Comments:

Comment from Jason Witt | October 8th, 2009, 1:05 am

I too support full disclosure and integrity. The reason is that what this ruling will really help to do is reign in advertising on the Internet. “Word of mouth” is just another kind of advertising that’s can be slickly hidden. People have a right to know. It’s just more information that will help a reader of a blog. And that’s what the online world is all about. –Teaternity

Comment from Jason Walker | October 8th, 2009, 6:53 am

I agree with you that tea blogging is in its infancy, and has suffered from stumbles.

I hope you do not completely give up on us. To hold ourselves more accountable to each other and the tea industry, a group of us has formed the Association of Tea Bloggers: http://teabloggers.net/

Our goal is to work with each other and tea retailers to spread appreciation and love of quality tea and tea culture. We welcome your comments and contributions to sharing a stronger, more consistent voice.

Jason Walker
walkerteareview.com
jasonowalker@gmail.com

Comment from Veri-Tea | October 8th, 2009, 11:34 pm

I’ll be interested to see how this plays out in the international community… I’m sure it’s a massive legal headache for someone but I agree, disclosure and openness is a good thing!

Comment from Lawrence Lai | October 9th, 2009, 10:38 am

As a new tea company, we have to work with bloggers to build brand recognition. There are always bloggers who will give bad reviews to teas we think are great. We just choose to keep a positive attitude that perhaps that is just not their cup of tea!

Regardless, we work hard to maintain and improve quality of our teas and hope to eventually meet fellow tea lovers who appreciate them. That is also a beautiful aspect of Chinese tea culture.

Comment from Jason Walker | October 13th, 2009, 6:10 pm

On further consideration of this article, I’m not sure I understand its intent.

What’s the relationship between a blog’s declaring how it received teas, and the quality of the review? Are the reviews bad because the bloggers are inexperienced, or because they have been bought with a few tea leaves?

If an online retailer’s teas are good, why not work more closely with bloggers? Ask them to comment on specific aspects of a tea. Ask them how a tea compares to others. Otherwise, a company runs the risk of implying their teas are too good- beyond mere mortal’s ability to appreciate.

Second, many tea bloggers fairly accurately represent the US tea drinking population. If they don’t know how to appreciate your tea, it’s easier to educate a handful of tea drinkers who can share that learning with a larger audience. Or, if several bloggers don’t like a tea, maybe the American palate isn’t ready for it. Either way, you’ve learned where/how to share tea info or when to withdraw a tea.

I foresee the day when online tea retailers will depend less on Google Ads for marketing and will turn toward tea reviewers. On that day, you will see the equivalent of wine personalities like Robert Parker and Gary Vaynerchuk.

Comment from Katrina | October 14th, 2009, 7:05 am

This topic is near and dear to my heart as someone who has been blogging about tea since 2007.

There are certainly some shady practices going on in the world of e-commerce. I have definitely received e-mails asking how much I would charge to write about a product on my blog. There are companies who certainly send large quantities of product trying to ensure a regular space on my blog. But, as with all industries, you have integrity or you don’t. I feel a responsibility to be honest with my readers. (And, it doesn’t take long for readers to figure out if you are trustworthy or not. All they have to do is try the product.) I interact with plenty of other bloggers who are also very committed to their work and to their readership.

I think it’s unfortunate that you have washed your hands of dealing with bloggers, but I understand that some things just don’t fit within a company’s priorities.

I was a bit concerned at the end of the article when it led into the comments about plagiarism and hacking. It seemed to infer that this was related to bloggers where that was the topic of the rest of the post. I think this is a very serious thing to suggest about blog writers. (I’ve had enough interactions with you Austin that I don’t think this was your intent, but it made me uncomfortable.)

I sincerely hope that readers understand that many of us bloggers are professional writers and/or people who value the craft of writing and are doing this for little to no financial gain. We devote our time to tea blogging to share our love of tea and to help others discover it.

Comment from austin | October 20th, 2009, 12:05 pm

You are right Katrina, it was not my intent to imply that I had been hacked or plagiarized by bloggers. Those nefarious actions came from competitors. The plagiarizers didn’t last long in business, and the company that hacked us is still doing well, but they are located in China selling tea on the internet from China. In my peace i should have been clearer.

Comment from austin | October 20th, 2009, 12:31 pm

Jason,
I think that the tea consumer is becoming sophisticated quickly if our customers are an indication. There are people that contact us, both online and in person, that are very savvy about tea. Seven Cups doesn’t rely on marketing, either by Google Ads, or by reviews for our customer. We rely on our sourcing skills and our tea, as well as the research that we do about tea, so that we can have answers for the tea consumers with sophisticated questions. We made a decision in the beginning that we would focus on substance first and marketing second. So far it seems to be working.

Comment from Jason | October 21st, 2009, 5:35 pm

Austin- good to hear the savvy are flocking to you. I have recommended several people to Seven Cups myself.

Interesting you say that people are coming to you with sophisticated questions- it would be worth exploring where they are getting their tea education before arriving at your door with those queries.

Comment from tw6002 | December 9th, 2009, 7:09 pm

Dear Author http://www.sevencups.com !
I apologise, but, in my opinion, you are mistaken. Let’s discuss it. Write to me in PM, we will communicate.

Comment from JermaMag | December 12th, 2009, 4:48 am

uh… amazing post!