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Hello.
I’ve been buying tea from my country (in Europe) but once i discovered stores on ebay i figured tea right from the source should be better and, probably, with less chemicals.
So i bought a mixed pack, some pu-erh (me loves pu-erh), some Lan Gui Ren (looked interesting), Golden Snail Black Tea, Bi Luo Chun and An Ji Bai Cha.First problem i encountered was, except the pu-erh, everything else came in plastic bags, half of which with aluminium on the inside.I only liked the ripe pu-erh (2005 Changtai Yi Chang Hao “Heng Feng Yuan”) but i guess the raw one was ok too (2013 Xiaguan “Te Ji”).Golden Snail Black Tea was barely drinkable.Bi Luo Chun and An Ji Bai Cha were from the same factory i guess, cause they were in identical bags. They have the same smell, they taste the same, like grass. It’s the first time i drink these and don’t know what the taste should be, but i doubt this is it. I’m probably going to throw them away.I’ve also been reading about aluminium and fluorine, and however much i would like to, i know i can’t control what the seller sends me and i have no way of knowing how the factory produces a certain type of tea. But i’m guessing more experienced drinkers know these stuff and here’s the question for you after this long story:What factories should i look to for clean and healthy tea? No pesticides, no pollution, no additives, true to their word on the age and quality of the tea. Links would also help.Thank you. -
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They don’t pretend to be a factory, they collect tea from different factories and ship it. That’s why i’m unsure what to buy from them, because i don’t know how good the factories are. Some teas they have are good and some are bad. I’d like something consistent.
Unfortunately teahong.com doesn’t ship to my country. -
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With the exception of puers, we don’t recommend any factories. We have always promoted and believe in family run gardens. This is an important factor in our values.
Here is the link to the puer factory we think is more reliable: https://www.haiwantea.comI think Romania was barred in the beginning because Tea Guardian have had massive hacker or spammer attacks from it so when Leo set up Tea Hong, it was in the blacklist. A few other countries, including China, are in the blacklist because of the same reason. -
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Ok, well i need to buy some tea again and i hope it won’t be considered advertising because i’m going to post some different sellers ebay links, and i’m hoping you’ll teach me how good the products they sell are. If you can even tell at all just from their provided infos.
There are many sellers on ebay but i’ll only give a few links right now: -
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@Bogdan, please accept my apologies for blocking access to your country before. We have decided to open it but need time to create the postage schedule for it. I hope we can finish doing that soon enough so you don’t get too angry at us.
I am happy that you posted the products here for opinions and I’d like to share mine here. You are correct that not a lot can be judged from the few pictures alone in the first place, but I hope my experience in dealing with tea may lend perspectives that maybe of reference values.I agree with Hokusai that the only seeming potential one is the Baihao Silver Needle tuocha. I am not sure if the leaves are really from indigenous Yunnan cultivars, which belong to the assamica sub variety, or if they came from Fujian. They taste very differently. There are people collecting leaves from Fujian to blend into Yunnan productions to give the shiny light colour look. Real quality silvery hair plucks of indigenous cultivars have been high in cost. Good ones that taste good are even more expensive. That price seems exceedingly affordable for a genuine one.Of the four, the one I discourage the most will be the mini-puer-cakes. All things, including the label, do not seem right.The Anji Baicha maybe authentic, but is of a quality much lower than those that I have experienced. Here is what a real one look like:
The one posted in that link, if genuine, maybe of a later pluck and machine roasted, that is why the look. However, even if it is not a genuine Anji Baicha (or Baipian), it seems to be a respectable quality green tea, if the taste is right.The kind of loose leaf Silver Needle is exactly what a lot of internet shops are selling: imitations. A real one from Fuding or Zhenghe, from the proper cultivars, should have longer downs. Properly withered ones through the white tea process should have not been so green. The slight oxidation (or fermentation), since it happens so gradually, would cause the overall colour to be duller and not spotty reds as in the photos of the link. I have a photo of a green version, a short slightly oxidised version, and a traditional genuine quality below (in respective order), all from Fuding and from the genuine plant: -
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Thank you Leo, you’ve been very kind to explain all these things in a way i actually understand.
In the meantime i didn’t have the courage to buy from ebay anymore, i used jkteashop.com (you can delete the name if considered advertising) simply because they have some of their products labeled as EU Standards and i couldn’t find any other seller with the same advantage. Teas i bought are good, but i’d really really like for sellers to stop packing in aluminium and switch to paper.Siu PB just pm’d me to let me know i can finally buy from teahong.com also. I’m on my way to make an order.Thanks again. -
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