Hi, samarkand -

Historically only governments were able to achieve the situation when a
consumer can be reasonably assured of truth in labeling, to my dismay as a
conservative and a free-market proponent Markets seem to be powerless in
enforcing that.
If China will enforce something similar to "Appellacion d'origine controlee"
as French and Italian governments for any type of labeling it would be a
great step forward for consumers. But again - I doubt that very much.
What I think can happen is some good tea production factories (say,
MengHai) can voluntarily pioneer a labeling system where the origin, type,
sort and size of tea leaf will be standardized and clearly labeled together
with other relevant details.
That would bring high level of confidence from connoisseurs and eventually -
by general public.
But that would be an initiative of that factory management, a marketing
mechanism. I doubt that it can happen in today's puerh boom. Nowadays any
bing cha founds its buyer, no matter what.

Sasha.


"samarkand" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Sasha,
>
> What is more important than government's regulation and vendor's
> creativity, is that as consumers we know what we are drinking and paying
> for at the end of the day; if a vendor sells me a compressed Wuyi oolong
> and say that it is pu'er, at least I know what he is talking about - that
> it is "pu'er" in that it is "compressed", not that it is from Yunnan or
> made from the pu'er leaf varietal.
>
> I think consumer knowledge is important. Vendors can come up with fancy
> names, or jump on the money spinning machine and pull a fast one, but as
> long as we are aware of what we are buying, we can appreciate the tea as
> it is, and not as what the vendors purport it to be.
>
> Danny
>
> "Alex Chaihorsky" > wrote in message
> . com...
>> Hi, samarkand -
>>
>> You are absolutely right - new puer definition makes non-Yunnan leaf bing
>> chas not puerhs. However my prediction is - it won't stick. The decision
>> made by government officials most probably will remain what it is - text
>> in the regulations.
>> Puerhs are popular and there will always be people who would make good
>> fermented pressed cakes and call their product puerh. Only if China will
>> implement rigid system of laws and enforce it (like with wine in France)
>> these decisions and definitions will start to work. Knowing how things
>> happen in China I doubt that very much. The general freedom from patents,
>> trademarks and licenses served China quite well and will continue to do
>> so until Chinese patents will grow in numbers and quality and will need
>> the protection against foreign infringers.
>> Then and only then China will become patent protector rather than patent
>> raider.
>>
>
>