teaddict

What a great comparison! But now I’m wondering if these are not, in fact, the same tea. They’re both from Wu Liang mountain in Yunnan, both made in the “oriental beauty” Taiwan style. And to me, they both look exactly alike. I’ve tried both teas, but at different times, so it didn’t occur to me before your comparison.

They might be. I couldn’t find any consistent different between them. I’ll happily get my next fix from whichever of these two sources I’m ordering from next. Right now, I am happy that I have enough from each source to add variety to my oolong rotation of green TGYs and alishans; dan congs; and darker roast wuyis and TGYs and dong dings.

I get the distinct impression that Norbu buys from Yunnan Sourcing. YS has discounted wholesale prices and Norbu sells teas with identical titles and partial descriptions at a higher price point than equal size orders from YS (actually at about the same percentage increase I was looking at selling for to cover shipping and packaging costs when I was reselling from them). If you aren’t buying a bunch from Scott or want faster arrival time, though, the price difference can totally make up for itself.

I think he may well get some stuff from Scott, but he does make his own trips to Yunnan to source teas, and he has a lot of teas that Scott does not, which include some of my favorites, so I order from him a lot anyway. I also had a good experience ordering directly from Scott at YS, but his selection is more limited outside the puerhs. I would happily order my next OB from him if I wanted something else he carries at the same time.

Right now my biggest problem is going to be sitting on my credit card and NOT ordering any more tea from anyone until I have drunk my way through a good portion of my overstocked cupboard!