Blog Reviews by Bloggeries

If you have never tried a cup of true authentic Darjeeling tea, you may want to stop into the Darjeeling Tea Blog – Darjeeling Cuppa. From the looks of it, it is about as authentic Darjeeling Tea experience you can get without actually trying it. The blogger at Darjeeling Tea is a tea merchant who owns and runs “Thunderbolt Tea” and seemingly consumes more tea than is actually sold. He is an avid tea lover, and this is evident in his most recent bloggeries: Darjeeling, Weather, and Tea; Blowout Offer Repeat!; Some more thoughts and updates; Second Flush teas and my thoughts; My Second Flush Darjeeling Teas 2007; A come back at last; Does tea indulge in politics; One last tea garden venture; First flush Darjeeling Teas 2007 updated; and Second Round Darjeeling Tea Tasting.

Navigation on the site is very simple. Posts are right marginalized and there is a left navigation bar. Posts have the standard black text on white background and the blog opens up with a maroon colored header and an advertisement for the blogger’s store Thunderbolt Tea. I like how the ad is incorporated with the header, I did not even realize at first that it was in fact advertising. The links and remainder of the blog is color co-ordinated with the reddish maroon header. In the left navigation bar you will find a Categories, Archives Menu, AdSense, tea poll, and a menu called Sections. The Sections menu will take you to the About page and you can look at reviews of the teas, copyright information, Site map, and other administrative links for the blog. The categories menu contains the blogroll, Darjeeling Tea Updates on the RSS feed, Miscellaneous Posts, and Travel Updates. There is a Recent Posts menu on this site, you will have to go to the About Page to find it though where it is listed as Latest Articles. You also will find many very pretty pictures on the site with almost every post. The pictures are true representations of authentic Darjeeling Teas and definitely convey an appropriate feel for the blog.

I give this blog a 3/5 for now, there are some issues with the menus I wouldn’t mind seeing changed. The categories menu could be extended to include other categories that are relevant to the bloggeries. The About me page is contained in the categories menu and should be separated to stand on its own as well. I think the Sections menu can be made a little more prominent, perhaps as a top menu bar or even footer menu bar. As these links seem to be strictly administrative they would probably be more appropriately found here to ease navigation a little bit. I think the content needs to be a little more frequent as well. There was some fairly regular content in July but there hasn’t seemed to be much since. The content however when it is there is well written and conveys the true personal voice of the blogger which adds credibility to his tea reviews. I like the pictures and think adding more would only add to the blog’s appeal. Overall I think this is a very interesting blog with a unique concept and unique niche. With a few formatting changes I could see this one doing very well.

If you are heading to California any time soon, be sure to check out the California Winehiker’s Blog – It’s a Wine Blog. Here you are going to find a blog that blends both the love for outdoors and the love for wine culture in one handy spot. The goal at Winehikers is to provide their guests, who they esteem as treasured, with wine country experiences resulting in sensory satisfaction, rekindled vigor, and indelible memories. This is a blog about wine and hiking, the winehiking blog. The blog isn’t about just that however, you will find a wealth of information on tours, California wine country, and information on the Top 20 Wines. Take a sip of any of their recent bloggeries to get the true taste of the blog: Saturday Sippin’, For all you Vayniacs who don’t stay up late, Freewheelin Friday Links, Cabernet in July, Thirsty Thursday Links, Opening new doors in Winemaking, Gary Vaynerchuk Going Big-Time Tomorrow Night, Cougar, and Just one Week Left to Win that Bottle of Dominus.

The navigation system on this blog is very easy. Posts are left marginalized with black text on white background, and there is a very appealing ‘vineyard feel’ green border around the blog with an attractive vineyard header. There is a right sided navigation bar that contains Winehiking information; a Case of Wine Contest; Subscription information; Testimonials for the site; Upcoming Tours information; Archives menu; as well as other food, wine, and hiking blogs. You will also find here the Categories menu that contains categories incuding Grape squeezins, Tasting notes, Tasting venues, Technical Stuff, Wine Reviews, and Winehikers trails. If you are a wine lover, or just a hiking lover, there is a wealth of information for you right on this site. And if nothing else, the active readership alone makes this blog a very credible read for its niche.

This blog gets a 3.4/5 from me. I would like to see a few things added. I think relevant pictures would give this blog a little more punch, and a recent posts menu would also add ease of navigation to the blog’s organization. I find there is a little too much ‘blogvertising’ in each post. Each post contains appeals for emailing, digging, commenting, voting for, subscribe to, all for this particular blog. I see the point and hope this method is working for the blogger, but as a reader I find this content in every single post extremely distracting and it takes away from the blog content. I find the content itself to be excellently written and with the personal voice that readers of blogs tend to enjoy. These suggestions are offered simply to improve what is already a very good blog. Overall I think the uniqueness of the blog, and its daily content are going to serve the ultimate purpose for the blog which is a strong following and inevitable success.

-Chrissie