Is specialty tea interest now pay to win?

 

This will take some unpacking.  Of course every hobby interest involves expense, and contributing more towards that enables having a broader range of experiences.

Let's back up a little.  Familiar to many, "pay to win" is a reference to online games being free to play, but then being set up so that you can buy the extra characters or functions enabling success at the games.  Set up one way it just short-cuts a lot of extra "grinding," earning those characters and functions through play, and extended further only people paying the game developers can win.  

My son extended this reference not so long ago, when we were viewing the aurora borealis (northern lights) in Western PA.  Faint versions of those look like a wispy luminous cloud, with no color, while photos look green or pink.  My sister's relatively new IPhone version took fantastic photos, that looked completely different, vibrant and layered in textures; northern lights experience became "pay to win," without spending $1000 on a better, more modern phone your pictures and impression was hazy.

Nothern Lights in PA, borrowed from a family member's FB post

the low-res version

Right away people long into tea will see where this is going, and conclude that tea has always been like this, that the basic experience is open to people who aren't spending a lot, and then other levels were always reserved for others.  That works.  In commenting on a Reddit thread about sheng pu'er sources I summarized how I was framing these ideas:

Farmerleaf is fine, based on comment input here, but the last cake I bought from them, a few years ago, was in the $80 to 90 range, so quality needs to be quite high for that to be a good value. it was ok, that cake, but I also stopped ordering from them then, because of that price range.

I've been buying sheng from Viet Sun most recently, and their pricing just climbed to that range too. It's a normal pattern; vendors build up demand, keep sourcing slightly better material products, then max out on pricing at the industry standard level, around $100 per standard cake now [357 gram size], with more interesting sounding versions at $120. Yunnan Sourcing did the same.

Tea Mania is a good source for finding an exception; their Lucky Bee Yiwu line costs less (not gushu material, which is as well, if that requires spending over 50 cents a gram on sheng). Rishi is worth a look, and they'll never get mentioned in a place like this. they've been collecting SE Asian sheng for awhile, and sell cakes for much less than that near $100 range. Style and quality can be inconsistent outside Yunnan, but that's true in Yunnan too, and plenty of tea moves from places like Myanmar, Vietnam, and Laos to become Yunnan sheng.

Factory tea is the other less expensive option, but that's a lot of gambling, since quality will vary, and typical style range often requires more aging to be approachable. Chawang Shop had been a good source for that, and for good value in-house range, and King Tea Mall might be a good example of a market-style outlet now.

That was downvoted, of course; sheng pu'er drinkers are supposed to be open to paying to explore teas.  Now subscription models provide another main channel for this; you are either in or out of the in-group if you opt to try the same teas monthly, for $40 or so monthly, or whatever that is now, surely varying.

Lots of tea experience, shared through social media group participation, is framed as discussing a lot of what one vendor sells.  Discord servers about tea are mainly about that, per my experience.  You ante up to buy a good bit of that vendor's range or else you wouldn't have much to discuss.

To some extent this was always the case.  A decade ago people discussed tea experiences on Steepster and Tea Chat, and you either tried the teas people were talking about or else you weren't a part of that particular discussion.  Comments on text based blogs were similar.  So it was all always pay to win?

The amounts have increased.  Some of that is inflation; everything costs more than a decade ago.  It can be hard to map cost to type and quality level, to see if it evens out.  A decade ago people drank factory sheng, which would tend to cost $25 to 40 then (per 357 gram cake), but then "white label" gushu, more exclusive, higher quality, different style versions were already well on towards $1 a gram.  If anything those aren't matching inflation for increase in cost; that has leveled off, or stayed the same.

There is a common range of $100-120 better-quality, more naturally grown products (supposedly) available now, often specified as from a narrow area origin source, or at times they're just blends.  It's not the same tea that the factory versions were, so you can't say that pricing inflation marked up the same product range by 2 1/2 times.  Main changes relate to quality expectations, and type preference, and to the new forms of these groups.  

more on this shift in a TeaDB summary post (also mentioning quality and style have changed)

There aren't many other new online group forms; one tea app seems to have pushed through to create something of a community, based around experiencing teas the app owners sell, and other functions, but that's an anomaly.  Facebook groups have went dead, for the most part.  Discussion of Tik Tok promoting tea interest and information narrows down to Jesse's Teahouse, which is for people new to tea, who would probably seek out better value later.  

Youtube never became the information source or social collection point it could have.  A few hundred channels must relate to tea there, but the Tea DB blog and Mei Leaf vendor site are examples of how much of an exception well-followed groups are.  Farmerleaf produces good information content; that and a Discord server support them cultivating a group following, along with the tea being good.

To be clear Reddit subs (groups) aren't supporting this social grouping by purchasing pattern theme well.  There is r/tea and r/puer, and one gongfu oriented alternative is more or less just getting started, and a tea pictures group.

It might seem that I'm implying that this is a bad thing, that I'd want to return to the good old days when drinking $30-40 factory tea cakes was a norm, or just trying Dan Cong / Wuyi Yancha oolong range was, versus bragging online about getting into more rare versions.  But you can still do that (adjusting some for inflation).  The main downside, related to that factory sheng category, is that most of those teas are better after 20 years of aging transition, and newer styles drink better when younger.  It might also seem that I'm promoting the ongoing experience of lack, FOMO, by reviewing teas that vendors send, or what I buy, which is more limited.  It could seem like I'm advocating trying ever-higher quality levels, or every rare type or origin area of tea out there.  I don't see it that way, but it's a natural interpretation.  

It was a nice theme having so many people not necessarily brand new to tea, but new, discussing it on Steepster and Tea Chat, or later on Facebook groups.  A mixed-author, general information source like TChing showed how this exploration was mainstream then, as Cha Dao did before that (both of which are essentially dead now).  Many people's tea interest seemed to mature to them just drinking what they like, not discussing or learning so much.

I think part of the reason I dislike this general trend, interest form and exposure separating into more or less complete by expense level, is because it's such a dominant trend in consumption-based modern societies.  Everything we do separates out by what you spend, as much as by any other filter (exposure, expertise, etc.).

I also run, and people with that interest separate into the groups of people who do or don't own a lot of gear, and pay for extra types of group inclusions.  Races can cost well over $100 to run in, but someone might spend thousands by the time they gear up and travel, or at least $1000.  Owning 2 or 3 pair of running shoes isn't remotely enough for normal-form participation buy-in, never mind what is most functional.  To actually be competitive one might hire a coach, and take up extensive "supplementation" strategies.  Stopping short of PED use one might still buy all sorts of electrolyte gels, protein products, sports drinks, and whatever else.

three different categories of running shoes you need to buy, it seems

People could still dabble in tea and not spend all that much, or compete through spending, and someone could go out and buy one decent pair of shoes and run.

