TEALIGHTFUL BLOGS Sip responsibly with these tea making tips!

TEAVIEWS  Teaviews is a tea review blog with a team of writers who post daily about tea flavors on the market. The website receives tea samples that merchants want to promote, the samples are then shipped to the various tea reviewers and they write their review on the site.

STRENGTHS  Teaviews gives reviews on tea flavors that are out of the ordinary, including a wild watermelon tea. The reviews are written with colorful taste descriptions, as well as a simple review score box at the top. The watermelon tea scored at a 6.8 out of 10, and the reviewer suggested that the tea be drank iced, not hot. I feel that this bold and descriptive style of review is useful to the average tea drinker who wants to get a good review with the extra lumps of sugar.

WEAKNESSES  When tea isn’t steeped long enough, and it can taste weak, and the color can come out drab. The writing might have had the cream and sugar, but the design was utterly flat. Navigating through the website was difficult because there were so many different links to other websites. It seemed cluttered and a reader could easily get sidetracked and drawn away from the website.

OPPORTUNITIES  If I was a reader reading through these tea reviews, and I came across one that sounded tasty, how would I go about getting some? That is the major opportunity that is missing from this blog: purchasing the teas that the reader wants to try. No links are provided to the tea companies who sell the teas you are reading about. I guess if the reader really wants that tea, they will get it themselves.

THREATS  Tea Guy Speaks -This blog, although a one-man-show, is rated 9 th by blogrank.com. Teaviews didn’t even make the list. Having one reviewer may be better than having a whole team because it gives more credibility to the review if you have one expert, especially if you like that expert’s taste. With multiple reviewers, you might not know who’s taste to trust because there are simply too many opinions floating around in the tea pot. Tea Guy Speaks blogrank.com

WORLD OF TEA  World of Tea is a blog site that promotes the education about international tea culture from countries including China, Malaysia, Cambodia, India, Nepal, and Thailand. It is owned and operated by Tony Gebely, a world traveler and backpacker who came up with the idea after meeting tea farmers and being fully immersed in tea culture during his travels.

STRENGTHS  World of Tea offers a lot of information and resources to learn about tea and tea culture. Anything from answering the basic “Where is tea grown?” questions to highlighting the differences in tea culture in the United States as opposed to a more traditional tea drinking country like China. This is a site for readers who want to become informed on the inter-workings of a tea company or cultivation site.“Where is tea grown?”

WEAKNESSES  World of Tea, though chalked full of information, lacks an important element that might make the blog more interesting. It needs more outside opinions from people that are from the United States. If the whole purpose of the blog is to educate Americans about tea culture, there should be guest posts about those who are embracing tea culture in the United States so that the reader can identify with the blog a little better.

OPPORTUNITIES  This site is really quite in depth. It would be good to balance it and get some more guests posting in the blog. The site has tea reviews, but sadly the only reviewer is Tony. Though he may be an expert, it would be good to take other reviewer’s opinions and tie them into the blog to get a broader perspective, and keep with the international theme he portrays in his tea reviews.

THREATS  Cha-Cha-Cha Adventures With Tea- This blog has a similar objective to World of Tea in that is solicits education about different teas and tea cultures around the world. Cha-Cha-Cha and World of Tea are actually apart of the same association, the Association of Tea Bloggers. There is probably close competition. One advantage Cha- Cha-Cha has is that it is more interactive and fun. The writing is more colorful and there are multimedia clips tied into the blog. Cha-Cha-Cha Adventures With Tea

TEAVIEWS VS. WORLD OF TEA  Overall, both of these blogs are of quality. Teaviews is just a review blog where as World of Tea offers not only reviews but also information about cultivation, culture, and preparation of tea. World of Tea would be my pick if I were to want to read about tea because of the educational qualities. However, Teaviews is a cool way to find a unique flavor and explore specialty teas.