On Oct 9, 3:13 pm, juliantai
googlemail.com> wrote:> On Oct 7, 11:37 pm, Shen
gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>> On Oct 7, 7:54 am, juliantai
googlemail.com> wrote:>
>>> On Oct 6, 12:48 am, andrei....@
gmail.com wrote:
>
>>>> On Oct 5, 6:24 pm, juliantai
googlemail.com> wrote:>
>>>>> On Oct 5, 9:41 pm, andrei....@
gmail.com wrote:
>
>>>>>> On Oct 5, 2:22 pm, juliantai
googlemail.com> wrote:>
>>>>>>> Hey Guys
>
>>>>>>> My first online tea order was Adagio. And it was my last :(
>
>>>>>>> So I am not really in a place to recommend.
>
>>>>>>> Coming back to Adagio...
>
>>>>>>> All their teas were rated 4 or 5. My mind goes haywired when I see
>>>>>>> that all those feedback count for nothing.
>
>>>>>>> At least to me....
>
>>>>>>> Having said that, they have lots of HAPPY customers, so who am I to
>>>>>>> comment?
>
>>>>>>> But what really impress me is their Alexa ranking. They rank 102,000,
>>>>>>> that is extraordinary.
>
>>>>>>> You are talking about 1000 to 10000 visits a day, with hundreds or
>>>>>>> even thousands of orders daily.
>
>>>>>>> How did they achieve that?
>
>>>>>>> Even Upton, probably the largest vendor, only ranks 900,000.
>
>>>>>>> Sevencups ranks 450,000, and 7th on the Alexa list.
>
>>>>>>> Looking at their descriptions, prices and info, I can see they
>>>>>>> outclass the like of Teaspring and Jing in term of quality.
>
>>>>>>> Some of their teas may seem pricey, but it is a reflection of the
>>>>>>> wholesale prices in China.
>
>>>>>>> I have a few tea garden contacts in China.
>
>>>>>>> When I read the descriptions, I can guess where they get the tea from,
>>>>>>> how authentic it is, and whether they are telling the truth.
>
>>>>>>> I am sure may othe vendors you have suggested are equally worth
>>>>>>> considering.
>
>>>>>>> :)
>
>
>>>>>> My take on adagio is that I really liked their oolongs, much more than
>>>>>> any other oolongs that I had anywhere else even at higher prices. But
>>>>>> that's probably because I always ended up with green type of oolongs
>>>>>> from other places, and I just don't like those. Their canisters are
>>>>>> neat, but I think in fact you might be better off with resealable bags
>>>>>> because you can flush all the air out, but it's nice that you can
>>>>>> reuse those canisters for longer term storage. But I don't like the
>>>>>> way they call teas "adagio oolong 8", etc, because I have no idea how
>>>>>> to compare them to teas from other sources. What if I want to find a
>>>>>> similar oolong at Upton's? or at IPOT? I doubt Adagio grew that tea so
>>>>>> it'd make more sense to tell me what province, what area, the type of
>>>>>> preparation, and so forth. Other than oolongs, their black teas were
>>>>>> about comparable to specialteas and upton's blacks priced at that
>>>>>> level. I liked their site, too. I think they have some nice teaware,
>>>>>> but I haven't looked at it for a while.
>
>>>>> Andrei
>
>>>>> It will be quite tricky for Adagio to provide detailed info as the
>>>>> other higher end vendors.
>
>>>>> Their business is in the brand. With the amount of tea they are
>>>>> selling, their challenge is to keep the consistency of quality
>>>>> expected of their brand.
>
>>>>> In any case, their customers don't really want to know that actually
>>>>> their longjing tea is from Sichuan province or their Wuyi oolong is
>>>>> not from Wuyi mountain at all.
>
>>>>> It is a bit like Mcdonald. They don't necessary make the best burger,
>>>>> but people still go to them because they know how to make a burger
>>>>> that people would buy.
>
>>>>> I think they realise this right from the start. That's why they are so
>>>>> successful.
>
>>>>> Sometimes I wonder if they might launch a high end tea site one day.
>>>>> Given their customer database and marketing network, it will be a very
>>>>> powerful force.
>
>>>>> Although selling higher end teas require a wholly different approach.
>
>>>>> Just my random ramblings. Please feel free to disagree with my
>>>>> comments.
>
>
>>>> I was surprised that they sell a lot. I thought upton and specialteas
>>>> are the biggest stores. For some odd reason I thought adagio are
>>>> really small. I thought it very odd that they tie up teas with musical
>>>> terms, and a little off-putting and gimmicky. When I listen to philip
>>>> glass I don't go "that sounds just like the honey dew oolong I had the
>>>> other day". I also thought they're impractical with expensive jars
>>>> instead of cheap but useful plastic bags. World: 1, my intution: 0.
