tea travel reporting: New York City and Taipei

Just about all tea stores in Taiwan should let you try before buying.

I only tasted one tea at both of the shops (combined) that I mentioned buying tea from in that post, Lin Mao Sen and Lin Hua Tai. Both did have tasting areas, and I would assume a request to taste a specific tea or even several teas would be met with favorably. At the same time both seemed to really be set up as wholesale businesses that also did retail, so although they’d be familiar with that practice and probably would embrace it the feel and sales process would be different at a small owner shop. I would only be speculating about typical selection differences (a completely different subject), and that would vary anyway.

It seems likely that I didn’t try more teas because I really was in a hurry. As mentioned in the post I spent two whole days in Taipei, cut shorter by dealing with 11 hour time-shift jet lag, and the demands of a family vacation with two young kids (Taipei 101 is cool; maybe even nicer than the average tall building). I visited the first shop in the evening just before a late dinner and went back for short stops at both in the afternoon between doing other things. I liked the people at both, although I seemed to feel a cooler reception from Lin Mao Sen, maybe because of the context of the relationship between the stores more than an impression they had of me. But who knows. Trying teas before you buy them is ideal, a great idea, and in almost all cases that’s time well spent. I’ve had mixed experiences in different kinds of shops related to offers and openness about that practice, including at one other I ducked in and out of there, and others on the trip. It seems like preconceptions and the “fast read” of potential customers from shop owners is as much a factor as their normal routine. Mentioning that I write a blog about tea has brought about mixed results in different cases, sometimes interpreted as a sign of a shared deeper interest in the subject, sometimes just puzzling the staff or owners as to what that’s all about.

I wish I could get back more often, although for tea shopping Taipei might work out better, the place we went just after NYC. I passed on all the commercial boxed or tin teas at New Kam Man because trying those at random would be unlikely to turn up mid-level results, with the large-jar stored teas I did try also not working out better than that. I couldn’t judge Tea Drunk, not having made it there, but based on checking out their website the $1.50 per gram average asking prices kind of prices me out. I’ve got to keep it in check, to some extent, since my kids are going to need to go to college at some point.

it’s just starting out, but an online friend is putting a group together for NYC tea lovers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1816927835213393/

Sounds like a different experience and not just a different perspective. I’ve ran across a case here (from past hearsay, not my experience) of a Bangkok Chinatown Wuyishan teas specialist getting into pu’er and not doing the subject justice. In some cases it could just be misinformation on the vendor’s part, although that doesn’t change the final outcome. I bought an inexpensive sheng and shou from her, and only tried the shou so far, and it was decent, pretty much what it was sold as. It’s odd any higher quality and older tea would sell for $10 per ounce, isn’t it, that the asking price seems low, aside from the authenticity issue? It seems possible her shop might be a good place to get some types of tea but not better aged pu’er. The general level of pricing was moderate so I automatically shifted expectations related to that, but she was selling teas at different price levels.

I also don’t like the way she stores her teas in glass jars. She has a thing about metal tea canisters so she stores everything in glass exposed to light, slowly degrading the tea.