tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post408932690343820249..comments2024-03-20T16:34:04.414-04:00Comments on Alex Zorach's Tea Blog: More Is Not Better: How To Balance Freshness and Turnover for Small Tea CompaniesAlex Zorachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08335878680429494039noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post-75779703041044470512012-07-13T21:25:34.443-04:002012-07-13T21:25:34.443-04:00Glass jars aren't always a bad thing.
In my s...Glass jars aren't always a bad thing.<br /><br />In my shop, I have the majority of my teas displayed in glass jars, but that "wall o' tea" is in the very back of the store, over 100 feet from the front windows (which face east and have buildings across the street).<br /><br />As long as I can turn those teas over regularly, the glass jars make for a much more attractive display, in that the customers can actually see the tea, and it doesn't affect the quality of the product.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post-5275914120889964762012-07-11T17:04:23.617-04:002012-07-11T17:04:23.617-04:00I've published the follow-up post: Honesty and...I've published the follow-up post: <a href="http://cazort.blogspot.com/2012/07/honesty-and-dishonesty-in-american.html" rel="nofollow">Honesty and Dishonesty in American Business</a>. Pretty heavy stuff; I hope you find it interesting.Alex Zorachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335878680429494039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post-87142426018517173672012-07-11T11:25:17.389-04:002012-07-11T11:25:17.389-04:00it'll be interesting to see what you write on ...it'll be interesting to see what you write on the topic - your blog posts are always comprehensive and thoughtful, so I look forward to it. <br /><br />There's been various long discussions (interesting ones!) on LinkedIn about transparency in the supply chain for tea companies, but I sometimes feel like this wholesalers/sourcing issue is the elephant in the room right now for us all.minriverteahttp://www.minrivertea.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post-79471748842628403852012-07-10T09:44:08.702-04:002012-07-10T09:44:08.702-04:00Ahh...this makes sense.
I do think most of the co...Ahh...this makes sense.<br /><br />I do think most of the companies with large catalogues probably source a majority of teas from wholesalers. And because most tea companies are secretive about their wholesalers, and most wholesalers secretive about both their sources and clients, there is no way to independently verify anything about the origin of the teas. And this also bothers me, as I value transparency highly, and think it is one of the best ways to advance prosperity for all people and for society as a whole.<br /><br />I want to write a long reply to this, longer than would comfortably fit in this comment, so stay tuned for a follow-up blog post.Alex Zorachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335878680429494039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post-75066415838883458862012-07-10T04:04:49.353-04:002012-07-10T04:04:49.353-04:00Hey Alex, Chris from minrivertea.com here, just no...Hey Alex, Chris from minrivertea.com here, just noticed the blog post! <br /><br />Regarding a small catalogue, actually the real reason is different from your analysis - there's a difference between catalogue and stocks. I keep small, fast-turnover stocks in order to maintain freshness, but the catalogue is small for another reason.<br /><br />Visiting tea farms in China is extremely time and resource intensive. They are in countryside or mountainous areas, spread out over large areas, not easy to reach in inclement weather etc. eg. this Spring I spent around 7 days visiting just 2 farms where our Iron Buddha and Da Hong Pao comes from (because of bad weather). So we only sell a tea if we've seen it being produced - who else can say that?<br /><br />I strongly hope the trend for having ridiculously large ranges changes, to the benefit of customers. There's a glut of companies with 100+ teas claiming 'direct from the farm' and 'ethical sourcing', without having even visited China! There's a fundamental dishonesty about that which affects quality much more than storage of their tea, and really misleads customers too.minriverteahttp://www.minrivertea.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post-21325293596957531072012-07-02T18:04:04.943-04:002012-07-02T18:04:04.943-04:00Yep, you should either let a customer smell the re...Yep, you should either let a customer smell the real product they're going to buy, or just let them sample freely (what the more "upmarket" tea shops in Taipei do).Nick Hermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01543497413262895759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post-46108896161049327502012-06-27T20:29:52.269-04:002012-06-27T20:29:52.269-04:00Alex,
Was cruising through your blog and stumbled...Alex,<br /><br />Was cruising through your blog and stumbled across this post which I think is spot on. Coming from a small tea company, I can tell you first hand that managing freshness, quality & selection is quite a delicate balance but one that is absolutely necessary. For us, that means having a lean selection of the best quality teas we can source, while at the same time providing excellent customer service. Thanks fror the link!Marlonmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12301425116173432353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post-86250189859703391552012-06-27T09:02:34.872-04:002012-06-27T09:02:34.872-04:00This tea shop stores the tea that they sell and th...This tea shop stores the tea that they sell and the tea that they brew in opaque metal tins in the back of the store. This shelf with the glass jars is only for samples to display what the tea looks like, because the opaque tins don't show this. So, I do understand this.<br /><br />But the person working there was also encouraging me to open up and smell the teas in these jars--and they did not smell fresh. The tea in the back of the store was much fresher. So I'd be hesitant to draw a strong negative conclusion about this setup, because when it comes down to it, this particular shop properly stores the tea that they actually sell. But I did think that it was bad to have potential customers smelling stale teas, even if you're going to serve them high-quality tea. I think the approach that many tea shops, including Ten Ren and Teavana do, which is to keep the loose tea in tins, and open up the tins for the customer to smell it when someone is interested in a particular type of tea, is superior. I've noticed that both Teavana and Ten Ren have round tins with larger bases, as opposed to the more upright tins used in many stores, because I think they lend themselves more to letting the customer smell the teas. But that's the subject of a whole other post!Alex Zorachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335878680429494039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8825055425170299721.post-60565311603861897302012-06-26T16:40:54.575-04:002012-06-26T16:40:54.575-04:00Speaking of 1st impressions and aesthetics, the gl...Speaking of 1st impressions and aesthetics, the glass containers thing is one that is so frustrating because it immediately tells me you don't know enough about tea to store it well and/or (more likely) you don't even stock tea good enough worth storing well--yet at least in terms of storage mechanics, it's such an easy problem to fix. More likely indicative of "we don't care enough, and we're betting our customers won't care enough to notice." And, sure enough, I can't remember ever visiting a tea shop that was storing their tea in glass containers that had distinctive or high quality tea, or seemed genuinely interested in educating its customers.Nick Hermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01543497413262895759noreply@blogger.com