>>>> I've never seen them sold or advertised anywhere, either. Selection
>>>> isn't nearly as big as Upton. Their site navigation with colorful cups
>>>> looks informal and not overly polished, but in a good way. They push a
>>>> silly plastic tea pot on the front page. Plastic tea pot??! Did the
>>>> world run out of glass AND sand? The funny thing is that when I
>>>> ordered from them I'd always feel good and nice because I felt I was
>>>> supporting the little vendor. Strange but true.
>
>>> Andrei
>
>>> Adagio and O-Cha, the two most visited tea sites have extensive
>>> affiliates. Just go to google and type in "tea affiliates" and you
>>> will find all those vendor offering commission term for referring
>>> visitors.
>
>>> It ranges from 10%% to 20%%. Adagio offers less, probably because they
>>> are better at converting visitors to sales.
>
>>> I was looking into it at once, but I can't really bring myself to
>>> recommend their teas. I will simply be lying to myself.
>
>>> I think they do have the mass appeal.
>
>
>> Julian,
>> No offense; but, I really don't get this line of thinking.
>> We are known, here in America, for expecting and accepting mediocrity.
>> That be, what difference do these statistics make.
>> Good is good. Whether it be a teeny vendor in "west podonk" or a huge
>> dealer in New York.
>> Some of the finest, most careful, vendors I deal with have little
>> blogs that offer really wonderful tea (Teamasters, Stephane, for
>> example).
>> And, here we go again: I tend to be a god-awful, fussy, arrogant tea
>> snob and I really, really research and taste what I purchase, whether
>> it be a Chinatown bargain or "jeez that's nearly a month's rent pu-
>> erh".
>> It's all subjective.
>> Perhaps, we should move onto a more specific question: what tea,
>> exactly and what picking does this poster have in mind? Are you
>> talking about customer service in terms of qaulity of product or
>> shipping?
>> Like most tee guzzlers here, I go to certain vendors for certain teas.
>> I know what to expect in terms of price and shipping.
>> And, geez, I've always been a little leery of heading off to a place
>> with BIG numbers. Can't even bear to think of buying a KRAFT cheese or
>> a General Mills breakfast cereal.
>
>> Shen
>
> Shen
>
> Thank you for asking this thoughtful question.
>
> In the world that we are living now, sometimes we are too obsessed
> about ourselves - what we like, what we recommend and what we think.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I love your recommendations. I would love to try
> out Houde and their wonderful selection one day, hopefully in not too
> distant future.
>
> Sometimes I just feel it is more refreshing to "switch" myself in the
> background and see what other people are doing instead.
>
> I love humanity. I really do. We live in the world of democracy. Truth
> always present itself as paradox. The mass is always wrong. But it is
> also least likely to be wrong.
>
> Okay, let's see what we glimpse what these big numbers statistics.
>
> Sometimes understanding how people behave can shed incredible light
> into ourselves...
>
> Why is Adagio so successful? I think it is due to their simple
> products, deep and wide marketing network, great customer service,
> great customers loyalty (which results in so many positive ratings)
> and fantastic bundling.
>
> That is how I ended up buying from them anyway ...
>
> Why is Sevencups the highest ranking Chinese tea vendor? I think it is
> because of the owners passion, deep sourcing network and and rich tea
> informatioin.
>
> But buying behaviour is a strange thing. Tea is not the only thing we
> buy.
>
> I recently bought two oolong teas from the Teamaster blog. Not
> necessarily because I think he has the best tea. It is because I like
> him. I feel like I owe him a lunch having followed his blogs for a
> while.
>
> And yes, I totally agree with your proposal that there is a tea for
> everyone and making "blanket" recommedation simply doesn't work.
>
> :)
>
>
Julianhttp://www.amazing-green-tea.com
Hello, Thanks to everyone who is contributing and reading this
thread. I've gotten some wonderful input as well as some good online
merchants that I look forward to patronizing.
My experience with Adagio is quite limited, but it's one of the first
tea websites I was intrigued by. My girlfriend had purchased a gift
package which included a few herbals and the infamous Ingenuitea.
Let me tell you, I love this thing to death. I especially like
watching the leaves in their natural state, and how the gadget infuses
tea. To me, it's pretty cool. The Adagio website is also a nice
source of information. I like reading the tea reviews and the tea
chat forum. To a beginner like me, Adagio seemed a top online tea
merchant.
Then I discovered this forum and realized that I didn't know much at
all. There is so much to learn about tea, including where to purchase
your tea. I still enjoy visiting Adagio for their forum and reviews,
but thanks to everyone's input on this forum, I've learned that you
can always learn more about tea, including where to purchase it.
