Dear Friends,
You must understand that this is not our living. We created a site to offer some of the amazing teas here at more affordable prices, for barely a profit beyond our own expenses.
Your negativity and judgement of people for being spiritual about their tea, your accusations of fraudulence and underestimation of how much tea is available does not in any way demean our effort, practise or commitment. On the contrary, such behaviour only demonstrates your own prejudice, ego and lack of discrimination.
All of our teas are 100% authentic. We offer samples of all of the loose leafs and some of the bricks/beenchas on a case by case basis. There is only a limited amount of each tea even available for order online. We don't blame you for doubting what you see. We have been to tea houses in many countries and have yet to find one like this. Meng Hai did indeed produce bricks in 1965, and they are listed in the Puerh anthologies readily available here and in China. In fact, there are bricks older than that even. There is also a Puerh museum here in Taiwan. If you go to their site you can find even older bricks with photos and descriptions:
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Having millions of dollars worth of tea is not far fetched at all. If you can read Chinese and check the Puerh anthologies you will see that there are hundreds of beenchas that exceed 25,000 U.S dollars in value. Just 1 month ago a 1920 beencha was sold to a Chinese tea drinker for more than 800,000 Taiwan dollars, which is almost 25,000 U.S. Furthermore, anyone who has traveled in China during harvest time can testify to the fact that the highest grades of many teas are often auctioned off for incredible amounts of money. Last autumn's prize winning An Xi Tie Guan Yin measured 2000grams and sold for more than
10,000 US dollars to a man from Hong Kong. Furthermore, the statement was made as a reference to the fortune of teas that are here and our desire to share them with others-- a sincere desire born out of love for tea, not condescension; and definately not fraudulance. Again, check out
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This tea shop has been open for more than 40 years and collecting, storing puerh teas for that long. Besides the shop, there are two warehouses-- one for older and one for newer puerhs. At one time the owner was a valued tea taster for many factories in China. Through that job he established connection throughout China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and was able to gain access to purchasing rights over some rare teas, some of which (like the Tibetan tea we have featured this month) only make it to one or two destinations beyond their source.
As for the decision not to use metal. It is ours. Occasionally we also bag our teas in aluminum lined bags. In some instances it can't be helped. But we do our best. The alternative solution is a plastic substitute that looks and feels like the aluminum counterpart. However, these need to be specially ordered and are sometimes too expensive. We can notice the difference between water boiled in a metal kettle and that boiled in ceramic or glass. We might add that even the ancients like Lu Yu proscribed using metal instruments. However, this is a matter of taste. If you aren't appreciating the chi in your tea, if you don't notice the difference, or if you don't mind, even if you like metal-- go ahead and use it. We would never come here and insult you for it. We are just relating our experiences, and there are over 50 memebers in our Cha Dao Research Society.
Your choice not to participate in tea as meditation is fine. It can be refreshment too. It can mean anything to anyone. However, before your view the world as composed solely of liars, before you cast judgement on those who may be sincere, take the time to get to know them and their motives. Perhaps you aren't so different, and your pedestal not so high.
We wish you all truth and happiness May peace shower your trails And all those they cross
Aroma Serene
P.S. the gourd strainers are not plastic. They are made from real gourds. We aren't selling them in this issue but may perhaps do so later. They retail in this store for around 10 US dollars, though I have seen them for cheaper around China/Taiwan/Hong Kong. And they aren't secret mystical or magical tools. Actually they are quite common. Again, your negativity and quick judgement betrays you.