@dwalbert Beautiful! Here’s how long I’ve been a customer of Upton Tea Imports: I learned about them from a classified ad in The Atlantic (print only at that time); I wrote for a catalog; I filled out the order form included in the catalog and mailed it in. As far as I know they didn’t have a web site at that time. They still include the order form in their print catalogue, which you can still get. My son, who is crankier than I am, tried ordering by mail, but the orders kept getting messed up: probably it’s hard to find people at headquarters who know how to deal with a hand-written order that arrives by mail, so the order form is a bow to dead/dying tradition.
@JohnBrady I was remembering the odd little ads in the backs of magazines: send SASE, check or money order, that sort of thing. That you would have to use words to explain what you wanted strikes me most strongly this morning: that I had to assume the existence of another real human being at the other end of the transaction, with whom I had to engage.
@JohnBrady @ablerism I’ve looked at Upton, but there’s a good tea shop not far from my house where I can smell before buying or get a sample cup. So…
