Recommendations
Hello everyone, I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction with 2 things.
1.- I am mostly a green tea drinker and have been getting my teas from adagio. Adagio makes shopping very convenient, shipping is fast and reasonably priced, and they have a decent selection. However, I find their green teas to be either a hit or a miss, I mean either they taste like they are supposed to or they are way off. To give you a specific example, I find their gunpowder to be the best around but their sencha is just too bland. I was wondering if someone could point me to a U.S. based online merchant that is reputable, has a good selection of green teas, and has a similar level of customer service.
2.- I love using a gaiwan or a tetsubin, but sometimes I want a simpler, neutral teapot. I don’t need a hand made, high end teapot, I’m looking for more of a functional one that works well. I have been looking around and found 3 options that look promising, inexpensive, and aesthetically pleasing, those options are: Brown Betty, Bee House, and Corelle. What’s your experience with those?
As a side note, I’m new to this site and I’m glad I found it. It is very informative and folks seem nice. I think this place might be nice for someone like me to find info, tips, recommendations, etc.
Thanks in advance for your help
Virginia Perique
Virginia, for greens you MUST check out Den’s Tea. If you spend $15 on your 1st purchase you get this great sampler they say is worth $3 (you get a coupon for $3 off your next order if your 1st order is less than $15), but I think is worth so much more. You have to put it in your cart though, it’s not given to you automatically. I also LOVE their steeping parameters they have on their website and now use it for all of my Japanese greens no matter what brand. A lot of people say Adagio’s teas are low quality, but I think a lot of it is just because their steeping parameters are way off for a lot of teas (I think they also do this for their pu erhs and whites). I specifically recommend any one of their matchas and their flavored senchas.
I also UBBERLY (and yes, I’m 25 and just said ubberly lol!) suggest 52teas for their flavored matchas- they are all spot on.
I haven’t bought anything from them yet, but I know Upton Tea Imports as samples of almost all their teas- a lot of them as cheap as $1. They even have sample sizes of matcha!
I am thinking about getting a Brown Betty. The are designed to retain heat, and be a work horse teapot that is has a pleasant yet functional shape. They are kind of like a glazed western style Yixing in my opinion. The only thing is that a couple years ago the company changed hands and the quality went down. I have heard that it came back up, but I am not sure.
If you drink greens or white teas a majority of the time, I like glass for them for a couple of reasons. 1. The heat distribution of glass, which makes it easier to not bake your leaves. My Bodum tea pot seems to stay at 160-170. A good temp range for greens and whites. 2. Due to the “pretty” nature of greens and whites it is nice to watch them unfurl and see the liquor poor off of them.
Of course glass won’t stay as hot as long as a ceramic/clay pots will. However, it is easier to to brew greens and whites, since the glass keeps the water from baking them. It is just kind of a matter of opinion. I have a glass one at the moment, but I am going to buy a nice ceramic or Brown Betty for my blacks and herbals.
I’m a recent convert to The Persimmon Tree http://www.persimmontreetea.com/green-tea.html Not much selection yet for greens, but everything I got there has been very good. Free shipping too and they have sample sizes.
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