I recently visited TaoBao to look at Puer pricing but ended up weeping
at what little makes it to the West. I couldnt find my old link on
another computer so I started over with this.
http://tinyurl.com/c5oufm

That line under the second green arrow reads from left to right
sheng,shu,artisan.

I need an artisan 1kg calabash like this:
http://i40.tinypic.com/jtardu.jpg

Jim

wrote:
> I recently visited TaoBao to look at Puer pricing but ended up weeping
> at what little makes it to the West.

So - does anyone know the criteria by which various vendors decide what
to offer on-line? Is it the the high end, the low end, the ones with
greatest margin, prettiest labels, what's left over after native
collectors and dealers cream off the best, names well known in the West
that aren't necessarily of top quality, the best price-to-value ratio,
or what?

And how might these criteria compare with those relevant to TaoBao,
Skip4tea, and others?

Curious-

DM

I think Puer sold stateside has to be the result of somebody or a
relative shopping directly in China. There is no variety in the
commercial channel besides CNNP ZhongCha. The last time I talked to
Peter at Red Blossom in SF over the summer he was going back for his
second 100kg. He hadnt even made available the first 100kg he got the
year before. I havent seen what he has but I think there would be a
method to the madness. Locally the franchisee Chinese tea shoppe
where we have the PPP has a great selection of 2005 from smaller
factories ie no Menghai and only one XiaGuan tuo. You can tell that
came from the franchisor doing the purchasing that year. If I was
still in the market Id snarf up the 2005 at basically $50 each because
next year it meets the seminal five year beenchmark. When I was in
the market Id buy a minimum of kg each versus a scattershot of one of
everything. Nothing worse than running out and knowing it cant be
replaced. So what Ive seen buying in bulk seems to be part of the
strategy from wholesale which would limit the choices.

Jim

PS TaoBao is the reference standard in the sense youre going to pay
alot more. I hadnt heard of Skip4Tea, very interesting selling Puer
on consignment.


On Feb 16, 4:15 pm, DogMa > wrote:
> wrote:
> > I recently visited TaoBao to look at Puer pricing but ended up weeping
> > at what little makes it to the West.
>
> So - does anyone know the criteria by which various vendors decide what
> to offer on-line? Is it the the high end, the low end, the ones with
> greatest margin, prettiest labels, what's left over after native
> collectors and dealers cream off the best, names well known in the West
> that aren't necessarily of top quality, the best price-to-value ratio,
> or what?
>
> And how might these criteria compare with those relevant to TaoBao,
> Skip4tea, and others?
>
> Curious-
>
> DM