Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Recent Synergy Among Tea Bloggers

As of late I have noticed a real synergy amoung tea bloggers.  I could feel as if something was happening, a certain energy in the air.  For me this feeling started with a small resurgence of old tea bloggers that have long been absent.  For me, Bev of Listening to Leaves really seemed to be syncing ideas, feelings, and content themes.  Even posting and commenting on each others blogs at the exact same moment in real time.

When the old bloggers were blogging about tea years back there was never the energy feeding off of each other like there seems to be right now over the last month or so.  At the early years of tea blogging it felt like everyone was presenting a very different character in their tea blog- some small bit of specialized tea knowledge or slice of experience that strongly represented the teas they were drinking and learning about.  Back then there was much less selection of puerh and way fewer vendors available but most importantly there was so little knowledge and experience out there. The internet itself was a dessert of tea information back then.  Looking back the knowledge gap was specifically pronounced.  Because tea bloggers had so little knowledge and experience about puerh, how much could they really say with any certainty.

Now, I feel things have really changed in this regard.  There is tons of info out there and lots more experience to draw on.  The bloggers that are blogging now are doing so in a position of easy to access knowledge and even if some don't have too much experience, at least they can excess resources where people have shared their long experience.

The energy among tea bloggers is really coming from a lot of newer bloggers who are really putting out great content.  Blogs like James' TeaDB and Cwyn's Death By Tea are particularity well written and extraordinarily intelligent.  When I first encountered these two blogs a few months back I considered TeaDB to be the 'new' Half-Dipper and Cwyn's Death By Tea to be the 'new' (but much more hilarious and slightly deranged) A Tea Addicts Journal.  James has a very structured, analytical, and organized way of writing about tea that Hobbes also has.  Cwyn is more of a big idea person, less bogged down in reviewing which is similar to Marshal'N.  There are also two great tea review blogs Oolong Owl and Late Steeps which I am enjoying as well- they are also both quite different.  I wonder if I'm missing some others because blogs don't use the "Blog Roll" with links to other blogs as much anymore?

It is only natural that many of the old blogs have gone into hibernation where others have started up new or have restarted started again- these are the cycles and rhythms of life.  There is also many "new school" or "evolved" multiple social media blogs out there which use a multiple social media platforms such as You Tube, Twitter, Snapchatt, Instagram, ect. - a very cleaver way to get the word out.  Some blogs have even changed to focus much more on puerh tea (like MattCha's).  I started reading the puerh posts of Tea for Me Please, a blog that is increasingly focusing more on puerh.

What is most interesting is how these bloggers are really pushing the narrative of puerh tea blogging.  I feel like a minor thyme, idea, or subtopic that is touched on in one post will be expanded on in an upcoming post of another blog who is best position to write on that new topic.  Or how things mentioned in one post will get support or expanded upon in another bloggers post.  Or maybe how another blogger will present a similar topic but with their own perspective or experience.  This was not being done to the same extent back in the day like it is now.  So I really think this is a magical time for blogging about puerh.

Thanks for all the tea bloggers out there for spending the time to advance this beautiful art of tea.

Peace

6 comments:

Unknown said...

It would be good of you to correct cwyn's name, as searching "qwyn" won't find her blog.
I am glad to see more content myself though - keep up the writing!

Wocket

Matt said...

Wocket McWocket,

Thanks for pointing that out. Corrected.

I am happy you are along for the ride.

Peace

a bad pasty said...

One blog you may have missed is Kyarazen (www.kyarazen.com). The primary focus is on intense, but the informative quality of the tea posts is unbeatable.

Nicole Wilson said...

Thanks for the mention. I definitely understand what you mean about synergy among tea bloggers. The community is still fairly small but there's a lot of sharing and support given amongst us. We even have a roundtable panel discussion of our very own at World Tea Expo now!

Unknown said...

Thank you very much for this information. I really believe that more bloggers seem to be synergizing. Always love your recommendations, so i can follow relevant blogs.

Matt said...

a bad pasty,

Thanks, it looks like a great read even the inscents articles look interesting.

Nicole Martin,

Interesting. I think the tea industry must appreciate the free marketing and promotion of the product that is the after effect of tea blogging.

Mahalo Tea,

Hope this points you in the right direction.

Peace