No offense but I think you are completely missing my point. It’s not about being “pretty” it’s about understanding what you are looking at and deciphering the information about the tea.aet wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2019 11:32 pmIf 7$ for 100g 1tip 1 leaf grade and not in last years discounted price - that's very good offer .
"buy by taste" is to buy a sample. Pictures might be deceiving. Lots of light in the Light Box and tea looks very different on your table later during the day light , which also vary (temp. light ) .
Of course you can distinguish obvious colors and see if tea was light or dark oxidized , I wasn't about that. I was about those beautiful tipsy teas which not necessary have to be better than ugly / naturally ( in comparing ) looking tea leafs. Grade is a choice and also personal preference , not the major sign of the tea quality as all product, let alone that you would necessarily have to like it. To me top grade BLCH is has no "body" . tips are nice and mild taste, but I prefer bitter with sweet after taste like sheng puerh . Lower grade of BLCH have that, or tea like cui ming, which doesnt have that many tips either an bigger leafs are involved.
We have regular Kunming customers coming to shop , they usually buy lower grade for drinking and higher grade for giving a present ( coz look good )
Same with black teas. All those tipsy beautiful teas are good seller but I like just ugly looking big leafs from arbor tea trees ( also promoted by some vendors like Gu Shu ) . The taste reminds me a black tea a use to drink in childhood. Those "tuned up" concepts of blacks for double price are not for me, and I have spent quite of the time in Fengqing to source the good ones.
Same with green teas like in Pu'er or Gen Ma , private producers or big factories. Im not green tea drinker so "unami" is not for me either ( if that defines green tea lover ) . I have tried matcha - too green for me.
As I said, there is no bad/ good choice. Just personal preference=choice. From marketing point of view I see on sales, that beautiful teas are always sell better , yet the experienced tea drinker will tell you that final taste is not about the "cover of the book".
Some people buy oily coffee beans because they are shiny, or because they think it means they’re fresh. These people are not informed and do not understand what to look for so yes...for these people they should not buy with their eyes. But for anyone that understands what to look at, and what different characteristics mean, it’s very important to look at what you are buying.
And I did not say $7 for 100g, I said one tea ($26/100g) was only $7 more than the cheaper one ($19/100g)
I think I have explained this very well so let’s just move on.