jaroth28 said

Newbie intro-Phoenix AZ

Hello from sunny and warm in Phoenix, Arizona! My name is James and I’ve recently converted to tea from coffee. My experience is limited but I’ve made a few purchases and I’m really enjoying the learning process. My first purchases were from the Tao of Tea, and the Republic of Tea. I then moved into more specialty offerings from Mei Leaf and Yunnan sourcing. I’ve also purchased from Path of Cha. I know that people have had good and bad experiences with some of these vendors but if it’s OK, I’d like to ask for peoples top go tos for Tea purchases as I’d love to expand my horizons as well as make sure I’m getting the best bang for my buck so to speak. I prefer Pu-erh s and oolongs over green and black tees. I also enjoy aged whites. I did a quick forum search, but If this has already been discussed recently please point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance!

11 Replies

Hi James, welcome! :)

Some of the places I regularly order pu’erh from are Crimson Lotus, White2Tea, and Bitterleaf.

Since you’re also a fan of oolongs and aged whites, I would maybe recommend looking up Bitterleaf first – they have a very impressive dancong range, a handful of really solid aged whites, and a great pu’erh selection as well (mostly sheng).

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ashmanra said

Welcome, James! Verdant tea and Teavivre have great offers for trial samplers!

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Have you tried Mandala Tea? Also if you like shou puerh, I can send you a sampling from a box I was gifted here on steepster. Maya tea is local to you, in Tucson I believe. They did a podcast called steeping around that is all about all kinds of tea. I don’t think Maya has many oolongs or puerh, but the podcast might be worth a listen, I found it entertaining.

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Courtney said

Welcome!

I’ve gone back to Mountain Stream Teas, Taiwan Tea Crafts, (both of these have great oolongs, but really I order from them for their Taiwanese black teas) and Camellia Sinensis (a Canadian company with great oolongs, blacks, and some unique herbals) too many times. :)

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jaroth28 said

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone-it is much appreciated! @michelle-I’d love to take you up on that offer but I really don’t want to seem like I’m taking advantage of anyone givem my newness.

Well I received 16 lbs of tea, so I think I can spare some. I’m a big believer in pay it forward :)

jaroth28 said

16 pounds?! Holy cow. Well if you don’t mind then I’m in. Not sure if I can PM you on here with my info?

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jaroth28 said

Also, I’ve tried uploading a profile photo but it won’t take. Is there a approval process on that or something?

ashmanra said

Steepster has had issues with that for a while. I think all the new members for the last two years of so have had trouble loading pics and changing profile info.

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jaroth28 said

Anyhoo, gonna do some loitering in the chats and see if I can expand my knowledge before eposting a ton. Don’t want to embarrass myself :-)

ashmanra said

Don’t worry about that! Everyone here had a starting place, and everyone is so kind. We are just thrilled to see someone starting their tea journey and getting to follow along!

Here is a link for a good, concise, starter resource to get you more confident in what you are tasting in your tea!

https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/how-to-taste-tea

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