Vietnam Oolongs

Semi-oxidized tea
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Bok
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Tue Mar 12, 2019 11:51 pm

@Tillerman that is a bit more reassuring then if the majority is not being sold as whole leaf tea.

One good spot to get ripped off is at the farms itself (who would suspect?), if one heads up Alishan or Shanlinxi for example. I was warned before not to try buying there, although it can be frustrating to pass tea farm after tea farm and their on-site shops... not all of them of course, but you need connections to know is selling what to know.
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wave_code
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Sat Apr 13, 2019 4:50 am

has anyone tried any of the teas from Siam Teas (www.siam-teas.com)? They have a few Vietnam teas, mostly processed Pu-Erh style. They seem to focus on Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, India, Nepal and seem to try and be very transparent about their standards.
swordofmytriumph
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Sat Apr 13, 2019 5:44 am

wave_code wrote:
Sat Apr 13, 2019 4:50 am
has anyone tried any of the teas from Siam Teas (www.siam-teas.com)? They have a few Vietnam teas, mostly processed Pu-Erh style. They seem to focus on Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, India, Nepal and seem to try and be very transparent about their standards.
I have not... but I see it in my future. Just took a look at their offerings and they have some really interesting looking stuff. They have a lightly roasted WHITE tea! That has got to be an interesting experience. Plus, they seem to go into detail on each tea, even with pictures of the processing sometimes, which I appreciate. Seems like it would be a good place to get tea when I want something new and interesting.
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Baisao
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Sat Apr 13, 2019 1:43 pm

I understand the profit motive to pass Vietnamese oolongs as Taiwanese but I would be happier if they could compete with their own localized branding. It’s not a perfect world but how nice it would be for the Vietnamese/Thai farmers and the consumer.
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Mon May 13, 2019 8:21 am

I tried some Vietnamese tea from a now defunct online store called Tea from Vietnam. The green teas were awful, very marine like. The oolongs were better, resembling Taiwanese teas but a little rougher. Ta oolong, I think was the one I liked best...What-Cha used to carry it too.
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Tillerman
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Mon May 13, 2019 9:12 am

LuckyMe wrote:
Mon May 13, 2019 8:21 am
I tried some Vietnamese tea from a now defunct online store called Tea from Vietnam. The green teas were awful, very marine like. The oolongs were better, resembling Taiwanese teas but a little rougher. Ta oolong, I think was the one I liked best...What-Cha used to carry it too.
You should try the tea from Hatvala (available online.) They are very good.
John_B
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Fri May 17, 2019 3:32 am

Tillerman wrote:
Mon May 13, 2019 9:12 am

You should try the tea from Hatvala (available online.) They are very good.
That's nice that you would mention that, also selling what someone might see as a competing product. Hatvala's oolongs are nice.

As I see it related to Vietnamese versus Taiwanese oolongs--based on what I've tried, which could be more extensive--you can't beat the value for better Vietnamese oolongs, and for Taiwanese versions the high end relates to better quality, but that comes at a price.

Tea Side sells passable above average quality level Thai oolongs, but really if someone is more focused on either higher end quality or overall value those other two directions work better. That's probably a good option just to try decent Thai teas, if someone is interested in that type of exploration for its own sake. Same for their black teas; they're good, but related style Chinese options can match or beat them for either value or quality level, just not necessarily both in one version.

Of course $1 / gram tea could still be a good value, so I'm using the concept here in a limited sense, to imply someone is looking for cost-effectiveness more in a mid-range.
Ethan Kurland
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Fri May 17, 2019 8:15 am

John_B wrote:
Fri May 17, 2019 3:32 am
Tillerman wrote:
Mon May 13, 2019 9:12 am

You should try the tea from Hatvala (available online.) They are very good.
That's nice that you would mention that, also selling what someone might see as a competing product. Hatvala's oolongs are nice.

----
Of course $1 / gram tea could still be a good value, so I'm using the concept here in a limited sense, to imply someone is looking for cost-effectiveness more in a mid-range.
Good to see you posting, John. How could Tillerman not be nice with his avatar & company name based on such a sweet song from Cat Stevens? (A hit maybe a couple of years before you were born, John.)

Anyway, I like to see to someone considering value. Teas that costs around a $1 per gram may not cost more to drink per round (or hardly more) because they produce so many more infusions. (I'm thinking of Fushoushan & Dayuling.) An aged, roasted oolong that I used to drink could provide so many rounds that if one was steeping and drinking all day, he would drink it cheaper than tea that cost a small fraction of its price per round. (But I don't want so many rounds of one tea.)

Cost of shipping & money conversion may be considerable sometimes. Too annoying? Maybe good reasons abound for concentrating on quality, flavors, etc. Cheers
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Mon May 20, 2019 2:25 am

I have a half kilo of Vietnamese oolong in my personal stash: I think I'll have some now after reading this thread through again :lol:

A friend of mine was in Taiwan last year and sourced some excellent high mountain oolong. She's just getting started in the tea biz and I was very impressed with what she brought back from Taiwan. She wasn't quite so lucky in Anxi this month!

I personally no longer purchase high mountain oolong because of the massive environmental toll, but it was nice to try hers. We finished up with some of my Vietnamese stuff (purchased in Saigon from ethnic Chinese vendors) and after the Taiwanese stuff, the difference in quality was very much apparent! :shock:

Of all the vessels to brew this tea in today, I decided to go with a Sadler Brown Betty. I'm brewing a bit cooler to mute the slight astringency and bitterness this tea has vs. good quality Taiwanese stuff. This should be interesting...
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Bok
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Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:54 pm

Had an interesting talk with an acquaintance in the tea business. She said that people in Taiwan are always worried about Vietnamese teas being not clean (as the majority of tea sold in drink shops in Taiwan is actually not Taiwanese tea – too cheap!).

To which she said it being quite silly and actually the complete opposite:
The likelihood of Taiwanese tea being “dirty” being much higher than its Vietnamese counterpart. The reason is simple, yet very logic.

Taiwanese regulations for importing tea are really strict in terms of pesticide use etc. so in order to be able to import, the tea must comply to those requirements. So it has to be clean. Taiwanese tea on the other hand is largely unregulated. To further add to it, tea farms in Taiwan are small in size and very close to their neighbours, so if one decides to use more pesticide that might spill over to another farms tea…

In addition she mentioned that due to those strict regulations, Japanese tea is very difficult to import to Taiwan, as Japan’s regulations are not very strict.
rdl
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Sun Aug 18, 2019 10:29 pm

This is anecdotal, not personally verified, but what I heard while in Vietnam, was that producing chemical free tea was the best way to charge the most. It was profit motivated as well as environmental. There was a whole wave of artisans creating merchandise that could sell at prices foreigners and wealthier natives could afford, above the common quality and price that locals would pay for. They were looking for trends in developed countries to ride that wave. That was then. But my sense is they know better, but with supply and demand, I couldn't guess.
Last edited by rdl on Mon Aug 19, 2019 12:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Bok
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Sun Aug 18, 2019 11:09 pm

@rdlInteresting! Not a bad thing, if in the end the tea is safer and better for the environment, they should earn more as well!
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