Hello, my real name is Rollin and I live in Portland, Oregon. We have some good tea available here, mainly at Fly Awake and Enthea, the latter of which is owned by the guy that really helped me dive deeply into tea and with whom I traveled to China in 2019 on a tea exploration adventure.
I've known about various kinds of Chinese tea for many, many years but didn't really get seriously into learning about it until early 2019, and then as I mentioned I went to Yunnan, Sichaun, and Guangxi, as mentioned. Had amazing adventures there and bought a lot of tea and a fair amount of teaware, without really knowing much about what to choose. I've collected quite a bit more tea since then, mostly online, but have realized that it's such a gamble buying anything without being able to either taste it (tea) or inspect it (teaware), so I've slowed down on the buying quite a bit. Also having room to store and manage has some impact.
I went to Japan at the end of 2019 and did get a chance to go to a tea shop in Kyoto and buy some green tea. It was an edifying experience, being able to compare and contrast the two different tea varieties and cultures. I like Japanese tea as well but don't drink it anywhere near as often as Chinese tea varieties.
I tend to gravitate toward shengs (young and well-aged, when I can get that), but I love all kinds and have some good examples of all the major styles (never enough though
). I'm currently trying to expand my oolong selection, as that's the aged tea that I have the least of. The money aspect is definitely a limiter on what I can get, particularly with puerh, but fortunately I've managed to get some good stuff anyway. I'm now finding the same is true with teapots...
I got a few teapots in Chengdu at the tea market there, and while they're all modern and possibly of dubious origin, I've have made good use of them and not found them to exhibit any indicators of being low quality. I also have one that was handmade in Xishuangbanna (Jinghong) from a person whose shop we visited and I got to meet and one that I bought online that appears to be a 90's shui ping in a grayish-green clay that was clearly handmade (and not well). I'm currently delving deep into learning about clay and other aspects of pots to get a better understanding of what to look for when hunting for vintage ones before I buy more pots. At this time that's more of a priority than obtaining more tea, but I won't pass up an opportunity for another investment in leaf if a good one shows up. I expect eventually I'll have a combination of pots that I like and that cover the bases for the different types of tea I have, after which I will focus on just adding more tea rather than collecting pots.
Recently I've started traveling to Vancouver, B.C. and patronizing a shop there called The Chinese Tea Shop. The owner Daniel is friendly and knowledgeable and has a good selection of teas and teaware at reasonable prices. That's made it easier to acquire some new things without the gambling aspect that online purchases seem to be.
So that's a little about me and where I come from. I go through phases with how involved I am with my tea interest. Right now it's more of a fall/winter thing because I'm home more often than in the warmer months.
