my new business card.TeaTotaling wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 8:22 pmfaj I am very much in line with EoT's primary focus, Puerh, Yancha, and Liu Bao. I certainly would be inclined to keep it going, but I was already sitting on a few thousand grams prior too. Now I'm swimming in tea. The EoT offerings have been decent, but nothing has really captivated me thus far.
I don’t really agree with that. I am a subscriber for more than a year now and even though they are sending out around 100g worth of tea, sometimes more, sometimes less, I repurchased some of its offerings (when possible) because I found tea being that good. And would do for some other teas too if they would sell it. To me the real appeal of EoT is that I can sit down and enjoy the tea more than once or twice or I can return to it in a year or when I feel like it. I don’t look into tea club as something that would dictate me what will I drink for the whole month. Heck I even treasure some of the offerings because I liked it that much. So no, EoT certainly don’t need to play the “more tea is better” game. They admitted that they are even loosing money with deliveries to some countries ie. mine. But the reason for a vendor to offer the tea club in my eyes is to educate. If your tea club is good and you are willing to educate your club audience they will potentially become interested in your regular offerings on the site and cover some potential losses down the line too. So playing “more is better” without the quality for a boutique vendor in a long run wouldn’t work. I wrote about different club offerings, ups and downs and the value of them on several occasions on this forum so I don’t want to sound like a fan boy, I just felt to address this.faj wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 5:19 pmIn the recent past I wondered if I should get a subscription (with EoT or otherwise), and the reason I did not is exactly that. For some reason, I feel tea vendors all try to fulfill a need that only a minority drinkers feel they have: receive significant amounts of teas they do not really get to choose. I assume they want to give subscribers the feeling they are getting their money's worth, but in the end too much tea probably gets some people off subscriptions because many want to choose most of what they drink based on, you know, what they like.
If your tea drinking is heavily tilted toward what the vendor includes in their offer, it is true that 100g of tea per month will not dictate your whole drinking. For me, 100g is something like 20-25 sessions. I do not average 1 session per day of the kind of teas Essence of Tea sells. So for me that subscription would, in effect, dictate my whole drinking for these kind of teas.
I did not mean EoT (or any other vendor) offers bad tea in order to offer a lot of it, or that their subscriptions are to be avoided. They do make choices as to the price point and targeted amount of tea, which will influence their selection. I just wish vendors had different subscriptions on offer, not that their current one is wrong in any way. In my case, I think I would be more likely to pay for a subscription at 35$ per month for tea at 1$/g. I think a subscription of this kind would increase the overall market for subscriptions, but I realize this is just one tea drinker's uninformed opinion, and I may be a rare exception.
Thanks for sharing. I value your position as a long-time subscriber.lUKAV28 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:43 pmI don’t really agree with that. I am a subscriber for more than a year now and even though they are sending out around 100g worth of tea, sometimes more, sometimes less, I repurchased some of its offerings (when possible) because I found tea being that good. And would do for some other teas too if they would sell it. To me the real appeal of EoT is that I can sit down and enjoy the tea more than once or twice or I can return to it in a year or when I feel like it. I don’t look into tea club as something that would dictate me what will I drink for the whole month. Heck I even treasure some of the offerings because I liked it that much. So no, EoT certainly don’t need to play the “more tea is better” game. They admitted that they are even loosing money with deliveries to some countries ie. mine. But the reason for a vendor to offer the tea club in my eyes is to educate. If your tea club is good and you are willing to educate your club audience they will potentially become interested in your regular offerings on the site and cover some potential losses down the line too. So playing “more is better” without the quality for a boutique vendor in a long run wouldn’t work. I wrote about different club offerings, ups and downs and the value of them on several occasions on this forum so I don’t want to sound like a fan boy, I just felt to address this.faj wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 5:19 pmIn the recent past I wondered if I should get a subscription (with EoT or otherwise), and the reason I did not is exactly that. For some reason, I feel tea vendors all try to fulfill a need that only a minority drinkers feel they have: receive significant amounts of teas they do not really get to choose. I assume they want to give subscribers the feeling they are getting their money's worth, but in the end too much tea probably gets some people off subscriptions because many want to choose most of what they drink based on, you know, what they like.
