Liquid Proust Teas 2016 Master Thread
Was just informed that one of my creations hit the top page :)
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1676975852628081&substory_index=0&id=1424903851168617
Pre sale on the new group buy: http://www.liquidproustteas.com/listing/470490943/regional-2016-tea-group-buy
I will update all the stuff this weekend
LP’s Bday Week Sale Active August 8th through August 12th
Swann’s Way now $7.00 ($9.00 before)
Berry Genmaicha $4.00 ($6.25 before)
Laoshan Chocolate Genmaicha $8.00 ($8.70 before, best I can do!)
Rummy Pu $5.00 ($6.25 before)
Recently added; to which I am doing to do my best to keep items at $5.00, we shall see :)
French Toast Dianhong, $5.00
Nostalgia, $5.00
Bday Roasted Oolong for $1.00 ; 12 available
Rooted Dianhong, free… what? ; until out of stock
How does this batch of Nostalgia compare to the first batch? The first batch was one of my favourite teas of all time,
This batch isn’t as dry; the oolong is more subtle and smooth. There is also more vanilla which makes the cocoa notes more like a fudge for me.
Apparently I have messed up somehow here, so I am looking for some feedback and help:
Group buys seem to be one of my favorite things, even if they are stressful. It seems that the 2016 Regional Group Buy won’t sell completely. This puts me in an ugly spot. I’m unsure how to recover $500+ on a deal worked months on figuring out, but that’s probably what will just happen.
The 2017 Sheng Olympiad is going to happen, but this might be the last group buy because it’s too stressful to pay $1500 upfront and then only see 20ish slots go in two weeks time. I’m looking for suggestions as this is the first time this has happened. Was it my selection? Timing? Price?T
Extremely thankful that the past ones went well! Aged Oolong, Japanese Tea, Dark Matter, Sheng Olympics, What Cha, Mystery, mxtea…
Any remarks would be appreciated as the group buys are for the community.
Get your slots for the Olympiad filled now. Let everyone know the cost of what you plan to include and get the upfront 50% of it. Most will stay in after the initial investment. I know I will be in on it.
You put together some interesting teas, so I am ordering.
Hopefully you’ll get some interest from new-to-you folks, like me, who didn’t know about your efforts to make ‘not easily found’ teas available. I am particularly looking forward to trying the African teas and purple leaf.
@mrmopar, I’m pretty sure with the exclusive deals I have going for the 2017 Sheng Olympaid, it should go quite smooth. Maybe open it up in November with end of December shipping time frame.
I was on the fence about this, not because it wasn’t a fair value but because I wasn’t sure I was going to have time to drink them. But it looks like I will have more time now so I bought this about twenty minutes ago. It may be that there are also others who don’t think they will have time to drink the teas. To be honest I have participated in several other group buys and have yet to finish one. Others who have not finished past ones may have second thoughts too.
Understood. What about the idea of doing one spring and one autumn group buy then? If I make this clear. Spring being lighter teas and autumn being darker.
+1 I agree with Allan, I’d love to see a ripe group buy! And aged oolong group buy 2.0!!!
March being: green teas, light oolongs, spring shengs, subtle whites
September being: black teas, dark oolongs, ripe puerhs, bold whites
Would that work out if I just did two a year, but on a larger scale? When I say larger I mean, $35 but with intentions to be drank through two seasons; spring/summer, autumn/winter.
I would definitely participate in a group buy for the green, light oolong, spring sheng & whites. Those are all teas I like. I am now staying away from any group buys of all the other teas. Not that I don’t like them at all but I drink them a lot less frequently and end up with group buys many I don’t like.
Really like your spring/fall idea, with an emphasis on vendors/teas that are hard to try without a major investment
I think two main group buys + the Sheng Olympiad will be great then. Probably going to do private group buys in the background throughout the year and keep it to these three for LPT.
Personally, I just wasn’t interested in these teas. I was very interested in your other group buys, just not this one.
That’s about where I am on this one as well. I almost got it (and might yet convince myself to yet), but I am lately having to force myself to drink much of anything besides sheng and wuyi oolongs so just not quite where my interests currently lie.
Yep, pretty much where I was on this too, unfortunately, I just don’t drink enough green and black to make it worth it for me, >.<
I am most interested in group buys where samples are not available for the teas I want to try and the tea is too expensive for me to take a chance on, or shipping is steep. In this group buy, samples are available for the teas that were interesting to me.
Understood. That’s what made the aged oolong group buy awesome :)
This time I was focusing on companies with less exposure and regions that are not as frequently drank. I will keep this in mind though, it’s quite a good tip.