To be completely clear and open I've been influenced quite a bit by Buddhism.  That's a story for another time, with more about that on the way, but the short version is that we can emphasize simple experiences and basic social connections, and reduce rather than expand frameworks for defining ourselves, and limit emphasis on consumption, and other status markers.  This reduction of emphasis on consumption and status can work better; instead of living with even more of an experience of lack you actually get rid of the framework that grounds that, and experience more contentment and fulfillment.

I think a lot of those older tea enthusiasts, discussing interest in Tea Chat and FB groups, have simply moved on to the next interests (and then the ones after that).  But maybe some landed on this conclusion, that keeping it simpler could work better, not competing with others related to what they routinely consume.  

On the opposing side discussion about tea works well centered around common experiences, versus abstract background knowledge, so people drinking the same teas is functional.  Of course there is still a completely different opposing side, about not needing that commonality or social positioning.

The other side of this

Thinking it through further, most of this is about issues related to sheng pu'er, which has been changing form related to what is available, and to keeping up with what people discuss on Discord servers.  Or on Instagram, or wherever.  That's not what most people probably experience.

I looked up the Steepster posts on what people spend on tea in a year (which oddly still get posted annually, even though Steepster discussions are good and dead now), and it has been staying the same.  People posting there average $600 to 1000 per year, over the last half dozen years, even though inflation has spiked the cost of most things over the past 2 or 3 years.  They must be holding it at that level, seeing that as reasonable, and making adjustments to keep it in check, or maybe belt-tightening reduces the annual adjusted spending a little.

That's still $50 to $80+ per month on tea; a good bit.  Of course people discussing trying the latest new thing, buying $100+ sheng cakes regularly, or participating in more than one monthly subscription, are probably spending well beyond that.

I don't really blame vendors for using "fear of missing out" as a marketing tactic, encouraging this kind of group-think, setting up social media channels where it evolves naturally, and promoting the latest thing as something you really need to try, or you are left out.  It's just marketing; of course they are continually trying to sell you something.  People choose to respond to it or else they don't.

It's hard to generalize if an average in the Steepster-report on annual spending is a suitable norm, something like $70 a month for tea.  $2.50 a day?  If you are living on a $10 an hour salary (in the US) that's a good bit, or if pressures from demands keep your free spending limited, but for many that's trivial enough.

It's the "winning" concept that's problematic; it implies a social aspect of self-identification and also competition.  You can figure out how to buy a kilogram of tea for less than $100, or maybe a bit over if it's better tea, and shipping enters in, but it's not impressive to anyone to bring up drinking the same tea over and over in online discussion.  I bought a kg of tea for the first time earlier this year (1 1/2, really), but ended up using most of it for gifts, since flavorful, interesting, approachable black tea makes for a great gift.

I suppose you do have to spend an average amount to compete with others in terms of your own routine exposure to better tea, but just drinking decent versions of it is something else.  I've written plenty on how to do that for relatively low expense here; maybe I'll get around to making up another post covering it again, in a more concise form.

10 years of tea culture changes, and writing about tea

November 2013; the month this blog started, and the most excited I've ever seen him

we met Kalani that day

10 years ago I started this tea blog, or just over that at time of this initial draft.  This whole post could be self-oriented and introspective, about why I did, and my experiences along the way.  It seems more interesting to skip most of that and talk about how Western tea culture changed over that decade.  I could say a little about my own experiences and perspective, but a little of that goes a long way.  

I've been living in Thailand for almost all of the past 15 years, so maybe I'm not the most qualified person to speak for Western culture.  Still I will explore that context here, comparing and contrasting global online perspective and that in the US, Europe, and wherever else.

The first point is more about me than tea culture, about moving towards the further side of an experience curve, and the rest is more general, about those broad changes.

the far side of a learning curve:  it was interesting considering the main classic tea blogger, Marshal N, of Tea Addict's Journal, either stating that he had learned most of what there is to know about tea or that he had covered enough, back when he ramped down blog posting some years back.  I think he literally stated something closer the first point but I took it to mean the second, that it was enough of a more active exploration and sharing phase.  

I couldn't relate then; it seemed like there was too much for any one person to cover half of it all, so you might tap out whenever you like, but it would never amount to experiencing as much as there is left to get to.  Now it makes more sense.  If you were to break down learning and experiential exposure into basics, intermediate range, and more advanced or esoteric scope it wouldn't be difficult to clear through basics relatively quickly (main categories, how to brew tea different ways, basic sourcing, etc.).  Intermediate range exposure would take a long time to sort through, pushing that on to trying most main types, dabbling in range outside Chinese teas, digging deeper into brewing and gear use, being able to identify quality of different versions, encountering the first dozen or two tangents (storage issues, common flaws in tea, basic processing, social trend themes, etc.).  Online discussion would help with that.

It would never be clear when you had moved past these broad category thresholds, which are vague and indeterminate, but at some point you'd be on to range most tea enthusiasts typically don't experience, or even knowledge and awareness most vendors don't possess, potentially broader in range than tea producers encounter.  Then eventually exploration would get old.  Writing and discussion could become tiresome, and even though you would never clear through all the sub-types and location origins, or quality levels, variations, exceptions, etc.  Trying the first couple hundred examples of these types could seem like enough, or the first few thousand examples of tea versions.  A main favorite type might change a few times, and you might settle into a bottomless main preference version (eg. sheng pu'er), and not stop experiencing that tea range, ever, but discussion and writing could still get really tiresome, not just not fresh but also not worth the effort.

I suppose I'm essentially there now, and have been, but I still write anyway.  I don't want this post to be about that, though, so let's move on to the rest.

main changes in Western tea culture in a decade:  some rotating set of people will always be exploring loose tea for the first time, and some others pushing on to the far end of an exposure curve, but the generalities in typical patterns of interest can still shift.  Text blogging is more or less dead, as an example.  It hasn't been replaced by one main thing, as one might've expected, but that interest coverage has been taken up by Youtube video options, Instagram participation, tea app use, Discord discussion, and so on.  Facebook groups more or less came and went as the main discussion form, also not replaced by just one thing.  

Tea preference trends have came and went; sub-types or origin areas became popular, or at least "hot," like Indonesian, Nepalese, or Georgian tea.  With so much reference content and discussion de-centralized now there would never be as pronounced main forms of themes like that again, one novel type being popular at one time.

Good specialty tea interest never really took off and became mainstream; that was strange.  People tended to revisit that theme every couple of years, that tea was finally having its moment, but it seemed to never.  Incremental increase in awareness, demand, and sales only kept progressing.

What really changed though, related to the tea itself?  Trends in styles evolved.  Tie Guan Yin had evolved to be very lightly oxidized and not roasted even well prior to a decade ago, and patterns like that kept occurring, shifts in preparation styles related to what was demanded.  Whole-leaf Darjeeling has been evolving over the last half dozen years, but it's still not common or mainstream (per my understanding, at least).  Classic Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese teas aren't evolving much; they were fine as they were.  Maybe different cultivars are used to make Wuyi Yancha over time, or lower oolong oxidation and roast levels can become trendy, but to some extent basic style range doesn't change.  For new origin areas the opposite is true; the range of what Indonesian, Nepalese, and Georgian tea all are changed, quite a bit.

