Liquid Proust Teas Birthday Shenanigans Sale
Dear Steepster,
Without this site I would be lost in the world of tea in the wrong way. Over the next few years I will do my best to come up with some way to explain the gratitude.
I’ve taken a few steps already on here and today I would like to announce yet another.
My birthday is coming up and I brain stormed a way to give back to the community during a time of celebration; one thing is that I like to give…
So during the week of my birthday I will be giving 26% off all orders that use my coupon. Choosing 26 was easy because that is the next number in the sequence of my ‘age’.
August 1st Now through August 10th
That’s easy enough right?
Coupon will be simple: birthday
A coupon is not enough though, so I decided to release some new teas I have worked on:
Oolong Spa Tea :A mixture of Formosa oolong with lavender and vanilla that was inspired by a soothing tea that could compliment aromas while taking a weekend bath that has been daydreamed of for 5 days :p
https://www.etsy.com/listing/242343647/oolong-spa-tea-1-ounce-hand-craft-loose
Fake Mead: A crazy contraption of mine that almost had me inquire about buying dead bees to grind up so there was protein in the mix… not really though, I do have limits.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/242446742/fake-mead-1-ounce-hand-blended-black
Wild n White Wild-Berry: When I saw white pu’rh buds I thought of white fur and it made me happy… when I tasted them I was like, dang that is some wild tasking tea… so I decided to get some wild berry taste in there with flowers to offset some of it.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/242447268/wild-n-white-wild-berry-12-ounce-hand
Nostalgia: This is the tea that I spent a few hours making and the one tea that I am going to rate. That means I am breaking rules with this tea so it better be worth the Steepster fines that get billed to me.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/242342329/nostalgia-1-ounce-hand-crafted-loose
Andrew’s Birthday Insanity: Have you ever just sat down and ate cake icing before? It isn’t that good after a few bites is it? Well, this tea might be the same but you and I will have to find out as this is my ‘birthday frosting’ type of tea. Do not be confused and think it is flavored like birthday anything, or sweet anything… it’s its own thing and you may find yourself tasting a puzzle. I’m even confused as to why I threw some jasmine pearls in there….
https://www.etsy.com/listing/242342837/andrews-birthday-insanity-1-ounce-hand
^ If these are purchased between now and 3rd please note they will not ship until the 4th as I am making ‘gifts’
I decided to revise some information because I had some inquiring about the sale and figured I would just start it right away and not hesitate. Also, my apologies for starting another thread; I figured this one would be semi long and might need its own thread.
-Andrew
p.s. Blackberry Sage Keemun is on hold until I can provide what I consider the highest quality possible rather than just producing something to sale; in case anyone was going to question about that.
Happy almost birthday LP!
Thanks!
This also reminds me… I need to find out who else is born in August and shoot them free shipping codes and birthday cards :)
Maybe I’ll do free shipping for everyone’s birthday and cards since I don’t get to write much anymore.
Is Nostalgia sold out already, or just not on sale yet?
Thanks for the notice Zack… I forgot to put a quantity.
I went ahead and updated it
Happy early birthday.
You probably weren’t around on Steepster but a while back there was a bit of a furor over Misty Peaks rating its teas at 100. I don’t know how you will rate your tea, but I think it’s inappropriate for vendors to rate tea on Steepster. Either their own or other companies.
I might be in a minority in that, but there was a big dust up over it and discussions about whether or not it was ethical for MP to rate their own tea.
The reason I think it is inappropriate is that that rating your tea or “competitor’s” tea affects the overall rating. While I’m sure you are a perfectly ethical fellow, I think vendors, even if they are participating separately as individuals, should refrain from giving numerical ratings. No reason not to participate and write tasting notes and discuss what you liked/didn’t like about a tea, but I think refraining from numerical rating totally avoids the appearance of any bias and keeps the rating system (which is odd and hard to decipher anyway) a little more transparent. I think most vendors avoid it and I think it is a good policy.
