New to Tea: Please Assist
I am fairly new to tea, and would appreciate suggestions. I am looking for three things:
-White Tea: I am looking for something comparable to http://www.teavana.com/the-teas/white-teas/p/silver-yin-zhen-pearls-white-tea
-Black Tea: I am looking for black tea that is good for brewing iced tea.
-Tea thermos: I am in dire need of something to carry my tea around with me. I don’t need to brew directly into the thermos, but I would like to find a sizable one that can hold at least 1L of tea and keep it warm or cold for a long period of time.
I know Teavana is not the top, or close to it; nevermind overpriced. I just don’t know where to look for the tea or the travel thermos. I would also like to find tea in a pearl shape, but I am guessing that Teavana’s pearl-shaped tea isn’t made that way naturally.
Thank you for your help.
Try Mandala tea, Verdant, Yunnan sourcing US store. If you want to Ebay find them check Berylleb King Tea and Dragon Tea House.
I’m rather partial to TeaVivre when it comes to black tea, they have a great selection. If you’ve never ordered from them they offer inexpensive sample sizes of all of their teas.
For iced tea you could try their black tea sampler, it has 5 different types of tea, most of which will make an excellent iced tea.
http://www.teavivre.com/black-tea-sample-packs/
I haven’t seen white pearls very often, sorry I can’t be more help there.
I really liked white tea from Shang Tea
http://www.shangtea.com/
Black tea. I would suggest Harney & sons. They have excellent selection of Indian Black, Ceylon, variety of Chinese blacks. They have sample sizes. They also offer iced teas.
Lots of good choices for iced tea if you like flavored teas. Mahamosa, Della Terra and TeaLux all have great berry and fruit teas – i’m partial to blackberry or ‘red fruits" for iced teas, but Mahamosa’s Lemon-mango is great too.
I like thermos products for keeping tea hot/cold, plus they tend to have a variety of sizes. Search Amazon and they have a variety of sizes and prices. I love my Zojirushi, but they tend to be a bit smaller sized.
One thing I’ve learned from Steepster is: everything has its positives. OK well maybe. Teavana is not actually evil. They are priced high on somethings but you can find some of their tea prices aren’t too bad. You get to smell the teas and can get some to try. I wouldn’t buy tea ware there. That always seems way over priced. I did get a Teavana Contour Steepable Tumbler as a gift and I love it. It keeps things hot/cold at least 8 hours. I think it costs about $25.00 Sometimes the clerks can be a little pushy but if you tell them your focus they can often be quite helpful. Go to somewhere near you and ask for help. I suggest a tea shop instead of online for beginners. I know that was where I got a lot of my advice and taste samples. Have fun!
If you just want to try white tea and are not sure how committed you are, I highly suggest Silver Needle from New Mexico Tea Company. You can order just one ounce if you like. The price is very good and the tea is yummy!
I have tried a few whites and liked very little. But I am loving this Silver Needle. The flavor starts out a little malty with light pine notes. Second steep comes in more like stone fruit, third steep lovely citrus notes followed by spice. Brewed western style I get about 4 steeps and up to 8 or so brewed eastern style in a gaiwan. Very eccomical to drink.
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