Jim Marks

I am still new to the world of shengs and I can’t figure out what makes one better than another one. ;-)

How much you paid.

ha! yes. and no doubt the most flowery adjectives from the tea seller as well…

To be mildly serious, I think with sheng, there is probably very little, if any, “bad” sheng. It is way too hard to make to end up doing it poorly. There may be batches that in some sense “failed” in processing, but I doubt anyone is setting out to make “cut rate” sheng.

That being said, I’m also fairly confident that anything being sold by RoTea via a grocery store chain designed to appeal to self-identified “foodies” is probably not anything like “top shelf”, either. Especially not at $50/pound and a mere 3 years vintage.

That 2002 Naka Lahu I had was a borderline religious experience and probably would have been even better if I knew more about the shorter steeping techniques.

But the actual flavors in the cup are so, let’s face it, WEIRD that it is very hard, I think, so say anything more than “I prefer this one” or “I prefer that one” rather than “this is better than that”.

Which, ultimately, the tea you prefer to drink, is the best tea.

That was helpful Jim, but I tend to avoid RoT…just a personal choice. :))

I’m not a big fan, but this Autumn has been brutal on us, fiscally, and so my usual habit of placing orders with ultra-premium tea distributors has had to go on hiatus while we get ourselves back on our feet — unlikely to happen until all the holiday traveling is over.

Meanwhile I’m buying what I can find at Whole Foods and Central Market (Houston only has two or three tea shops and their selection of “serious” teas is pretty meager, or Teavana which is just pure evil) — which means Rishi (gag) and RoTea (slightly less gag) for the moment. There are a few smaller distributors on offer, but they are predominantly for flavored and scented offerings.

Oh I got my credit card bill yesterday and I am heading to cheapville myself. I can’t continue to spend so much money on tea.

I am getting some more tea paraphernalia from purepuer.com for Christmas, and have requested two ounces of their puer to try. I hope it is as good as it sounds!

Hope things improve foor you. I talk about ordering from new tea vendors….and yes, I want to, but It’ll be a while for me too. |:o\