Thanks :)
edit Thanks for the early birthday comment and for voicing yourself. I really enjoy when someone informs others of ‘issues of once past’ (sorry, had to use some Proustian language there) and also reiterates a particular stance to make an issue clear. I appreciate your words :)
I completely understand both sides. It takes a lot for a tea to be a 100 because that would mean that improvement needs not exist to be the best version of that tea. The way I view tea is somewhat different than others because I see it as a way to be expressive with time, effort, and enthusiasm for a drink; therefore, tea is a form of art to me and just like artist of all sorts I do not find it to be wrong to comment on others who are working with the same medium that I am working with. I don’t rate my teas out of some bias that I may have, but rather because tea is my passion and I want my product to be scrutinized by others without some weird feeling of recourse when they say something like:
“The essence of Liquid Proust Teas comes off as if someone just mowed the lawn in 105f heat for over two hours and sweated all over some three year old sencha. As I sip away at this cup of murky tea, I question if flies might have gotten to the leaf before I have as I can see some crackling on the leaf as if it has sat in the sun baking after being left out when Andrew got off of work.”
I’d be like, ‘I really like how someone put time into reviewing my product’. Same if someone just say A+, B-, C, 20, 40, 80, DO NOT BUY, best tea yet, ect…
I understand the concerns, but I’ve decided that chains will not exist for me and therefore I will do as I please and how I see fit. Everyone has different opinions and that makes the world beautiful, I just have to learn to how to let the negativity be as rain to a ducks back.
With that being said: If I give Nostalgia a 20, a 60, a 90… it will all come down to truth from my perception of what I have created. Will I get/take heat for it? Heck yeah I will and I said I will pay the Steepster fine when it is billed to me :)
Gray zones suck you know?
Say something and end up regretting it or say nothing and end up regretting not saying anything… thoughts after thoughts
I really like discussing these matters because everyone views tea so uniquely and unfortunately we do have to ponder about the role of ethics of economics and business.
Number 9 on the sticky post about guidelines clearly says not to rate your own teas.
Bit of hubris here hon: “I understand the concerns, but I’ve decided that chains will not exist for me and therefore I will do as I please and how I see fit. Everyone has different opinions and that makes the world beautiful, I just have to learn to how to let the negativity be as rain to a ducks back.”
You are a guest on this site, as we all are.
Thanks for pointing this out Marzipan. I don’t think I actually ever read the rules…
You’re correct, there is pride in there. Unfortunately it’s one of my negative attributes; especially when I’m cooking because I believe I do it best. Not trying to justify the way in which I speak, but one of the drawbacks about communication via text is the inability to hear inflections or experience a persons vibe; however, maybe my inflections can provide a negative reflection of what is meant. I suppose I am just frustrated with the system of not speaking one’s mind at all times. I’ll get over it in time.
Anyways @Jason when it happens just know I knew in advance.
I second both Mzpriss and Marzi’s comments. In addition, I think the fact that you want to rate your own tea because it’s fun to “break the rules” shows a lack of maturity, but mostly, a lack of respect for Steepster and its members. Rules don’t always exists to be broken, there are valid reasons as Mzpriss kindly explained for not rating your own product. Vendors find the most valuable marketing tool here on Steepster FOR FREE!! Please treat it with the respect it deserves…thank you, and good luck.
Thanks for your thoughts :)
It’s always nice to see support in favor among a community.
I am not going to be rating Nostalgia for fun.I don’t believe I’ve led anyone to believe I’m doing so for enjoyment/fun. This was a project of mine for my birthday and I wanted to be able to deconstruct it myself; thus is why I will be making an exception to my approach on tea ratings on Steepster.
I had a friend when I was young who used to say, “It’s my birthday so I can sit wherever I want,” only partially joking. Shenanigans, Andrew.
Good way to punch me :)
(this is Andrew’s way of saying, dang that is a reality check)
There is still over a week… I shall think about this.
Is it the numerical attribute that is deemed inappropriate?
I think it’s just the number. Don’t see any reason why you can’t deconstruct your creations in writing reviews — I like to hear from the artist. :)
I am going to make my tea wish it could cry out the pain from how harsh I will be to it :p
Na, but really though… I want to describe my experience as I drink it. I am more of a ‘what does this tea make me realize or think of’ taster rather than flavors and such. I blame my bestfriend because she does it when we drink like, ‘this taste like a long drive across Kansas’ and I totally get it.
