> Actually, it would be interesting to know more about how Taiwanese tea
> is doing on the Mainland market. I understand it's getting more
> popular.

Ok, thanks, I got it now. I know a few vendors that sell low quality
productions of those teas; more than likely fake, doctored, or
nonsense.

As for Taiwan tea in the market, really high quality stuff is hard to
come by. A student of mine brought me back some A Li Shan he got in
the supermarket in Taiwan and it was leaps and bounds better than some
of the "'real' Gao Shan shops" that had been suggested to me by my tea
drinking friends here on the mainland. I have also been lucky to meet
several Taiwanese, pretty old guys, that are really into tea. They
have basically "shown me the light" so to speak. You simply cannot
acquire a really high grade of this tea on the mainland, even if you
pay like 1500RMB.

Down at Fangcun, you will find a slew of different shops that sell "gao
shan" teas and "Taiwan" teas. They mostly do business by selling the
teas that supposedly come from Taiwan in packages, but that doesn't
explain the boxes and boxes of loose tea in their backrooms. They
markup the prices insanely and mostly do business with the
money-laundering types that can get "fa piao" invoices to get money
back from their companies. I've sampled several different grades,
supposedly, at those shops and it sorta all tasted the same: slightly
floral with the astringent finish that can be found in most low grade
Wulongs. Ali Shan...Dongding Wulong...Li Shan...basically the same.

There isn't much of a trend with the Taiwanese tea as it is with the
Taiwanese tea stuff. Pots, cups, tools, trays: It's all so much better
quality than the mainland stuff. You can so easily see it. I have a
pot that was given to me by my Taiwanese tea pal...leaps and
bounds...leaps and bounds.