I'm returning to China.

wow....this raises some interesting possiblities! i would bet you could raise plenty of interest here and on the tea mailing lists! i'm definitely interested.............pilo*

That would be absolutely fantastic. I would send you a check for $100 as a deposit tomorrow, if you want.

Sasha.

I think I'm going to run it via paypal more than likely. You don't have to have a paypal account to remit money, do you? I remember the thread here about all the problems people had with it.

This was just a headsup to everyone here. When I get myself solid in Guangzhou, I can begin to scout out the market for items and things. I'll also have to find some more information about sending things from China. A package was sent to me China Post over a month ago now...using the quick method.

FEDex and UPS are simply too stupidly expensive, IMO.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Hello mydnight, wonderful idea. When you will be in China, I will be in Maputo, Mozambique. Will it be possible to send me tea there? Otherwise I will provide you my State Department address in Washington DC which will delay the tea, two-three more weeks which is not good for some types of teas. Please let me know, what types and grade teas are available so I can order some tea. While your are talking about your searching about postal system please also add a little time about China to Mozambique postal cost. Otherwise, I will use China-US-Mozambique channel. I am also going to China next year and would love to spend sometime in Guangdong. My e-mail address is snipped-for-privacy@cox.net Please let me know your thought and thanks again for your offer.

Rip> >

shades of an endless night.

Surely. I will look up information on sending to Mozambique, but I can already tell you that China Post may have a problem sending things to African countries. They are extremely prejudice towards Africans in China from what I've seen. Some of my friends from Ghana tried to go there and get jobs and a real problem with VISAs and so forth and my friend from Mozambique tried to send some packages and customs refused to let it go.

You are right. Teas being in transit for too long can spoil, especially how they handle the packages there. I will ask around when I get back and see if I can find some routes that exporters use. Maybe there is a way around the huge wait time....then again, sending a package or two of tea wouldn't be that expensive by airmail since it's so light.

ATTN rec.food.drink.tea ATTN

Everyone that reads these posts, please be aware this is an idea that recently dawned on me and I am in the preliminary stages of research on it. I don't want to get everyone's hopes up and then find that it's too difficult to send the tea this way. The most expensive part would be the shipping, I think. I will do my best because some of the sites that I have seen linked here and there are totally rip-off and it angers me. But who knows what could come from this. I hope it will work out!

cheers.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

You raised a very interesting issue here though it is not related with tea. I can't stop myself to share some of my thought about Chinese prejudice towards Africans. This view is not true anymore my friend. Let me explain a little-

Chinese booming economy can't effort buying oil from international market and many African countries are rich in oil and gas. African huge market is a big hope for Chinese cheap product. Last year Africa-China business was $ 18 billion and Chinese are expecting $30 billion within two years. Many African countries are under American and British trade embargo and China is taking this as a business opportunity. They are investing heavily in African nation just for their cheap oil. Sudan, Gabon, Nigeria, Angola, Zambia all of this countries are using China as a trading broker- on the other hand China is getting cheap fuel from them. Their growing economy can't effort high oil price anymore. China know, many African countries per head GNP income is much higher then China. China really care a lot about African nation because they can't do many deal with Europe, American and many Asian countries. Africa is the only place where they have more freedom to act.

Anyway I don't think, it will be a problem. If it is then, I will use my State Department address. I hope to get some friend in the Chinese embassy there so I can use some of their address. The area I am going to live is five minutes walk from Chinese embassy. I always hope for the best-:)

By the way, I have been to China and agree with you- how this vendors are ripping-off us by the name of rare teas. I understand you feeling about that. I really appreciate your effort for doing this for us. If you can do it that's great, if you can't that's fine. Don;t worry-:) Ripon Vienna,VA

Well, I was just telling you from what I saw when I was there earlier this year. I dealt with many business-types and people in embassies and so forth and they all seem to have it in for Africans. I spent about 3 or 4 months with a dear friend of mine from Ghana and he seemed to have so much trouble.

I will do my best, I assure you. I am just sick of seeing low grade tea being sold on websites so expensively.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

How long are you going to be there or is it a permanent move?

of an endless night.

at least a year. we'll see how it goes from there depending on job opportunities after I'm totally fluent in the language. heh.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Well, I know you said that this is only a possibility, but you can definitely count me as interested. I'd love to get truly good teas straight from the source!

Quite agree. I have a business associate who brought me some Oolong from China, he got it in Beijing. To be honest I couldn't make out any difference in taste to the teas I get here in Europe, and this Chinese guy complained about the high price he paid in China. I think, unless we are getting into the esoteric, we are served quite well in the West, and tea is a very cheap beverage in any case. I can also buy tea directly in India, if I really want to, shipping costs usually make this option very unattractive. Just my tuppence. JB

If the most expensive part would be the shipping, why are you so sure that the sites in China talked about here are ripoffs? It would be interesting to see some cost estimates.

/Lew

Mydnight, count me in too. I'm definitely interested in tea-direct as well.

Joe Kubera

Dear Mydnight, I might be interrested in your proposal of buying tea directly from China but I wonder how I will find you after your departure. I see you are just making a market research so you are not giving any address where to find you. So please put me on your customer list. The province of Guandong is of particular interest to me because of its Wulong type teas ( various fine Dan Congs). Also the Wulongs from Taiwan you wrote about might interrest me. When you have some tea to sell please contact me by e-mail : snipped-for-privacy@bluewin.ch

Good luck Karel Valter

an endless night.

I've been to many a farmer's market and passed on the produce to find it cheaper and fresher in the store around the corner. I just got some good hermetically sealed rare West Lake Dragonwell cheap in Chinatown. Not all teas are cheap in Chinatown. A 10oz Taiwan smoky pouchong will cost you $100. I think in general estate teas are overpriced but cheaper than an international trip.

Jim

J Boehm wrote:

Chinese guy

I said this before, and I will say it again here:

Everyone that reads these posts, please be aware this is an idea that recently dawned on me and I am in the preliminary stages of research on it. I don't want to get everyone's hopes up and then find that it's too difficult to send the tea this way. The most expensive part would be the shipping, I think. I will do my best because some of the sites that I have seen linked here and there are totally rip-off and it angers me. But who knows what could come from this. I hope it will work out!

I didn't mean to make it sound like everyone that has ever bought anything from a website is being ripped off. I'm just saying that some of the sites that I've seen here have hiked their prices up alot. I wasn't talking as much about tea quality as I was prices.

If you feel you are having a good relationship with certain vendors, by all means keep it. But, I just thought I'd try to provide a service for you guys if i could.

thanks for your support and your inquiries. I will make sure I give adequate information on how to contact me before I leave. I am serious about this!

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Hi Mydnight,

I meant to chip in earlier but I've been busy and too confused by the new group layout to get around to it 'til now. I just wanted to point out that I tried to send some tea to the US in summer from Shanghai, and China Post said that they could not do it, America refusing to receive tea (and one assumes other organic produce) sent from China. I would check with China Post (and perhaps UPS, DHL etc) when you're next out there. On the plus side, sending to Africa (the 'wrong continent') I doubt would be a problem.

I have received at least 20kg of tea through China Post over the last year, and it was all properly declared through customs. I have also received tea through UPS, DHL, and EMS. The trick is to learn about the FDA "Prior Notification" process.

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

Mike could you please tell me about thie=s...I want to order some tea from Malaysia but I am not sure how to do it properly. It's commercially packaged tea if that matters.

Melinda