My Ratings

I know this blog has been up for about a week already and I've written about 14 TasTEA reviews, but looking at some of the posts, I feel like I should explain some of the ratings.

First things first, the rating I give a particular product is my opinion and my opinion only.  I may really love something and when you go to try it, you find it average to bad while I may despise something which you may like.  A lot of discrepancy may be due to brewing methods and I have a post showing how I brew tea and how I hope you'd brew it similarly   Also, I don't buy expensive tea.  I simply don't have the budget and if you found a type of tea that you would like me to try, either request it and I may buy it someday or just send me a tea sachet or some tea leaves and I'll try it out.

These are a list of criteria that factor into my rating:
Taste
Quality vs. Price: Is the tea strong/fresh with no weird tastes for the price I'm paying
Amount vs.Price:  Am I getting a decent amount for what I"m paying for
Packaging:  This is more along the lines of whether it'll last as opposed to Is the package pretty.
Uniqueness:  Is this a unique blend or unique taste or is this the same generic flavor I've seen everywhere.

So here's some hypothetical examples of what would go with each rating

Buy it!:  A good quality tea for the price that's either exceptional for taste with good packaging or something that I can only see with that brand whether it be a unique product or good unique taste.
Try it!:  Pretty much any tea that satisfies me in terms of taste goes here.  It's something where if you were some confused tea patron and you saw this tea for a good price or you saw this unique tea, I'd say try to get the smaller pack, try it out and decide for yourself whether it's an investment.  In other words, it's a Buy it! but to a lesser degree.
Pass!:  Don't buy this, even if it's cheap.  You're probably not getting your money's worth.  Or, it's extremely generic (like plain black tea) and you honestly can get something of better quality for a lesser price.  You might not be completely offended by the taste but it's just not worth the money or time brewing it.
Stay Away!:  There's nothing redeeming in terms of taste, you really should never buy it and I hate it.

Well, hope you all enjoyed that and I'm bringing you a review in a couple of minutes.