Sheng pu'er evolved a good bit but it's probably as well to set that aside, to avoid the risk of a 1000 word tangent on those trends.  I think better versions of the entire range of what exists are probably far more accessible now, with market pressure making a medium quality range fairly accessible across lots of types, driving up pricing level to where expensive versions were before, or beyond that, going back 20 years.  Higher end demand didn't push pricing as far as one might've expected; you can find plenty of tea selling for $1 a gram or over but the high end stays leveled off there, with lots of pretty decent tea selling for 50 cents to 80 cents per gram.  Then of course plenty of exceptions keep going beyond that.  It's tempting to guess how that parallels or contradicts trends and pricing levels in China but it seems as well to leave that out of scope too.

direct sales / producer outlets / small local vendor sales:  it seemed like this would evolve, and to some extent it has, but not as much as one might've expected.  The same is true for vending platform outlets designed to facilitate this, something like Tealet was set up to be originally.  Some more-direct vendor sales might be based on Ebay or Amazon, but variations of vendor forms that existed a decade ago are still the main sales channels, even if there are more alternatives now.  

If tea awareness and demand really had taken off there probably would have been enough volume to support new channel evolution.  Plenty of exceptions exist, producer vending pages, FB pages set up for sales, varying forms of monthly tea clubs, etc., but Yunnan Sourcing is still the main outlet, and smaller specialized vendors like Seven Cups or Essence of Tea are still around, seemingly doing well.  Locally oriented sales outlets like Farmerleaf and Hatvala seemed to evolve to be more common around a decade ago, and some are more developed and mainstream now.  

Tea shops changed, related to Teavana expanding and collapsing, but it's probably as well to set aside that too, as drifting out of the range of discussing tea culture.  I do see sales channel forms as an important part of tea culture, as cafe availability is, but it's enough to focus on perspective and home personal consumption scope.

Western tea culture forms:  a decade ago there was an emphasis on pragmatic and narrow forms engagement with tea experience and exploration, per my understanding, and for the most part that's still the case.  For many people interest expanded to limited Gong Fu Cha gear, process, and aesthetic forms but for many more it stayed focused on the drink itself, perhaps including aesthetic and gear collecting dimensions but not being mainly about that.  

Global Tea Hut was the exception earlier on, combining tea appreciation, religion, and religiously oriented practice, gear use, and aesthetics.  Other comparable presentations and organizations never evolved much.  Some individuals take this up, or Moychay is an example of a somewhat national tea culture (based in Russia) folding in some related aspects, but tea and Taoism or Buddhism never linked further.  Tea masters promoting traditional, lineage-based exposure forms never really caught on, outside of limited application in China and Taiwan.  Per a conflicting interpretation a lot of Western context training is equivalent to that, and it could be difficult to judge degree of uptake, of any practice or perspective.  Lots of people hold training certificates now.

In a way that's strange, isn't it, that far less changed than stayed the same in a decade?  When I look back at the other interests I pursue they're far different now, from how they were that far back.  As an example running has completely changed in the last decade, altered by the uptake of performance tracking devices, improved shoe technology, and a range of other training approach evolution and options of things to buy.  The races haven't changed so much, how far people run, or what occurs during one, but there was hardly any learning curve to experience a decade ago, in comparison, about training forms, what data to monitor and review, supplement use, and so on.  

Oddly the evolution doesn't push on to make all of the most natural themes more mature, for example with electrolyte supplementation still seemingly in its infancy, with more focus on what is natural to sell, the shoes, clothing, and electronics.  Discussing training practice generates Youtube reference revenue, so that's common, and shoe reviews.  I suppose it makes sense that there is no parallel in the world of tea, that gaiwan use basics videos draw views but not enough for lots of channels to earn revenue from posting them.

future direction:  why would more things change than already have, or that transition pace increase?  Tea awareness and demand may or may not ever "take off," and if not there should only be gradual transitions in what is popular, or the range of types available.  

It's odd that I've made it this far without mentioning flavored blends, or teas mixed with tisanes; that definitely already happened.  If demand increases quickly everything already available would expand.  There would be more Thai teas to buy, and better quality versions of them, related to a sub-theme I've been focused on for awhile.  Or with gradual uptake increase that would shift very slowly, as it has been.

I've also not mentioned tea podcasts or online meetup forms; those happened.  With tea being so experiential online or social media exposure forms may never really expand much, beyond where we are now.  An app can only help you so much with a tea drinking experience, and over and over they develop those to add novel functions and then just try to sell you tea there.  Steepster was really functional, a place to write and share notes about what you experience of tea versions, and discuss ideas in forum style threads, but it came and went in the last decade (it's still up, but quiet now).

Couldn't an AI tea master eventually stand in to provide engaged instruction and discussion?  Sure.  Maybe that will happen in the next five years, given the pace things change related to all that.  It's hard to imagine that being a good thing.

Some of those really esoteric tangents have been interesting, but I don't think any will seem more important later on.  The learning curve related to brewing water mineral input has shifted a lot over the last few years; that will continue.  Focused training related to identifying scents has been developed; I see Facebook posts about that from time to time.  Use of testing to identify tea components, quality level, origin area, and possible contaminants has been initiated; for sure that will progress.  But none of all that will change ordinary tea experience or perspectives on tea, I don't think.

my future direction with tea:  the automatic first thought:  why not monetize what I've learned?  It is a natural path for tea bloggers to move on to write books, to do consulting, or try to sell other services related to tea.  It's odd how few become vendors.  I've either edited or have been part of a pre-release review process for three books about tea, and for the second it seemed like I had written most of the same ideas about all of the same topics, and liked how I presented them better.  My ideas and writing wasn't better, of course, it's that my own writing choices seemed to represent the most natural way to express the ideas, to me.

I've earned very little related to doing some writing, consulting, holding an event, and tea related tour guiding, maybe on the order of $1000 over a decade.  Even at ten times that income rate, $1000 in one year, it wouldn't change anything; at 100 times it would be a start.  Writing a book is practical, and selling tea is definitely an option, but ramping up some sort of tea services isn't as promising.  Tea related conventional employment maybe even less so; it seems highly unlikely.

Moving on to write less in this blog seems likely; I like to write, and to share ideas, but half the posts every year are all but identical to older versions.  I've just reviewed three sheng versions from Thailand and Vietnam that I also reviewed last year's versions of, which weren't all that different.  That pattern had been coming up related to Wuyi Yancha and Darjeeling versions for some years.  Writing 20 posts a year instead of 80 might make sense, more on perspective themes, and less reviews.  If a vendor offers to send standard tea versions I could still review those but that definitely repeats; those kinds of write-ups could be the 10th post that's all but the same as earlier ones, just swapping out a few aspect terms.

