Spyderco Forums

I can drink their coffee okay (but won't spend the money) but their tea is lousy.

Barney's Tea and Coffee used to have great tea for a mall coffee and tea shop, but they are nearly defunct, I believe. Hickory Farms, back in the 60's used to import great teas in nice little tins. I wonder if they are still in business and still have those teas?

They are, and they still sell tea

http://www.hickoryfarms.com/pantry-esse ... 10825.html" target="_blank

Couldn't tell you anything about it though.

Ken

Back in the day they used to sell loose tea in small or large decorative tins. Now I see they only have bags. Their stores once dotted malls all across the country. They would put samples in bowls and etc. all around the store so you could taste the food before buying. The last I remember seeing were simple kiosks. I am not sure of why they declined.

I remember those days.

Back then (this is all just my perception) they had a very good product at a premium price.

Over the years the quality declined (slightly) while people's tastes were moving more upscale, the prices stayed on the higher end and the competition increased dramatically, specifically online.

Something had to give. Initially, as you say, stores gave way to kiosks. Then kiosks only popped up around the holidays. Maybe (I don't know, I never go to the mall) even those are uncommon now?

It happens a lot. It's very difficult to stay on top of a business where you are competing on price while marketing quality.

Same thing happened to my favorite restaurant (when I was young) All along the highways you'd find Nicherson Farms (similar to Cracker Barrel today) Family oriented chain targeting mostly travellers. Bright red roof. Nice little gift shop on one side and (the coolest thing to me) a working plexiglass honey bee hive built into the wall (the bees would come and go through a hole that lead directly outdoors). I was always facinated to watch them do their thing.

Then McDonalds happened. Faster, cheaper, marketed toward the kids. Families stopped going to a pretty decent restaurant to save time, money and appease the kids. I don't think there are any Nickerson Farms left. Pity.

Nothing to do with tea, you just touched off a memory

Ken

So what's the tea of the day? Typhoo here and Princess Noori. Typhoo is a great, strong single cup tea. I really like the tagless tea bags. Noori is not a great tea but it goes well with milk in it.
What are you drinking?

Still enjoying The Republic Tea Assam Breakfast Tea at work and today I had to work. I think it is very good tea and I have been enjoying it.

I am drinking a strong black tea from the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia from BOH Tea. It brews up strong like coffee, but has a great flavor. Great stuff.

Doc Dan, What do you think of Ahmad tea? and how does it compare to BOH, twinings and lipton?

eidah wrote:Doc Dan, What do you think of Ahmad tea? and how does it compare to BOH, twinings and lipton?

You are a Malaysian?

Ahmad teas are good. But, one thing Malaysians have is the Cameron Highlands. They grow wonderful tea, there, and I love BOH teas. Some of their better grades are really fantastic and the simple black and green everyday teas are superb. We would fill our suitcases full of BOH teas to bring home with us. Malaysians really have a treasure, there.
Twinnings, as you can tell from some of the posts above, are often compared to floor sweepings or the left overs. Well, they are not that bad and they do have more expensive varieties. Lipton has good tea, but not in the class with BOH. However, in the case of tea made specially for iced tea, Lipton is better than BOH. This makes sense as Americans drink a lot of iced tea and Lipton has a plantation, there. Now, this is strictly my opinion, but I have been drinking teas from all over the world for a long time. So, while no connoisseur, I do know good tea when I drink it.

Thanks Doc Dan. I am not a Malaysian. I just live here. I thought Twinings was very high quality because of the price :D . I like Ahamad Tea and BOH. As I said before, some people here have high opinion of import stuff even if it not as good just because they are import.

I am about to make a pot of strong, black tea from the Cameron Highlands. Great stuff. We are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow (Saturday) when everyone can be here. I am going to brew a strong pot of BOH black tea to drink after the big feast as an alternative to the ubiquitous coffee.

Someone gave me a Chinese blend of teas called Prince of Wales. I will let you know how it is.

It is 7:00 on this tropical evening and I am sitting under the fan drinking tea and watching the monsoon rains roll in. Now it is raining, pouring actually, like sheets of water from a water fall. It is nice, at the end of the day, to relax, safe and dry, and drink tea and meditate over the day.