I would love an aged puerh group buy. Mostly sheng, but some shou as well. And I mean some really hard to acquire, moderately expensive stuff I could never afford on my own, but could try with the participation of 20 or so like-minded tea friends. I’m not sure about an age range, but I’m thinking a minimum of 12-15 years? It wouldn’t even have to be a huge number of teas, and certainly not all crazy expensive (YS has some reasonably priced aged teas). Just throwing it out there. I’d also love a group buy with several high end younger teas (Last Thoughts, Treachery, various LBZ’s, Mansa, etc). Both of these ideas would be a huge initial investment, and I don’t think it would be unreasonable to expect folks to pre-pay you. I trust you, I think most all of us do.
That would indeed be a cool idea – definitely something you’d want to ask for pre-pay on though.
I might actually do an older sheng group buy, but a new sheng wouldn’t be the best idea as Cwyn has pointed out in the past that if I do too much it will take away from the money a vendor could potentially have. The only time I can find it okay would be n the case of Storytelling as there are no samples of it while Last Thought’s samples are the same price per gram.
I would just need to see if I can get 10 to 15 people interested before I make some crazy purchases and they would have to trust me which is a pretty hard thing to do. If I do this, it would primarily be private sellers and cakes that are very low in stock.
I would also have to try to avoid the date frame of the Sheng Olympiad, but some aged sheng would be nice to do as I enjoy putting together the aged oolong buy.
I don’t think it would be unreasonable to put a page on your site with your plans of what you are looking to buy, how many teas each person will be getting, and an expected delivery date. If you can put that up there with 10-15 slots as a pre order, I think people would be willing to pay up front as long as you can give people an idea of when they will receive the tea. You just have to be upfront about it and let people know it may be a few months.
Which site? LiquidProustTeas.com is an Etsy portal… I would have to do it through here if people let me.
I didn’t even think of the money aspect for vendors if a group buy focused on top end young sheng. Kind of a shame as I would like to try samples of a few in one place, but I get it. It would be cool for a vendor to do a limited, one time group buy type of situation for a few people to try samples of their upper end teas all at once, like an introductory set they offer but for more experienced drinkers and in smaller quantities. The aged sheng idea is definitely a must though. I’m sure many people would be interested, I know I would be.
If this goes ahead please count me in specially for aged teas or top end young shengs.
There is a particular top end young sheng from 2016 I would love to try but it is too expensive for me to buy a cake before trying it first to see if I like it.
I would be interested in both! I can possibly take 2 slots if I find teas attractive enough.
I will start making contacts about 1990s and early 2000s, but this project will be tricky :)
edit
started the searches and created another post for it
Liquid Proust Teas is still in the learning phase and I want to say thank you to everyone who has been in contact to help me out.
1) Lesson learned: Group buys are to be planned with interest before the tea is bought. The regional group buy didn’t do so well and even with great intentions, I will be stuck quite a few packages unsold while the aged sheng group buy had about 50% more interest than I was willing to do as the total would be around $3200 if I let everyone in; which the only reason I did not is timing, this being a group buy that LPT is not profiting on and all.
2) Developing as a drinker means I also develop as a blender. Slowly over time, I will find a way to eliminate oils all together which will result in more pure blends that many seem to enjoy due to the over flavored tea blending world; however, I plan to still use some such as French Toast Dianhong. This is to say that I am looking into blending pu’erh, liubao, tianjian, dancong, shou mei… basically, all that stuff that isn’t used in blending, but together can accomplish an experience worth revisiting.
3) It’s not secret, yet I haven’t put anything up publically… I am working on a three year plan to have my side project “In Search of Lost Oolong”. A take on “In Search of Lost Time”, the novel by Marcel Proust, it will be my long term assignment to be a collector who sells ‘rested’ oolong. I’m not sure how this journey will go, but I’ve decided to invest in this plan over learning stocks and what not. I’ll be transparent and say my goal is to price at an increase of 3% each year from the initial price which means it won’t generate much, but it’s intention is to be a saving account through tea : )
4) Most of my time lately has been dedicated to the noobie pu’erh packages. I’ve taken up the goal to send out to 200 people this year since the community has provided me with the material to do so and I must say… it’s really amazing to receive a package of tea, break it up into 50 pieces, and then send it out to 50 people at a time. I really believe that this project will result in some new people and help us all give and receive at the same time. Thanks a ton to everyone who has helped with this, it’s providing some awesome experiences for new drinkers.
5) Keep a look out for a coblended tea with me and someone else :p
6) 2017 Sheng Olympiad… I hope you’re all ready. If you didn’t see it, W2T made exclusive TAF balls and CLT made exclusive Midas Touch balls for this event and I am pretty dang excited about it! I even took on the challenge to open 100 slots in December : )
7) Group buys for 2017 will be limited to two to insure people still purchase from vendors and not stock up through the buys I put together. That means these group buys will be more focused and directed by the community here so please let me know what you want to see so I can work on it to make it like the other ones; where exclusive teas are provided or privately bought.
Thanks a ton everyone, if it wasn’t for Steepster and the people involved online with tea I wouldn’t be so involved with this hobby/lifestyle. Really hope to keep meeting more of you in person and drinking tea around the world : )
Liquid Proust / Andrew
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