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with me arranging a meetup series with a couple of dozen tea experts or interesting related participants in 2021, part of a late covid "getting out" social contact replacement.  I could continue on with some similar initiative.  Or maybe it would be interesting to move the whole blog theme to video, and add messing around with editing, technical details, and video form performance (and buying electronics; not a positive aspect).  I live in Bangkok and Honolulu at different times of the year; we're definitely in interesting places for background.  I probably will do that, but then I've been thinking that for years.

I don't really see myself as a tea expert, even though few ideas in discussions, or in books or other references, tend to be unfamiliar, for some years now.  I can't place the scope of the range I haven't yet experienced in comparison with what I have; it just doesn't work that way.  Very few people have had broader tea experience, but some definitely have.  Not completely unrelated, to me relatively extreme humility tends to pair well with tea learning and experience, people remaining an active student of the subject even when it's their time to share ideas and guidance to others.  

That's what I've been trying to do, to share ideas as a fellow tea enthusiast.  There's a normal lifecycle of that usually changing forms, and I've been feeling I'm at this place myself now, for a couple of years.  

One last point:  I've received very little feedback about what I've written over ten years, which was kind of an initial main point, but I still appreciate people reading what I've written.  The stats say that hundreds of thousands of people have read the posts, or tens of thousands have read a significant number (or people and bots did).  

It's nice when people comment that a post means something to them, and even negative feedback is helpful.  It can sting a little but people being critical essentially always have good points to add, about different gaps or ways to interpret what I've expressed.  Thanks for reading!

early blog photo, seemingly taken on a Nokia phone.  it's gaba oolong, which I still find strange.

What are people getting out of tea?

 

It tastes good, right, and it contains caffeine?  There must be a lot more to it than that.  I was recently talking to someone about tea enthusiast culture, trying to explain my own connection to tea, and how it means different things to other people, about how it's not simple to summarize that range.  That person was an anthropology researcher, which led to interesting consideration of underlying factors.  Some of the main long term appeal of tea doesn't even relate to direct experiential aspects, or a narrow set of social dimensions; it seems more complicated.

So let's get to it, I'll say a little about what I think is attracting people to tea, and keeping them connected, often beyond the range of how other beverage interests are experienced.  I'm mostly leaving out health interest.  Maybe tea is so healthy that's a general context all along, but you can never really connect shifting personal preferences to greater health benefits.  You might "go organic" along the way, or something like that, also taking up tisanes / herb teas, but I don't see that factor as a typical main connection.  For some it could be mostly about that though.

It might seem like I'm discounting some of these experiential aspects or other factors as trivial, or not of significant value, but really that's not my intention.  People can choose what they want to experience and value for their own reasons, and as long as it doesn't harm others, or at some point also themselves, then any basis for choices seems valid.

tea bags, English Breakfast tea:  not really started yet, but those are related.  One might wonder if higher quality tea prepared in pyramid style tea bags couldn't be an exception, since it is better tea. Sure, why not?

flavored teas:  this is at least a gateway, something people can value for novelty and intensity, a nice next step for people acclimated to sugary sodas.  For me this was jasmine green tea, although many years prior I had tried Tazo blends, and if things had gone differently trying those might have led further.  Loose tea was available in the US when I got into tisanes, in the 90s, but it was harder to find then.  In the loosest sense Arizona iced tea in a can is a flavored tea, but of course I mean something else here, the range that you brew.

plain medium quality loose black tea, oolongs:  the main appeal really only starts to show through here, and none of those deeper level, emergent aspects apply yet, like a social dimension.  It's fascinating that tea can extend beyond a commonly known range, and that plain, real tea can match and exceed other flavored versions for complexity and positive character.  Just putting dried leaves in hot water can seem like a novel food preparation step, maybe a little daunting at first, but later on there isn't that much to it, or at least doesn't have to be.

you just can't describe how novel and interesting the actual experiences can be

exploring average or above average loose teas:  things shift here, once you realize that the limited set of versions you've encountered are only the early start, and that quality levels vary, so that even what you tried didn't represent those types and categories well.  All this is still about experienced aspects, for the most part, and on to novelty of experience a bit.  That there is a learning curve becomes clear at this point, which I guess could be taken in different ways.  This is a good stage for sorting out that you can make masala chai yourself, or Christmas themed blends, just a little early for trying versions that aren't from China, Japan, India, or Sri Lanka.

flavor versus mouthfeel, aftertaste, and body feel effect, cha qi:  at first people tend to value taste in teas, and generally need those to be on the intense side to relate to them, hence the flavored tea gateway.  Later on it becomes possible to value other experiential aspects that add depth, like mouthfeel and aftertaste (which can go by different names, like texture or length).  "Drinking tea with your body" (discussed here, and framed in that way, by the godfather of tea blogging) is often described as desirable after a good bit of exposure, appreciating the way teas make you feel, for some more so than all the rest of the experience.  I only notice those effects when they're on the strong side, when it starts to resemble drug effects, and don't really value that.  That said I do drink whatever tea I feel like every morning, and I can't be sure which effects I'm intuitively desiring.  My mood might match a certain experience, across different aspect range, and I can't rule out that I'm connecting types with outcomes in a way that I'm just not clear on.

brewing exploration:  along with getting to slightly above average versions at later stages it becomes clear that the early brewing practices first learned were also only a start.  It seems like tweaking those a bit would lead to much better, stable form practices, but later it becomes clear this is all part of a much longer learning curve too.  The first move in learning is to try to optimize practices, to dial in proportion, timing, and brewing temperature for type, and then later it's clear enough that it's just not that simple, and you can keep varying experience in ways that are just different, not more or less optimal.  Water mineral content factors in; inputs like that take time to sort through.  The shift from a Western brewing approach to Gong Fu brewing tends to come up later, a subject I just wrote about.

references, social connections:  probably before the last step or two the idea that an external reference might help can come up.  It might be an online group; that could make more sense now than looking into a text blog or Youtube channel, or I suppose that might depend on the context, what information one is after.  This kind of slightly deeper dive might couple well with the next steps mentioned here.  This experience level is really a good place to learn a bit and set it all aside, on to exploring some other subject instead, but either the experience, the social connection, or reference links pointing further might lead to the opposite, continuing on.

one old-style tea forum is still active now

placing yourself socially in relation to other tea enthusiasts:  definitely not necessary, but once this starts you're hooked.  Vendors can use this as a form of adding consumer value, but it's not that easy to set up, or to simulate through social media content.  Mei Leaf does a decent job, with high energy, charismatic approach sales pitch mixed with information, indirectly framing customers as a common interest group, not just related to liking tea, but to liking their tea.  Of course once you are further along a learning curve all that is off-putting, because you see it for what it is, a lot like how people try to sell you cars, or anything else.  I've bashed Mei Leaf and praised them at different times, but on the positive side they're packaging information and developing tea interest more than any vendor in the US tea industry, so they deserve to do good business.

