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I really have a dual view on advertising: as a person I hate being on the receiving end of ads (especially when the ads follow me through my browsing....), on t

by Xixi 7y ago

I really have a dual view on advertising: as a person I hate being on the receiving end of ads (especially when the ads follow me through my browsing....), on the other hand as an entrepreneur I'm quite happy to have means of advertising my tea subscription service [1]. "Build it and they will come" doesn't quite work. People have to hear about your product somehow. I don't do much advertising at all for Tomotcha as our churn is low and I am quite content with the number of subscribers right now. But from time to time we send a tea to an "influencer" or run an adword campaign. It helps. [1] When I mention my tea subscription service (https://tomotcha.com https://tomotcha.com) right here on HN, does it count as advertisement? It should, because it is, thankfully HN as a community of entrepreneurs is rather forgiving about self-promotion. Other communities (some subreddits) can be very hostile towards it...

arkades 7y ago
And here I go rewarding your self promotion, but when else do I get to ask directly? I just skimmed your site. It looks like it’s all greens. Is that correct?
- Xixi 7y ago
  We send very different kind of teas, but they are all Japanese teas. So for instance we only sent black tea once [1] so far because wakocha is pretty rare, though it is gaining in popularity among tea producers. I recently found a very good one produced in Tanegashima, we may send it soon. Otherwise most teas will fall in either the roasted family (hojicha), or in the non-roasted family (sencha, gyokuro, etc.), with sometimes teas that are really infusions, not actual teas (like Zaracha). But taking just non-roasted green teas, there is a lot of variations. Depending on the way green tea is prepared, it will taste very different. Difference can come from the steaming (asamushi -> futsumushi -> fukamushi, from light and quick to deep and long), from the shading, or lack of shading (sencha -> kabusecha -> gyokuro from no shading to a lot of shading). Then there are teas prepared with different part of the tea plant: my favorite tea is actually called karigane, and is made of twigs instead of tea-leaves. The teas are definitely all quite different, there are many to try. [1] https://tomotcha.com/en/blog/2018-012-wakocha-toyama/ https://tomotcha.com/en/blog/2018-012-wakocha-toyama/
  - arkades 7y ago
    I am a pretty dedicated tea dork, even if I don’t particularly love Japanese tea. I’ll give it a shot.
    - Xixi 7y ago
      Thank you :) If you want a discount, you can use this coupon: REDDIT

by Xixi 7y ago

arkades 7y ago

And here I go rewarding your self promotion, but when else do I get to ask directly? I just skimmed your site. It looks like it’s all greens. Is that correct?

Xixi 7y ago
We send very different kind of teas, but they are all Japanese teas. So for instance we only sent black tea once [1] so far because wakocha is pretty rare, though it is gaining in popularity among tea producers. I recently found a very good one produced in Tanegashima, we may send it soon. Otherwise most teas will fall in either the roasted family (hojicha), or in the non-roasted family (sencha, gyokuro, etc.), with sometimes teas that are really infusions, not actual teas (like Zaracha). But taking just non-roasted green teas, there is a lot of variations. Depending on the way green tea is prepared, it will taste very different. Difference can come from the steaming (asamushi -> futsumushi -> fukamushi, from light and quick to deep and long), from the shading, or lack of shading (sencha -> kabusecha -> gyokuro from no shading to a lot of shading). Then there are teas prepared with different part of the tea plant: my favorite tea is actually called karigane, and is made of twigs instead of tea-leaves. The teas are definitely all quite different, there are many to try. [1] https://tomotcha.com/en/blog/2018-012-wakocha-toyama/ https://tomotcha.com/en/blog/2018-012-wakocha-toyama/
- arkades 7y ago
  I am a pretty dedicated tea dork, even if I don’t particularly love Japanese tea. I’ll give it a shot.
  - Xixi 7y ago
    Thank you :) If you want a discount, you can use this coupon: REDDIT