Also, this place is not the end all be all for recording thoughts. If much of your ratings and musings are really meant for you, you can record them in other ways as well. I think I would be interested in hearing a number from you in regard to your own tea, so perhaps a typed rating within the note, or a mention on your company blog, or youtube channel, anywhere that wouldn’t affect the steepster community rating. A spreadsheet would allow you to assign numerical ratings to any and all tea, including your own. I know based on how I use the ratings, which is to guide my repurchasing decisions in a totally personal way, the numbers are essential for making that easy.
Being proud is one thing, but there are others ways for you to advertise that pride. Rating it yourself is not the answer. Why not write a post on the discussion board and “deconstruct” as you call it all you want? This way you’d have full freedom of expressing yourself, no “chains” and it wouldn’t mess with the rating. But hey, of course I’m no Steepster Police, at the end of the day, you can do as you please.
Thanks for the comment. This is a great discussion because I am open minded and reevulating my approach. I also use ratings for repurchasing, but don’t let others do such for me. I will buy a tea 90% of people say is horrid if I want to taste it. Regardless, maybe it is best to give an evaulation in regards to an achievement percentage rather than tasting. Without a number though.
Also, I drank about 24 steeps of aome 2010 ripe from Tea Urchin starting at 11pm… I sill be up for a bit (sorry for the Steepster flood)
I guess a number could be misleading to others, especially if I ever used 90 or above.
edit How do I give a percentage without a number… Good going Andrew.
I agree that rating something out of pride is probably arrogant, but I wanted to rate it for its success to my tastebuds. Honestly, it could be medicore for all I know as I haven’t played with the final product. It is kindof my baby I have been working on for the last two months.
We all have equal say on Steepster which makes your comments just as valuable as any others.
Silly questiom about Steepster police: Would they carry thermometers to regulate water temperatures?
This is still rather intriguing. I was driving to work this morning and thought to myself: Of course I would admit to an officer that I plan to drive 70mph going to work in a 65mph zone. However, it doesn’t matter what I plan to do because the roads and other cars dictate my own driving (and weather). That being said, I plan to evaulate my tea somehow but it must be done in a way that harmonizes with the Steepster vibe which is not what I believe it to be, for it is what the collective makes it.
I was also watching StarTrek before going to work so I have a bit of Borg going through my mind.
I’m still new with lots to learn and I thank you for helping me out rather than just waiting for something bad to happen
We should have some oovo meetings about these type of conversations! Tea ethics, descriptive language, use of social media and its effects, comparision on scientific findings with tea, and all other things that tea can get tangled up in.
I definitely see and understand where everyone’s coming from; this is an issue that it feels like has been discussed time and time again.
It is pretty clearly stated in the rules/guidelines not to rate your own teas (and I think you’ve done a good of that so far up until this point), so that should definitely be respected – regardless of personal opinion, and exceptions be damned. Otherwise you risk opening a giant can of worms – and honestly and genuinely not meaning to be rude or aggressive with most (if not all) of your sales coming from the Steepster community do you really want to piss them off?
It definitely does boil down to the numerical rating though, as there are many, many company owners who write reviews and such for their own teas but just don’t assign a numerical rating (the first that pops into mind was Stacy from Butiki but there are others). I don’t think anyone has a problem with that approach? Otherwise you’d probably have been, for lack of a better term, ‘called out’ sooner.
As for rating teas from other people – I think that’s probably a whole new issue and I don’t know if it’s ever really been discussed? Personally, I don’t have an issue with it as you’ve been transparent about your attention to do so and to separate ‘business from pleasure’ and from what I can tell from following you you’re rating things pretty fairly (not deliberately low scoring teas, or rating them all high, etc.). However, if people do have an issue with this I think the respectable thing to do would be to listen to that and, at the very least, just stop numerically scoring those teas as well.
EDIT: I’m still damn curious about Fake Mead though so regardless of the goings on of this thread you may very well get me to order. The only thing holding me back is the $450 I spent this afternoon on my latest tattoo…
EDIT EDIT: Oh yeah, I wanted to wish you a happy early birthday! Seeing as that’s why I clicked this topic in the first place…
This is true.