Online groups support this step; the Facebook group that I moderate has 25,000 members, and a Reddit tea sub is over 650,000 now.  Discord servers themed around one vendor are that much more direct.  Real life tea social groups fit the form that much better, which can be coordinated through an online form.  Moychay, a Russian tea vendor, runs "tea clubs," commercial meetup spaces that are not really exactly the same as cafes, but this requires a developed tea subculture to work out in that form and on that scale.

a small social event at a local friend's place

owning stuff:  at some point consumer culture kicks in.  At first it's probably about how little someone needs to own to buy in, maybe picking up a basket infuser, ceramic teapot, a gaiwan, kettle, and a bunch of cups, and then later it's about what else one might want to have.  Matching what others own ties to leveling up to their status, even if other kinds of exposure level is a difficult thing to rush.  I remember a funny comment once about how so many people are "pressure cooked experts," and it's really like that.  After about a year of exploring tea it seems like you know about and have experienced a lot, and then after about two years it seems that you know almost nothing.  Owning what others own definitely buys you into one form of participation status though, as trying rare and expensive teas also can.

Owning a tea tray is simple enough, but once you start on clay pots it could never end.  If you start in on sheng pu'er, which isn't a good idea early on, you'll need to own at least one device to break up cakes (compressed teas), and probably an informal variation of a humidor for storage, a range of gear much more complicated than a wine cellar.  Other kinds of tea you generally buy to drink as soon as possible, but once you prefer teas that tend to improve with age collecting becomes a natural fit.

not something I'm so into, but teaware can be cool

coupling secondary interest with tea:  this also makes it all the easier to form a personal connection, the prior point, eg. combining interest in nature with tea experience, or Buddhism or Taoism.  Tea and food pairing would be another example of this.  Tea and health interest I've already set aside, but it never really completely drops out.  Drinking too much tea can be a concern, and it's hard to ever really fully bracket what you hear about potential benefits, for example Traditional Chinese Medicine approaches or connections might come up.

tea, nature, social contact; it can all go together (image credit to Sergey of Moychay, on the left)

connection with Eastern cultures:  a bit of a stretch?  The perception or appeal of this can stand in for real connection, and a little can also go a long way.  You don't need to go straight to ceremonial brewing or tea as meditation practice, but adding just a touch of those as inputs to routine practice adds lots of depth.  If a vendor happens to be Asian it all automatically connects, organically.  Or if a friend or contact is Asian--preferably Chinese, I guess, but tea culture exists elsewhere in Asia--they just need to have an uncle who was really into it, and they're a great reference by association, whether they are actually have much exposure to the subject themselves or not.

All that really sounds too negative, more so than I mean it.  I've lived in Asia (Thailand) for almost 15 years, and not very many people are into tea here, but connections to Indian and Chinese culture are stronger.  Even Japanese culture; we regularly shop in Japanese grocery stores, and our two overall favorite restaurants are popular interpreted versions of Japanese food themes.  I got into tea mainly because it was around, decent oolong at least, and I kept running into other types traveling elsewhere in Asia.  Gong Fu Cha brewing gets complicated, and wearing martial arts clothing I see as a little silly, but it all does connect at some level.  Chinatown is my favorite part of Bangkok, and a set of shop owners there feel like an extra aunt and uncle to me.

really inexpensive teas mostly for gifts, but I drank some jasmine green tea today

I guess to a limited extent whatever they do represents Asian culture

social connections, the next layer of placement:  along with the last two steps people push further into a range of exploration, and already have favorites, not just type ranges but favorite individual tea producers and versions, and developed forms of brewing, leading to ownership of tea gear.  At this level you can make connections with like-minded individuals, not just those who also love tea, but who take it in a similar way as you, related to exposure level and preference.  

One cool part is that with online contact being what it is those people could be anywhere in the world.  Not so much in China, since their internet is a bit walled off, in general, but even there plenty of people use VPNs.  Language issues also shut that down; to the extent there are Chinese equivalents of Western "on the path" tea bloggers or Instagrammers they're not really seeking out Americans or Europeans to talk with about that.

meetup with tea friends in lots of different places

From here I would need to spell out how tea related subcultures tend to work to really fill in what I mean by this in relation to the other connection with secondary interests.  Just being interested in both tea and Buddhism wouldn't be enough; there has to be a social group or vendor center to provide a natural point of connection.  Global Tea Hut is sort of both, tied to Buddhism, "progressive" perspective, and tea sales, and formerly tourism in Taiwan, but I think that part is on hold for now.  Local groups take on characters of their own, often centrally connected by local Facebook group, like this one in NYC.  Most typically the range of interests would just be those generally tied to tea itself:  drinking tea, trying new types, somewhat ceremonial forms of brewing, and interest in teaware.  

It crosses pretty much everyone's mind that at some point they could make money off what they've learned and experienced, and if that works it can be a stable and persistent connection, to continue on as a vendor.  From there social connections could be a helpful business support.

tea as a part of social gatherings:  Alcohol is more familiar as a social drink, and tea won't really offset natural inhibitions in the same way, but it can be a shared interest, a sub-theme to base gatherings on, and a great supporting experience to couple with hours of social contact.  After quite a bit of tea you feel a bit buzzed, and amped up, and since that sets in gradually social experience tone can gain energy along with it.  It's like how drinkers can start out a bit mellow and end up shouting in each others' faces, or dancing to loud music, but based around experiencing a mild stimulant instead.  And you never black out, throw up, get in a fight, or crash your car.  Too much of the wrong type of tea on an empty stomach can make you feel uncomfortable but eating the right kind of snack tends to offset that.

a checklist of types or areas:  this can be tricky, because new ranges turn up just as fast as you can cover your own list.  A set of 6 or 8 most famous Chinese tea types might turn up early on, leading on to trying out Indian and Japanese versions, but then Nepal tea can sound interesting, or one more variation of white tea or hei cha, or a seasonal spring tea experience others talk about.  Once you start on pu'er (sheng) the list is so long that it's never even a clearly defined set, since source areas, aspect sets / styles, producers, vendors, storage age and input, and other factors make for an endless matrix of potential experience.  Then it's on to quality issues, those talked-about source areas, or ancient plant / wild growth versions.

Why do that to yourself, right, trying to drink the ocean, adding arbitrary experience gaps as a main part of your "tea path?"  The learning curve and social connections themes can indirectly cause it.  Every interesting idea, new type, quality level experience, tea source, online tea friend, or real life social connection can lead on to what might come next.  That can be a great thing, if endless rounds of new experience are seen as positive, or else it might seem tiresome and pointless.  You would never really know when you passed a midway point for learning and exposure, until you were clearly approaching a far side, and even then broad gaps in what you haven't experienced would still stand out.

