Have any of you come across teas from Liyang --mostly greens marketed domestically plus some Eyebrow white? Also, do you know about their biennial Tea Exposition which is being held at the end of this month? I am scheduled to be a plenary speaker at it and want to help them understand the US great tea market and how to reach tea drinkers directly. My main theme is that organic tea, Fair Trade, ecotourism and hte Web specialty sites are the combination for innovation and benefits to producers, workers -- and tea drinkers. I am interested in any RFDT messages to the City and Jiansu Province policy makers (my contacts are the Mayor and Part Secretary, who see white tea as key to their eco- and economic development) and to the producers/factories about how Liyang should build its US distribution.
I have seen Mao Feng from this region; although, sadly, I can't remember what vendor was selling this. I also know that they grow locally Biluochun and Wild Tujing. As far as this goes, I do not know who markets these in the US. In my personal opinion, I am very happy to see that you are addressing "Organic" and Fair Trade issues. I understand a great deal of study has been done on the effects of pesticides in Liyang agriculture. Shen
That is one of the main attractions for me to work with them. One of the top resorts (AAAA China rating) is Tianmu Lake just on the edge of Liyang. The Mayor regards the tea-eco link as critical and they are putting a lot of research money into organic methods and "nonpollution" agriculture.
I'm just finishing writing a book on Great Teas and one of my themes is that many of the areas for production of great teas are becomin major tourist attractions -- my model is that Napa and Sonoma are not just vineyards but tourist meccas. There really need be no conflict between economic growth and environment. Napa is just a short ride away from Silicon Valley. Meanwhile we have:
Adam's Peak, Sri Lanka: a fantastic tea in one of the most beautiful settings in the world Darjeeling, tea plus a wild town and fantastic environment - the world's highest railway station, the "toy train" Liynag, the lake, carps-head soup, and "limpid' waters, with tourism up from 1-4 million in 4 years Guranse, Nepal: superb tea and surroundings but, alas, ongoing civil war Yunnan; the most exotic Province in China and fabulous teas, including of course pu-ehr.
One of my messages to the Liyang guys has been that while the US market is small, with whites and oolongs amounting to maybe 2%, it's growing fast and what we are looking for and willing to pay for is (1) organic tea -- you don't get in the game otherwise, (2) non-tea bag, (3) non fannings in a bag labeled Fortnum and Mason Earl Grey, (4) Fair Trade -- not just for reasons of altruism but because FT certification demands organic production.
I'd welcome any ideas relevant to all the above. I am very sensitive to the ethics of RFDT and am not trying to sell anything. In my book, I highlight RFDT as a major source of ideas and information for me. I immensely value the insights and knowledge of the community - I am just an amateur compared to many of you.
By what way, how do we get rid of that vicious and obscene flow of disgusting messages about Easter Sunday? I am not at all religious but this is way beyond any acceptable standard of First Amendment rights to free speech
Please let us know when you are finished with your book and if it will be published in English. Very exciting! As for the Easter comments: don't bother reading them. We are fortunate in this country to have free speech and unfortunately, some people take cruel advantage of it. Shen
I would stress some things. Anything to the US is a simple China Post away although contents have to be inspected first to get a Customs Declaration of 'Gift'. PayPal is the method of payment. Like everone else the seller will need a Business Account with Bank Verification to receive CC payments from the buyer. If the seller uses his Bank account then a Buyer Business account isn't required. I use my CC on PayPal because if there is a problem I complain to PayPal and my CC company. This has never happened for any shipments from China. Ebay is a good way to initially establish a presence on the Web. There are fees and English is a must. TaoBao is completely free to the seller I think because the buyer is seeing advertisements but those webpages are Chinese. I think it would be possible to put up an English web page on TaoBao. I'm not sure if it supports English searches. Ebay.CN was suppose to be a TaoBao competitor but that failed. Alibaba is also another English and Chinese Web portal but that is mainly for wholesellers. I would order from there assuming no payment problem but shipments are usually 10 kilos and more. I think this approach is good for small operations but not large scale. I see buyer and seller hooking up directly through the web via audio and video bypassing webpages and email. I had one Chinese seller who liked to bargain through IM but I don't do IM so just rapid email exchanges. For online exchanges there is a time difference. Morning here is evening there. China has the problem of reaching out, and the West the problem of reaching in.
Jim
PS To make a long story short tell them members of the RFDT community are already doing direct tea purchasing from china. I'm teaching myself Chinese so I can communicate eventually on TaoBao. If I get that far I could open a consulting business of tell me what you want from China. The whaling industry replaced their harpoon boats with sightseeing vessels and are making more money than ever. I don't see the back-to-nature movement going away only increasing. Too bad Pandas don't like tealeaves.
I would suggest that if they want to build a sustainable white tea industry, they should try to ignore the current fad for flavored so-called white teas of dubious virtue. Better to do it the right way and have customers for their wares when the faddists have moved on to the next thing. It's my understanding that making good white tea is labor-intensive, so if they could develop a market for *quality* baicha and get good prices for it, they would be doing the local population a big favor.
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.