Kyelateas.com

[bobsdf]

Anyone out there ever use this website www.kyelateas.com to order tea? I'm wondering if they are still in business. The website will take an order, but it never gets processed (ie. I don't get charged and I don't recieve any tea) and my emails to them have not generated a response. I found this odd as I heard about the site recently in a copy of The Art of Eating "resources' section and I am under the impression that the guy who runs the site also writes about darjeeling for AoE. Any info would be appreciated. I just want to order some tea!

[jpr54_]

I have ordered several times from them with no problems-

they have excellent darjeeling teas-

have you tried contacting www.camellia-senensis.com in montreal? they are connected with each other-if you still have problems let me know-

joanne

[jpr54_]

==

This is a response from a friend-

Joanne

AFAIK Kyela Teas is still in business but of course since I am not

affiliated with them I cannot guarantee it. Any customer having trouble

should contact Kyela direct.

Kevin Gascoyne, the proprietor of Kyela Teas (it's essentially a one-person

operation in Canada) travels to Darjeeling every year to sample the first

flushes and buy teas direct from the gardens. It is possible that he is in

Darjeeling at this time. It is possible that last year's teas are no longer

available and customers may have to wait until he returns with this season's

new flushes, usually end of April or beginning of May. Either or both of

these might explain why orders are not being shipped. (I don't know who

maintains the Kyela website nor how up to date it is.) Normally the teas are

worth the wait :-). But if someone has been charged for an order via the

website and not received it then it is a problem.

Anyone who is interested and cannot reach Kyela might want to give a call to

the tea shop Camellia Sinensis in Montreal (they have a website at

http://www.camellia-sinensis.com/). The last I heard they were selling Kyela

Teas and might have current information. CS has a workshop scheduled with

Kevin Gascoyne posted on their website for May 9; I don't know if this is

current (for this year). You might also be able to order tea from CS. (A

caveat that it would be helpful to speak French or Quebecois if you call.

;-) Remember if you contact CS that AFAIK they are a separate business

entity from Kyela Teas.

==

Joanne, I usually try to contact Kevin towards the end of April and will do

so again this year. If you'd like I can let you know what he says when I

hear back.

[bobsdf]

Many thanks for the info Joanne. I contacted Jasmine @ camellia who gave me Kevin's tel #. I spoke with him this morning and ordered some tea. He said he had been experiencing a virus problem with his computer which is probably why my order and emails didn't go through. I'm happy to say that Kyelateas is alive and well.

Cheers all.