It's not just competition to try the next trendy theme version, or the highest quality levels, that can make this sort of background context off-putting.  Eventually quite a bit of all communication about tea online can seem either like a vendor trying to sell something or a tea enthusiast indirectly bragging about their own broad range of unique experiences.  Endless photos of large tea orders or unusually exclusive versions can make it impossible to match the perceived median experience range, no matter how far you get.  People typically don't mean it that way, I don't think, self-promoting as doing well in such competition.  Explicitly waving off that context in online comments can seem ingenuine, for example citing some unheard of tea version experience along with "by the way, what's in your cup?"

tea subculture leadership / "expert" roles:  it's more that eventually people really do reach the middle of an exposure curve, but I guess to some extent some thin version of status could eventually apply.  You might start a tea group that gains following or activity, or start a tea blog / YouTube or Tik Tok channel / podcast.  Writing text content about what you have learned, or tea current events, is more a theme from the past, but multiple author reference blogs like TChing still do exist, and there are plenty of published books about tea.  

There aren't many vendors with broad YouTube following, and no one I know of related to tea that's not a vendor; only the Mei Leaf channel and Sergey of Moychay's come to mind (discussed further here).  The Tea DB video blog is a good example of this; it's a popular, well developed video blog, the most followed version I'm aware of, and they currently have 7000 followers.  Not bad for the subject of tea, but there must be a dozen channels with a million followers about telling scary stores (like this one, Mr. Ballen, with 6 million followers).

It's a little harder to become the venerated, seasoned expert type without some of those exposure related credentials applying.  The learning curve is so long that it would be hard to distinguish yourself as towards the far side, and people would tend to not care if you are or aren't (as you really shouldn't).  Related to groups it could easily become tiresome answering newbie questions, because of course those repeat.  

Really a lot of that information and perspective sharing applies more to the middle of the learning curve anyway.  Those who know don't talk, and those who talk don't know (or something like that Tao Te Ching reference can work out).  There are groups oriented towards advanced tea enthusiast perspective but none that I know of themed around discussion between people towards that far extreme.  They've mostly already talked it out, or were never interested in that, or move on to a more limited guide role instead.

the end of the path:  is there one, or any number of them?  People experience different forms of this.  Some just move on, ready to explore the next thing, and this is probably more common than embracing the last few steps that I've mentioned.  Developing a caffeine intolerance nudges people in that direction; it is a drug, and long term tolerance varies.  It would also work well to integrate a simplified version of this preference into your lifestyle, and drop out essentially all exploration and self-definition.  

It's not the same thing but it reminds me of an Alan Watts quote about exploring Buddhism (and drugs more, really):  when you get the message, hang up the phone.  That doesn't mean one would need to give up tea, as I see it applied to this context, but dropping discussion and potentially even related social connections might make sense at some point.  That would never happen because someone had explored most of what there is to cover related to tea, since the subject is endless, covering countless types, experience dimensions, and background information, but it's an open option to leave off at any time.

All of this connects with ego, obviously, even the parts that are explicitly about rejecting ego, or ironically maybe especially those.  Owning more stuff, achieving status as an expert, gaining knowledge and experience, even acquiring greater levels of modesty about such status could be clear signs of personal development, for others to respect and hold in high regard.  There are so many other places to put self-definition and external value that it's rare for tea to hold a lot of that meaning for anyone, but all of these dimensions are there to potentially contain it.

Tea as a movement and personal experience

One might wonder why tea is gaining popularity just now, but the opposite question also works, why tea never gained the same degree of popularity as wine, coffee, or craft beer.  Or even matcha, which of course is a tea sub-theme, as boba / bubble tea also is.  General Asian themes might have gained some uptake over the past couple of decades, as martial arts interest increased, and foreign foods in general.  But better tea isn't "having a moment" just yet, and it potentially might never.  Foreign culture can be a great theme to explore for people on that page, and it can mean a lot to them, but it's easier to pick up and maintain an interest in lots of other subjects, most of which require less work and active involvement.  If health benefit is a main goal exercise and good diet stand out as lower hanging fruit.

The diversity of tea, which is part of the positive character, enabling continuous exploration, may also offset the obvious appeal.  Wine comes in a lot of types, often already sold in grocery stores, and opening a bottle is pretty straightforward, or the pour spout on a box, at that other extreme.  I went through shorter exploration cycles with wine and craft beer.  I remember when I first tried putting loose tea leaves in hot water and it seemed interesting, and mysterious, but also really unfamiliar.  I don't remember how much I actually loved the tasting experience, but apparently it was enough to keep trying.

an old-style mall in Shenzhen; buying tea here was one step along the way

Related to my own exploration, and why I never stopped after the first 4 or 5 steps listed here, I coupled tea exploration with learning about social media.  It sounds strange saying that now, but a decade ago social media was still expanding into new forms, and mainstream channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube weren't yet what they are today.  Today it's a much more relevant concern how to limit online social exposure, and media content consumption.  Back then I was wondering what newer forms like Tumblr and Google + were all about, and it helped to combine that exploration with a subject theme, to "add friends," or however that went, around a topic interest.  Blogging was a part of that.  In a sense that only shifted over time, as old-style forums largely went away and newer forms like Discord picked up.  Tea apps are trying to gain acceptance now, and maybe one is actually getting there, the My Tea Pal version, and that set of online friends and I recently talked with a Steeped app founder.  

Still, it's a lot easier to watch content creators tell mafia stories on YouTube, or to follow podcasts, and to some limited extent that can already feel like being a part of a community.  Tea podcasts are out there now but the experiential nature of tea leads to most people not putting focus on watching someone else drink tea, or even learning subject background.  It's like how runners can join groups or watch channels to support their interest but it's still mostly about tying it back to actually running.  

To me the deepest appeal of tea is the pleasantness of quiet, simple, but also multi-layered experience.  It's like how watching a sunset can be much different than almost any other kind of aesthetic experience.  Being present in that moment is the thing, not consuming a designed and packaged experience, or framing yourself in a certain way for others.  Tea can help bring you in contact with yourself.  I suppose that is also why its appeal might never apply to more people, because that's not a page that everyone is on.

Tea vendor bias and group identification

 

Sergey Shevelev in the Moychay Amsterdam shop

I had mentioned talking about tea vendor perspectives in a meetup session summary post, about appreciation for or bias against Moychay by Russian tea enthusiasts.  I'll go into more on that here, reviewing how I see cases of vendor support or negative impressions.  I think it might have more to do with embracing shared group perspective and association than what one might take to be more intuitive inputs, about range of selection, best quality offerings, or about value issues.

Alex said that the further along tea awareness exposure among Russians you go, relating to people with more developed preference and awareness, they tend to have a more negative opinion of Moychay.  But why?  It could be because they are better informed to judge, but that's not what Alex added as his main take.  He thought it's because as a vendor grows, gains a lot of exposure, and seems more "corporate" opinions naturally become more divided on them, including significant negativity.  To interpret that a little, it could be that tea "beginners" appreciate supporting introductory content, and haven't yet sorted into preference related groups.

