Call me Rishmael: Finding my White Whale — A Relentless Quest for Tea

Hi Tea Lovers,

I’ve been on epic tea journey over the last few years. I wanted to share my adventure with the greater world, so I put together a post on Medium. I’d love for you to take a look and let me know what you think! Feel free to share with anyone who you think could use an adventure or a just a good cup of tea.

https://medium.com/@rishi.reddy/call-me-rishmael-finding-my-white-whale-a-relentless-quest-for-tea-4ed8a87cbf53#.clk0lsef2

20 Replies

OMG! What an incredible tale.

Thanks, it’s been quite a ride!

mrmopar said

It was a good journey though. Friends and contacts along the way.

mrmopar, you always see the silver lining! :)

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bozisuk said

Super interesting! Thanks for posting a wonderful story. I just added your website to my favorites. Hoping to try some soon when I save up some more tea money :P

Thanks for the kind words! I’m delighted that you want to give my tea a try :)

bozisuk said

No problem. I see you do tastings in Boston. I get back there every couple of years. Maybe I’ll try to sign up for one next time I’m in town.

mrmopar said

I have a friend in Boston I hope to see one day. This would be a perfect venue.

It would be awesome to host both of you!

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“….before being threatened (in broken English) by my Couchsurfing host who I seriously offended due to a Google translate error.” – Now I gotta know…what was the translation error!?

Haha, it’s a long story…..

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AllanK said

I have wanted to go to China myself. That you went with no knowledge of the language is amazing. I don’t have the money to go right now but the fact that I cannot speak the language would probably keep me from going.

Don’t let the language barrier stop you! You can take a copy of my note :)

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a Yellow tea from Yunnan, oh be still my heart! I must try it!

Tea ogling aside, your story is awesome and immensely inspiring!

Thanks for the kind words Amanda!The yellow tea I found is literally the only yellow tea I’ve ever seen from outside of Hunan and Sichuan. It’s not a budded golden tea (like jun shan yin zhen) but whole leaf. I really like it, and it’s much more affordable than the Hunan yellow teas. If you give it a try, would love to hear your thoughts.

It has certainly been added to my list of teas to try soon! I have a passion for singing the songs of little known teas on my blogs, and regions producing teas usually made elsewhere are a favorite! I am very curious to see how it compares to the Hunan and Sichuan yellows, and the couple I have had from India and the one really odd one I had from Fujian. I adore yellow teas, can you tell ;)

Wow, you are more into yellow teas than any person I’ve ever met! Many Chinese tea shop owners have never even tastes yellow tea. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this yunnan variety.

Hehe, I have an obsession for sure!

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Ubacat said

It’s because of adventurous people like you and other companies that find farmers and sell their teas in China. I am fortunate to sit at my computer and get fresh teas from China delivered right to my home. That’s something that would not have been possible 10 years ago.

Thank you so much, it’s messages like these that motivate me to find more teas.

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