At our business, I am the official Tweeter. Part of that is having people / companies follow you and deciding if you want to follow them back. One company I follow is Entrepreneur 
Magazine. Lately, though, I’m reconsidering following them because there is just too much information out there for entrepreneurs (and everyone else) to keep up with.
Information is a wonderful thing. Information about tea is a wonderful thing. But we just can’t absorb all the information out there, now that the world is a tiny place because of technology. There’s just too much of it for any one person.
When it comes to tea, none of us will ever know it all, or even most of it, as a recent post by Alexandra Hoover pointed out. The same is true of business. Entrepreneur Magazine and other publications have to keep churning out stories about business and startups and advice from those who have made it big or are making it big, because that’s THEIR business and how they make their money. However, in the real world, most of us are so busy just managing our own businesses that to read about how to do it gets a bit overwhelming.
Back to tea information. To me, it’s a wonderful thing to know each and every estate that each and every one of our teas come from and what flush they are and the story behind some of their names. But in the real world of running a tea business, most people don’t care about that information. They care about one thing when they buy tea – taste – followed closely by a tea’s impact on one’s health and whether it is organic. But mostly taste.
When I go to a wonderful restaurant, I go there for the way the food tastes. Environment plays into the experience, but I’ll go to a dump (as long as it’s a clean dump) for a great meal. Won’t you? So with tea. Unless the taste is there, the expensive build-out or the mood music or even the service won’t rescue the situation.
We do try to buy almost all organic and Fair Trade teas, but sometimes we’ll find one that blows us away with taste that isn’t organic. Sometimes, not often, it’s just a plain, old blend that some small blender has totally nailed to the wall. It has no pedigree – it just tastes amazing. You can’t taste the nuances or finishes or notes, but you don’t care. You just guzzle it iced on a hot day, say “ahhhhh,” and feel thankful that you found it.
Too much information, not enough tea
I think you make a valid point Diane. Sometimes there’s just too much information to go through. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all I have to read and absorb. Sometimes I just want to sit quiety and enjoy my simple cup of tea.
I’m with you, Michelle. BaoZhong, alone, listening to the birds sing, in the shade of an old pine tree. Ahhhh….
I agree…but for me I’ll just sit in a hammock in my front yard–surrounded by sunflowers–and drink tea.