We can see that in cases like Yunnan Sourcing and Mei Leaf, although maybe there's not a direct parallel to the layers of controversy surrounding Mei Leaf.  Or maybe we can set aside problems with plant age claims, exaggerated descriptions, and that one glitch related to branding through a Native American cartoon image, and perspective issues might start to match back up across vendors again.

I've noticed myself being more critical of Don Mei's content than may be justifiable (explained at length related to causes and limitations in this post).  In some cases his Youtube content contains minor gaps or errors, but even when a number of statements aren't wrong, but aren't clearly objectively right either, and that's all presented as background to sell a specific tea version, it seems a bit dodgy to me.  It could be like that with Sergey (the Moychay owner), that people are overly sensitive of tone in presentation, suspecting that a lot of the range is as much indirect marketing as it is genuine background content.  

Back to Don, I'll cite an example to place what I mean.  In one post about a Rou Gui he mentioned how the link between that type and cinnamon flavor--what Rou Gui translates as--is often overstated, that it doesn't necessarily taste like that.  Some do taste like cinnamon, or cassia, and some don't.  But if he had said exactly that it would be providing good background information content that could support selling the version he was discussing (which didn't taste like cinnamon), but as I interpreted his statement he implied Rou Gui just doesn't really taste like cinnamon, which is wrong.  Then probably if he had been selling a version that happened to include that flavor the opposite would have been emphasized.  Maybe I'm wrong about that; I tried to look up that video to re-watch it to evaluate that again, but I'm pretty sure that video has been deleted.  He did upload another on judging Rou Gui and Wuyi Yancha (Wuyishan area "rock oolong"),  but it's not the one I'm mentioning.

In that second video on judging Wuyi Yancha quality most of his ideas seem fine, it's just not how I would put similar interpretations.  He doesn't really get into mouthfeel and aftertaste as considerations, which to me leaves a lot out in terms of describing what people experience and value.  Complex flavor is part of it too, and I tend to frame descriptions a little differently than he would, but I can't say that he's wrong about what he said in that.  

There is an intensity and hard to describe character to good Wuyi Yancha that isn't exactly about flavor, feel, or aftertaste, but spans those.  I see it as a liqueur like or perfume like fragrant and aromatic quality, which comes across and balances differently in different versions.  His take is more about a long flavor list occurring, including subtle flavors, which is ok.  Different people can focus on different things, flavors really can be complex, and they do tend to transition over rounds, further complicating things.  People new to tea do tend to focus on flavor as the main experience, which never completely drops out later, but it's often seen as only part of what one is experiencing.

It's interesting how Yunnan Sourcing avoids this particular range of objection by Scott (the owner) not really using Youtube content as marketing, and erring on the side of limiting written product description of teas, just saying a little to give a bit of sense of what they are.  There's a good chance that half of his Yunnan Sourcing Fans Facebook group--which kind of is a sales tool, but a different subject, since Scott isn't really active there--aren't familiar with his Youtube content, because they just don't emphasize it.  

Different people do pass on thoughts on teas there in that group, so that's not different and could support sales, and marketing could still be the main point of the Youtube product description videos.  Part of this point relates to Yunnan Sourcing having 6000 subscribers on their Youtube channel, compared to 3900 members in that Facebook group; just promoting videos there would surely add to that viewership and follower count, but they don't do that.

Scott Wilson (of YS) making light of image issues, through a "caption this" contest, as I see this

Mei Leaf has almost 90,000 Youtube followers, and Sergey Shevelev of Moychay has 105,000.  Mind you I see nothing wrong with vendors producing tea background content to serve as both marketing and information for customers, and others.  It promotes the industry and general awareness, in addition to one vendor's products.  Everyone else selling or promoting tea should be grateful that both are successful at it.  

The point here is that in developing a lot of content, and being successful in gaining a following, even without self-promoting as a tea expert a vendor would automatically seem to take up the mantle of being an authority, one step towards being a "tea master."  To me it seems to help a little if there is less marketing angle and they are de-emphasizing their own reference content, as Yunnan Sourcing seems to.  William of Farmerleaf strikes a really great balance; nothing in their Youtube background information material seems geared towards sales, more just on background, but of course it could still support sales in that form.  He has 6000 subscribers too, as YS does; you can make of that what you will.

I can't really offer any opinion about most of Moychay's video content, related to that factor of balancing general information and promotion, because I've only seen a half dozen of their videos, mostly geared towards a Western audience, the translated versions.  It seems sales emphasis neutral, but there could be indirect marketing concerns with the more viewed Russian videos, for all I know, with that content open for critique.  It's sort of a slippery slope.  One might say that Wuyi Yancha is good, and then that this particular version is, and then that you should buy this through our shop.  It takes a deft touch to offer informative background but to not take the last step, so that it doesn't feel like watching an ad.

Alex's point that people are just going to be divided makes sense.  

Next one might consider whether or not there are broad quality or value issues that could trigger negative reactions from some Russian tea enthusiasts.  I'm not sure.  Moychay's product quality and value don't seem so different than Yunnan Sourcing's, to me; pretty good in general, covering a lot more range than is normal for standard vendors.  Some is exceptional, above average tea selling at a great value, or representing really novel offerings, with other examples just kind of normal related to all that.  Eventually a below average quality or value product might turn up from any source.  

For teas that are completely unique it can be hard to identify value, for brand new types, hybrid style versions, or rare aged teas.  For example, this yellow tea from Khosta, Krasnodar region, 2021 sells for $20 for 100 grams.  Sounds kind of low to me, but who knows, it might also depend on how well it turned out.  I doubt that there is a second yellow tea from that Russian area being produced to set a market value, not that I would know if there was.  I tried a yellow tea from Mississippi last year, from Jason McDonald's farm, which listed for $14 per ounce (50 cents a gram instead of 20), but production overhead in the US would probably be much, much higher, and the tea could be better, or the target audience could vary.

The main opinion expressed about Mei Leaf is that their tea is good, which is the main thing, but that value isn't very good, that you could get the same quality level of products elsewhere for less.  Then some Mei Leaf fans reject that last part, seeing the teas as unique and positive enough for above average level pricing to be fair.  A sub-theme about people liking or disliking Don Mei almost eclipses whether or not his teas are good, or a good value, as discussed in this Facebook group thread.

Where am I going with all this?  How vendors present themselves and end up being perceived is an interesting theme to me, especially related to forms and causes.  My final take may be way off, that people are really looking for a way to self-identify and connect with others in a lot of cases, even though they may or may not see it that way, framing their own outlook as a normal shopping perspective.