Hmmm… Maybe a number is just a symbol to be interpreted differently now that I am split between two worlds. Nothing stopping me from just writing them in a notebook.
A great tea is still great just as a bad one is bad, when it comes to my personal experince with tasting them.
Bleh… If I win a lottery, which I never play, I am switching to Non Profit and sending everyone tea for free for a game of tea rating :)
edit If you don’t like Darjeeling taste, I would recommend staying away as it is wuite similiar. Also, tattoos last longer than my tea does which makes them more valuable :)
Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing a written rating of your teas in the body of the review so long as it’s not numerically scored for the ‘official’ rating. Does that even make sense? I’m so tired from getting the tattoo done… But not sure how everyone else would feel about that.
On the flip side, I don’t know how that’d affect you business wise. If I see you’ve ‘rated’ one of your own teas, say, a 70 I may be less inclined to buy it if even the creator doesn’t think it’s worthy of a 90+ rating. Just something else to consider.
I would be honest… Which means certain teas would get low ratings because it isn’t something I like. For example: my mom loves cherries and I find them repulsing, but I am working on a cherry vanilla tea for her. That tea would easily get a low rating from me, even if it is qaulity. The same is true for teas with rose and lemongrass. Bleh. I suppose you are right, I should just write up about the good and bad. I don’t want to make anyone want it more or less based on my word though :/ the goal is that other people would do such.
I will so some meditation on my language usage prior
I’m late to the party, but that’s hardly news.
LP, if you were to rate your tea despite being made aware of the rules, etc, I imagine what would likely happen is someone would bring it to Jason’s attention and then he would ask you to remove the numerical rating. It’s happened before. At that point you’d have to decide if you wish to follow an “official” Steepster verdict. If not, I’m not sure what would happen but I assume they would either remove the rating, or possibly limit your permissions. I mean, that sounds drastic but if you’re not going to play by the rules, then maybe you would end up not being allowed to play.
In general, the users of Steepster self moderate. That is part of the beauty of the place. You’re definitely still allowed to create a written review though, and even type in a number. The only difference is it should not be entered on the slider and won’t affect the rating in the end. I agree that vendors should not numerically rate their own teas on Steepster. I also personally believe that they should not rate other teas, but I don’t believe that is part of the rules.
On a lighter note, happy birthday. And thanks for the ‘heavy reading’!
Interestingly enough I had a similar issue in my third year of college in which the professor and I decided it would come down to me not asking questions or being removed from the class… as you could imagine, the concept of losing the credits and money outweighed my desire to ask questions I was concerned about. The same is true of this situation it seems.
I will be working on explaining my teas with images rather than qualitative remarks… though, comparing imagines to others can qualify them as qualitative themselves if interpreted as such. Heavy reading can be enjoyable, hopefully it wasn’t a drag in this case :p
and thank you :)
To everyone involved with the whole conversation regarding ratings earlier: I went ahead and added a ‘Hit List’ to my profile which was the best of the best from my ratings as my public display of my favorites. Hopefully that is acceptable. It took less than 2 hours to remove all my ratings on Steepster, but that is done. I figured that no one would be upset with no rating versus the possibility of upsetting anyone with a 1 or a 100 regarding a product.
I hope that I will continue to be allowed to use my personality in my reviews without causing anyone to feel uneasy. Generally, there are products I praise and others I warn others of; I also give reasons for either or.
All of my thoughts are above and won’t be edited. Tea ratings will still be viewed in my mind as a non ethical issue, however I do understand the concept of ramifications. Just as I hold no ethical issue for me indulging in 20 cups of ripe pu’erh tea last night… :P
Thankfully this community is cool enough to speak up and help a noobie out (if I can still call myself that… I did join in March after all)
To that I should probably mention I put anywhere from 15-25 hours each week into tea drinking, blending, and research; thus is how I have drank the absurd 400+ different teas in the span of 4 months and my activeness on here. Hopefully I’m not not too annoying… tea is kind of where my time goes to.
I should probably not write a novella here :p
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