Has anyone seen these guys before?

http://www.teahub.com/puerhtea.htm

Seems to be a tea company out of Yunnan. They posted something on
teamail the other day, indicating that they "now" take retail orders
from North America. Inquiring about a price list, they responded
promptly (overnight), and the prices on their tea seem somewhat high
($50 for young green cake to $1000 for top 1952 bingcha, some grades
of loose pu-erh are more reasonable). Oh, yes, and shipping is high:
$10 per kilo, and you pay shipping for at least 2 kilos.

Has anyone out there had any experience with these folks?

ZBL

3/27/04


> Has anyone seen these guys before?
>
> http://www.teahub.com/puerhtea.htm
>
> Seems to be a tea company out of Yunnan. They posted something on
> teamail the other day, indicating that they "now" take retail orders
> from North America. Inquiring about a price list, they responded
> promptly (overnight), and the prices on their tea seem somewhat high
> ($50 for young green cake to $1000 for top 1952 bingcha, some grades
> of loose pu-erh are more reasonable). Oh, yes, and shipping is high:
> $10 per kilo, and you pay shipping for at least 2 kilos.
>
> Has anyone out there had any experience with these folks?
>
> ZBL

I got the same response you did. Otherwise, I have no further information.
Were you able to determine the *quantity* on sale for the thousand
smackaroos, etc?

Michael

Michael Plant > wrote in message >...
> 3/27/04
>
>
> > Has anyone seen these guys before?
> >
> > http://www.teahub.com/puerhtea.htm
> >
> > Seems to be a tea company out of Yunnan. They posted something on
> > teamail the other day, indicating that they "now" take retail orders
> > from North America. Inquiring about a price list, they responded
> > promptly (overnight), and the prices on their tea seem somewhat high
> > ($50 for young green cake to $1000 for top 1952 bingcha, some grades
> > of loose pu-erh are more reasonable). Oh, yes, and shipping is high:
> > $10 per kilo, and you pay shipping for at least 2 kilos.
> >
> > Has anyone out there had any experience with these folks?
> >
> > ZBL
>
> I got the same response you did. Otherwise, I have no further information.
> Were you able to determine the *quantity* on sale for the thousand
> smackaroos, etc?
>
> Michael

As far as I can tell, compressed teas are priced per unit (so $50 is
one young green cake, $1000 is one 1952 cake), and the really
expensive one seems to be a standard-sized bingcha (375g). Loose stuff
seems

Z

> Has anyone out there had any experience with these folks?

No, but just by looking at their webpage I am a bit suspicious. Note
the description of their first green tea, "One research in 1991 showed
that this tea could lower blood pressure by 33.53%, and the effect
could last for over 20 minutes after drinking." Sounds like B.S. to me.
Not only are their claiming something that sounds impossible, but they
are implicitly claiming as well that of the only 30 Kg a year of this
tea that is produced a non-trivial amount went to medical research. Why
would you use something so pricey for research, especially if when
there are only 30Kg a year produced it effects only a few tens of
people? Sounds suspicious to me.

Hi Alex,

I read your message regarding our Purple Lady. Here are some answers.
Purple Lady was first found in the plantation of the Yunnan Tea
Research Institute. There were only vey few of them. As a research
institute, they conducted a research on the tea, and found the results
we quoted on our web site. After many years' research, they now can
produce larger quatity of this tea. We have gained exclusive right to
sell this tea.

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding our products.
Thanks!

Linda
JinYuXuan Tea House
www.teahub.com

Alex Krupp > wrote in message news:<2004032908373916807%alex3917@hotmailcom>...
> > Has anyone out there had any experience with these folks?
>
> No, but just by looking at their webpage I am a bit suspicious. Note
> the description of their first green tea, "One research in 1991 showed
> that this tea could lower blood pressure by 33.53%, and the effect
> could last for over 20 minutes after drinking." Sounds like B.S. to me.
> Not only are their claiming something that sounds impossible, but they
> are implicitly claiming as well that of the only 30 Kg a year of this
> tea that is produced a non-trivial amount went to medical research. Why
> would you use something so pricey for research, especially if when
> there are only 30Kg a year produced it effects only a few tens of
> people? Sounds suspicious to me.

I am somewhat suspicious myself (I usually am about internet vendors,
particularly foreign).

Then again, lots of tea sites (even trusted US ones) have been prone
to misinformation and extravagantly bogus claims. E.g., Rishi tea used
to offer pu-erh bingchas supposedly from 1930 and 1942 for about $150,
which is far, far too cheap for a tea this old. Also, Upton (from
which I have ordered many times) tries to hock a $12 TKY as "the
finest grade of traditional Chinese Ti Kwan Yin." Now, with
award-winning TKYs going for thousands of dollars per pound on the
Asian market, that claim's fairly implausible.

Also, keeping in mind that "in 2003" only 30kg were made, and the
study was in 1991, who knows how production of this particular tea
might have changed since then? Perhaps the study pertained to a wider
class of tea that this tea fit into. (Just some ideas--I've got no
more clue than you have).

However, what I noted about the site is that most obvious bogus claims
about pu-erh involve really "old" teas for prices that seem expensive
to the newbie, but are ridiculously cheap given context (cf.
abovementioned Rishi example). However, these folks obviously charge a
lot for their "good" stuff, which one would think would drive
customers *away*--not the idea of a scam artist.

I'm probably not going to test them out (the $20 shipping is enough to
drive me away), but I think they don't deserve to be dismissed off the
bat as a scam.