Group identification related to tea vending

For one particular reason I think Mei Leaf probably doesn't get fair treatment, in retrospect, maybe even from what I've communicated, even though I think their tea is probably generally overpriced too.  I think Don "rubbing people the wrong way" as a video persona factors in a lot.  I don't think Scott Wilson of Yunnan Sourcing gets too beat up online, but it seems like any successful vendors can easily become targets for criticism, justified or not.  Maybe justifiably so?  A bit of pushback here and there might keep them honest.  Reddit comment discussion sometimes tends to go a couple steps beyond that.  Scott did get involved with a messy discussion issue there once, but then that's Reddit for you, not much better than Twitter for sometimes being harsh.  

That's only half the story though.  People love Don Mei more than seems justified too, clear from that Facebook group post I mentioned:

*In Mei Leaf's most recent video*

Commenter: "Why does the Facebook Gong Fu Cha goup hate you so much?"

Don: "🤷‍♂️ Maybe I would dislike myself if I was on the outside"

Lololol I don't buy Mei Leaf teas because of shipping costs, but I love Don so much.

I guess that he loves Don because of his sense of humor?  I'm not sure that comment was offered as humorous.  The comments there talk about appreciation for his teas, his online content, and for him being an interesting and charismatic person, the part that people are divided over.

I think group inclusion is the extra component that's not as evident.  Why would almost 4000 people join a Facebook group to talk about tea from one vendor (Yunnan Sourcing Fans)?  To be fair Q & A discussion does go better there than in most places, but cutting off discussion at one vendor's selections seems limiting.  Why are there lots of vendor specific Discord servers now, with varying degrees of engagement?  I only belong to Farmerleaf's and Liquid Proust's, because I was just checking those out more than participating, since I wouldn't have anything to add for not being a regular customer for either.

Moychay's tea clubs theme is something else, but it connects.  That adds in drinking tea in a setting that goes a long step beyond a cafe for being decorative and establishing a vibe, and it supports a more ceremonial take on tea experience.  All the same it is also shifting individual tea experience to social experience.  

this is more a tasting area than a club, but Moychay's club theme is an interesting subject

The online group case is more interesting to me though, because then it's reduced to being abstract, having more to do with self-definition and text message discussion contact than real life.  Or the "main" Discord group, Communitea, is big on voice / audio based meetups; I guess that's more in the middle.

In a podcast comment discussion someone once mentioned being "on team Xiaguan," not just saying that they like Xiaguan, but emphasizing how that put them in a group.  To me that's odd, even though that form of expression comes up more and more now.  Podcast creators tend to lean into this social dynamic, making their audience feel like part of a group, by establishing specialized use of slang, or even a nickname for group members (as "teaheads" is used).  Theo Von and Chris Delia are good examples of comedians using this form.  Oddly on one Reddit subforum Joe Rogan podcast followers connect and unify related to seeing Joe Rogan as an idiot, reveling in dumb things he says, or making fun of him for using steroids, for being short, or for his anti-vaxer position.  It still works, I guess, it just seems backwards, unifying as fans connected by partial dislike.

Vendors could make use of this, the positive part, right?  That's essentially what the Discord groups represent.  It's not negative really; to the extent someone wants to feel like they are a part of something for liking Don Mei's teas, or those from Yunnan Sourcing, Moychay, Farmerleaf, and so on, that's fine, and it really is also about sharing information.

Next more experienced and older tea enthusiasts might look down on all that, and see it as silly how younger and newer participants cling to odd forms of association.  But it happens in more subtle ways across a broad spectrum, even when people don't feel a need to formalize the link.  If someone loves Essence of Tea, Teas We Like, Tea Encounter, or Hou De you won't tend to hear about it, but there's no reason why someone couldn't value "being in the know" in a similar form, just with less post comments for interaction.  Without even taking up the external role as an elite, experienced, "higher" form of tea enthusiast the more subtle social role as isolated participant may still be regarded as meaningful.  Not joining a group or talking about it could be seen as just following a different code:  those who talk don't know, and those who know don't talk.

Let me pass on a thought that ties to this, that might clarify it.  To an extent I get the impression that some more introverted expats--foreigners living abroad, somehow implied as higher in status level than "immigrants"--like the social role because it defines them as different, and as being a certain way, without any need for setting that up or interacting.  Just being white is a stereotype, where in the US you need to pair that with class / economic status to make a start, and then it still doesn't go far, and you also have to add political affiliation.  Here in Thailand, where I live, foreigners are respected but also disliked a little, seen as quirky and odd but likely to be intelligent, and interpreted as probably having questionable morals, related to paying for romantic relationships.  It's not quite that simple, but basically you are a type, just for being white.  Let's set aside how that would go for other races; that's not the point.

The point is that stereotyping, and to some extent group inclusion, is almost freely granted, and some people seem to value that.  In tea groups you just need to adopt shared perspective, which isn't quite as easy, but which may not be very difficult.  

Tied to Mei Leaf support expressing or just feeling that "I love Don" is more than enough; you're in, even without buying the tea, as that guy explicitly stated in that post.  As a Yunnan Sourcing fan you just need to have placed one order, and to have liked one tea version, and to express intention to keep going.  If you want to feel at home among 10+ year experience tea snobs on Tea Forum--no offense intended; those people are nice--it's not quite so simple, but parroting what others say goes a long way.  In the Gong Fu Cha Facebook group you just need to buy a gaiwan, and to be looking into yixing, or post any photo of drinking tea outside.  R/tea on Reddit isn't a unified social group, but posting a picture of a half dozen boxes of grocery store tea-bag tea in a cabinet will draw at least 100 upvotes.

Why are we like this, group oriented to a strange degree?  With me included, surely.  An online contact put it well in a Quora answer about how social interaction is evolving: 

There's a broad emphasis on smaller and more detailed clustering, which in turn relies on people having a firmer sense of self and on them defining themselves in certain ways. We assign ourselves to many categories which are smaller and more specific than perhaps they've been in the recent past.

Right! A half dozen years ago people might group together in relation to tea interest, but that has pushed down to which teas people like now, or how they brew and experience them, and on further to which vendor sources of those teas they prefer.  Embracing or rejecting someone with a high profile online as an information source, or sub-culture leader, is just an extension of that.  

there's nothing wrong with combining being charismatic and informative, as So Han does

People can even now unify, to an extent, in relation to shared dislikes, not just personal associations and likes.  So this seems to be the last component of the negative mixed feelings related to many tea vendors; it's attractive to dislike a lot of things, and even to identify through that.  It automatically places you above that subject or person, for looking down on them.  If you dislike Dave Chappelle for making transgender jokes that identifies you as more sensitive to minority perspective than him.  If you can criticize the people who make that criticism, for being "woke," then you are implied to have a broader view of how social commentary works than they do.  Even not liking a movie can place you socially.

Never taking up these kinds of connections and oppositions would be a very reasonable and functional option.  But then there wouldn't be that much to talk about on social media, so that perspective would tend to not be expressed, or wouldn't seem interesting if it was.  There's normally a strong inclination to like or dislike things, to agree or disagree with ideas, so remaining neutral isn't so simple.  It's natural to react, and to place yourself in relation to that kind of perspective.

William Osmont of Farmerleaf