Tea businesses/bloggers: Do you do nasty or nice?

[Jackie]

Here’s a question for y’all inspired by something I saw on G+. Naomi (@joysteaspoon) mentioned toning down a rant recently so as not to alienate customers. That does make perfect sense but it also made me wonder, how much do you hold back? Now I know @thedevotea rants and raves away – but that’s more on his personal blog. However, does it matter if you huff and puff but run a tea company? Does it affect business? Do you fire away saying anything that pops into your head, even though you have customers? Or do you play nice? I’m asking tea bloggers too. Do you fear alienating your readers, if you reveal your tempestuous side, or tell them that all herbals are for anemic sissies?
Yours,
J.

[riccaicedo]

Hi Jackie

I’m a tea purist, so not that interested in herbals or even flavored/blended teas. What I did was limit the scope of my blog: only Japanese teas (non-flavored). No point in writing about or reviewing teas that I don’t like.

That being said, I also respect people’s tastes and they can brew their teas however they want. As long as they like it that way, there’s nothing wrong with that. In conclusion, yes, I play nice : )

[Robert Godden]

I’m just not a nice person. No use in pretending otherwise.

[Xavier]

I don’t review teas but I am trying to “teach” (teach being a big word for what I am doing) things so I need to be nice (of course, you all know I am always nice).

Regarding a company, it has to be nicer but must remain true to its identity/values.

[liberteas]

As a blogger, I don’t be nasty for the sake of being nasty, however, if I don’t like a tea, I will say it in my review. I am as honest as possible with every review that I write. There have been some teas where I simply could not even finish the cup so in those cases I might not write the review because it’s so bad that it’s difficult to continue to taste it to come up with a worthwhile article. I don’t know how many readers would tune in for a review that reads only:

Yuck, I hated this tea.

Kind of a boring review. But when I find a tea that isn’t my favorite, not something that I can say a lot of nice things about, I’ll be honest about it. I also try to acknowledge that not everyone has the same taste buds and what’s good to one person may not be to the next.

When I was blending my teas, I found I was much nicer because I felt like I had to be. I didn’t want to set off customers with my opinions. I think that’s why I make a better blogger/reviewer than I do a tea company, because I can be honest, and I’ve never been really good at holding my tongue (or fingers) from saying things when I want to say them … but I don’t ever try to go out of my way to be nasty either. I am nice until I can’t be.

[lazyliteratus]

Since I don’t do tea reviews anymore, per se, but rather feature unique ones that catch my interest, I don’t write about things I don’t like. Life’s too short for a bad cup of tea. That said, if there’s a bone I have to pick…I’ll pick. Case in point: The “flavored matcha” incident.

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