Elletea said

What is Steepster Select?

So, I keep seeing this little orange badge “Select” everywhere.
But, I can’t find a webpage or discussion thread that explains it.
What is “Select”? Is it some kind of membership or club that you sign up for?
Or do you earn “Select” status somehow?

3 Replies

Cameron B. select said

It used to be a subscription service that Steepster offered. It’s been gone for a while now but some of us still have the little tag because it never got removed. :P

TeaEarleGreyHot said

@Cameron B. Thanks for the explanation! Took me a half hour of diving through years of discussion topics to find, but nice to know!

TeaEarleGreyHot said

Soooooo, I’m coming to a new conclusion about Steepster Select. When @Cameron B. wrote in this discussion thread that “Select” was a subscription service, I took that to mean it was an informational subscription, sort of a paid membership to generate revenue to operate the site. But today I found a listing here for Steepster as a tea company, supplying dozens of teas. http://steepster.com/companies/steepster

That seemed scammy to me, but I saw legitimate members posting tea notes on the teas, which made me dig deeper. Lo-and-behold, I learned that the subscription was actually for a physical collection of teas! As mentioned by @Oolong Owl: https://oolongowl.com/steepster-select-january-2014-teas-oolong-owl-tea-review/

Anyway, Steepster Select is defunct, and so (I assume) is distribution of its selected teas. Perhaps the “traveling tea box” was established to fill that niche? (All of this from long before I knew of this website and community.) Maybe now the Steepster company listing could be renamed as “Steepster Select – Closed” to indicate such, and avoid confusion?

Also, since the founders of Steepster have moved on in life, and control of the domain and site is being provisionally maintained by Adagio Teas (thank you!), I am somewhat concerned about the preservation of the tens of thousands of tea notes and other information stored here. Adagio could decide to put an end to Steepster, or be bought by someone else having different priorities. Or it could simply cease business. All would be lost in the blink of an eye. Don’t even think for a moment that it’s unlikely— it is inevitable! I didn’t think the US Department of Education would shut down, either, or that the knowledge I generated during half my life as a civil servant would be obliterated overnight. Has anyone arranged for periodic crawling of the Steepster content by The Wayback Machine (internet archive)? If not, can someone do so?

Soooooo, I'm coming to a new conclusion about Steepster Select.  When @Cameron B. wrote in this discussion thread that "Select" was a subscription service, I took that to mean it was an _informational_ subscription, sort of a paid membership to generate revenue to operate the site. But today I found a listing here for Steepster as a _tea company,_ supplying dozens of teas.  http://steepster.com/companies/steepster

That seemed scammy to me, but I saw legitimate members posting tea notes on the teas, which made me dig deeper.   Lo-and-behold, I learned that the *_subscription_* was actually for a physical collection of teas!  As mentioned by @Oolong Owl: https://oolongowl.com/steepster-select-january-2014-teas-oolong-owl-tea-review/

Anyway, Steepster Select is defunct, and so (I assume) is distribution of its _selected_ teas.  Perhaps the "traveling tea box" was established to fill that niche?  (All of this from long before I knew of this website and community.)  Maybe now the Steepster company listing could be renamed as *"Steepster Select - Closed"* to indicate such, and avoid confusion?

Also, since the founders of Steepster have moved on in life, and control of the domain and site is being provisionally maintained by Adagio Teas (thank you!), I am somewhat concerned about the preservation of the tens of thousands of tea notes and other information stored here.  Adagio could decide to put an end to Steepster, or be bought by someone else having different priorities. Or it could simply cease business. All would be lost in the blink of an eye.   Don't even think for a moment that it's unlikely— it is inevitable!  I didn't think the US Department of Education would shut down, either, or that the knowledge I generated during half my life as a civil servant would be obliterated overnight.  Has anyone arranged for periodic crawling of the Steepster content by The Wayback Machine (internet archive)?  If not, can someone do so?

or cancel Delete This Reply

What is Steepster Select?

Search Discussions