Paul M Tracy

HAHA! Sounds like something ManTeas would make.

Lol!

This cracked me up. ‘It smells like sweaty armpits’ made me sputter. You poor soul! Why on earth would anyone ever do that to someone else’s mouth, I wonder?

Wow…just…wow…

The maker of this product just sent me the following message:"“Hi There, I made this tea. I kind of think you were really hard on me. […] I almost feel like you bought it to just give my teas a bad name. It’s not fair. I’m a hard worker and am the only employee of my company. Everything is handmade with love and I am dedicated to educating people about plants. My blends are so unique and specific to herbal medicine, perhaps your pallet has not yet fully experienced herbal remedies. I am sorry to see how the human spirit fails here.”

My reply is: I bought the tisane because the description made it sound interesting. It is very similar to other blends which I have really enjoyed. I wouldn’t buy a product to purposely bash the maker because a) it would be a waste of money, b) I have better use for my time and c) I really want to see people succeed in their business and I’m glad to give praise where it’s due. See my reviews for Shui Tea, Souvia or White August for example. However, I’m also very honest with my opinion (which is what any tasting note is-an opinion) and I still stand by the fact that I believe this was one of the most g*d awful things I’ve ever tried to consume.

Whoa Paul! Never buying anything from him because of that accusation.

good4you, While I definitely see where you can take that as a personal blow (heck I kinda have hurt feelings when someone doesn’t love a tea that I do because I think they should lol), sugar coating things isn’t what steepster is about. Unlike other “review” sites, we review and post tasting notes on ALL teas we drink, not just the ones we like. That wouldn’t be fair to you, your customers, or anyone on steepster. I’m a firm believer that everyone deserves the respect of the truth- even when the truth isn’t positive. There are different ways to go about rating a tea. A lot (most) of the people here give a rating based on personal likes. And I respect that. But the great thing about tea is that everyone’s tastes are so different that one person’s score may not mean anything at all. I’m actually (for some crazy reason) drawn to teas that get bad personal preference scores (one of my FAVES was passed on to me by a friend who didn’t like it at all) and was actually really intrigued by this specific one… until I heard what you had to say in response to Paul’s opinion…

good4you,
I’m sorry that you’re taking this so personally, but when you sell a product an inherent part of that is dealing with good and bad reviews. In today’s on-line world, that WILL most likely be public and on the Internet.

You could have used this post to your advantage and had a lot of people try this tisane and post their good opinions here. Or, you could have simply ignored my opinion as it will be buried over time. However (and this is coming from someone that has run a customer care department for years) NEVER tell a customer that their opinion is not valid. My human spirit has not failed here; I’m simply offering another opinion that will hopefully help you further succeed in your business.

One other point, you may want to delete your comment above about your products being “medicinal” as you may have now just placed yourself under the scrutiny of the FDA.

Paul, don’t be sorry- the person on the good4you account should be. You are not in the wrong:)

I am not going to take one side or the other here. However, coming from the perspective of an artist (and a tea artist), I can say that is difficult to hear negative comments about something that I created. Tea wise, I spent a lot of time creating my teas – some blends took me over a year for which to perfect the recipe. It is kind of like a parent not wanting to hear that their child is ugly or imperfect in some way. It is equally as painful to hear something negative said about my artwork. When I devote so much time to something, it’s difficult NOT to take it personally.

That being said, after being in business for nearly 9 years, I have worked on developing somewhat of a tough skin. I have heard negative things about my tea, and I have heard many positive things as well. The negative things still sting a bit but I try to put it in this perspective: every single tea tastes different to every single individual. So, good4you, just because Paul did not care for your tea, does not mean that someone else might not. It’s just an opinion, don’t allow yourself to lose sleep over it. Trying to get someone to change their opinion or the things that they said will only frustrate you more than to just accept the criticism and move on from there and hope that the next customer enjoys your tea more than he did.