Z

Alex Krupp > wrote in message news:<2004032908373916807%alex3917@hotmailcom>...
> > Has anyone out there had any experience with these folks?
>
> No, but just by looking at their webpage I am a bit suspicious. Note
> the description of their first green tea, "One research in 1991 showed
> that this tea could lower blood pressure by 33.53%, and the effect
> could last for over 20 minutes after drinking." Sounds like B.S. to me.
> Not only are their claiming something that sounds impossible, but they
> are implicitly claiming as well that of the only 30 Kg a year of this
> tea that is produced a non-trivial amount went to medical research. Why
> would you use something so pricey for research, especially if when
> there are only 30Kg a year produced it effects only a few tens of
> people? Sounds suspicious to me.

"Zephyrus" > wrote in message
om...
> I am somewhat suspicious myself (I usually am about internet vendors,
> particularly foreign).

I almost exclusively use foreign vendors - living in Norway really don't
have a choice. I try to order tea from their country of origin, usually I
get better grades for a better price. It does take some detective work to
find good vendors, but to this day I have never had any problems.

> Then again, lots of tea sites (even trusted US ones) have been prone
> to misinformation and extravagantly bogus claims.

Very true. Also many vendors don't use the traditional classification
systems and add or change the original name of the teas to fancy ones,
making it very difficult to event try to compare. Living in Europe, it isn't
attractive to order samples, as the price of shipping from US or Asia
doubles or triples the cost of the tea.

<snip marketing stories>

> However, what I noted about the site is that most obvious bogus claims
> about pu-erh involve really "old" teas for prices that seem expensive
> to the newbie, but are ridiculously cheap given context (cf.
> abovementioned Rishi example).

I am really a puerh newbie, but I don't think their prices is that out of
line with other puerh vendors in China or Hong Kong that I have been in
contact with. It seems that there are many grades of leaves used to make
puerh , and the price of the tea at any time of it's life reflects this.
Most vendors doesn't put the grade of the leaves on their website, though.

> However, these folks obviously charge a
> lot for their "good" stuff, which one would think would drive
> customers *away*--not the idea of a scam artist.
>
> I'm probably not going to test them out (the $20 shipping is enough to
> drive me away), but I think they don't deserve to be dismissed off the
> bat as a scam.

You are lucky if you think10 per kg shipping is expensive. That is what I
have to pay for *domestic* shipping in Norway!

Lars

> I try to order tea from their country of origin, usually I
> get better grades for a better price.

Really? Sounds interesting. Could you mention some of your vendors,
exp. Chinese?

> > Then again, lots of tea sites (even trusted US ones) have been prone
> > to misinformation and extravagantly bogus claims.
>
> Very true. Also many vendors don't use the traditional classification
> systems and add or change the original name of the teas to fancy ones,
> making it very difficult to event try to compare. Living in Europe, it isn't
> attractive to order samples, as the price of shipping from US or Asia
> doubles or triples the cost of the tea.
>
> <snip marketing stories>
>
> > However, what I noted about the site is that most obvious bogus claims
> > about pu-erh involve really "old" teas for prices that seem expensive
> > to the newbie, but are ridiculously cheap given context (cf.
> > abovementioned Rishi example).
>
> I am really a puerh newbie, but I don't think their prices is that out of
> line with other puerh vendors in China or Hong Kong that I have been in
> contact with. It seems that there are many grades of leaves used to make
> puerh , and the price of the tea at any time of it's life reflects this.
> Most vendors doesn't put the grade of the leaves on their website, though.

I was going off of something WS posted a while back (note that I was
invoking that as something that the site in question *didn't* do).

"5) Tea thats claimed to be very old and sold for a hundred dollars to
two hundred dollars might not be good bargain. This is because tea is
always value for money, you pay more money for a better aged product.
For a tea above fifty years old, expect the price to be fivehundred to
a few thousand dollars. Tongqing tea cakes, which is about at least
80years to a hundred years old sells for tens of thousand dollars. do
not expect to buy something really old for very little money, e.g.
70year old tea selling for $200? impossible."

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...e .com&rnum=3

> You are lucky if you think10 per kg shipping is expensive. That is what I
> have to pay for *domestic* shipping in Norway!

Really? Wow. That helps put things in perspective. Maybe that's not so
bad after all...

> Lars

ZBL

"Zephyrus" > wrote in message
om...
> > I try to order tea from their country of origin, usually I
> > get better grades for a better price.
>
> Really? Sounds interesting. Could you mention some of your vendors,
> exp. Chinese?

I have the impression that mentioning vendors is extremly unpopular by some
the participants of this forum. Anyway... Chinese retailers that send abroad
are notoriously difficult to find. I don't know if that has something to do
with Chinese legislation or just the fact that most Chinese don't speak
(very well) English. I have been very satisfied with the products and the
service I have got from Michael Ryan's company which is located in China. I
have also been very happy with the teas and service from Sun Sing Tea of
Hong Kong. They do sell some old puerh, I see on their website that they are
at the moment offering pieces of a teacake from 1920 for $HKD 880(~US$ 112)
per 10 grams. Teaspring is located in the US, but they ship from China.
Their service is also very good. In the hopefully near future I and some
friends plan to import larger amounts of teas from a wholesale export firm,
which is much easier to find.

> I was going off of something WS posted a while back (note that I was
> invoking that as something that the site in question *didn't* do).

That's right. I read that too quickly. Thanks for the link to his very
interesting post!

>
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...e .com&rnum=3
>
> > You are lucky if you think10 per kg shipping is expensive. That is what
I
> > have to pay for *domestic* shipping in Norway!
>
> Really? Wow. That helps put things in perspective. Maybe that's not so
> bad after all...
The same friends that I hope to import teas together with, recently stayed 6
months in China, and they tell me that $10 per kg is actually a very
reasonable rate. But as always, shipping and taxes have to be included in
the total cost of the tea. So is it worth it? Maybe not if you have a good
tea store nearby.

Lars