Don't Buy Pu'erh Locally (Generally) [Inbetweenisode 324] 

But the guy at the local farmers market said his darjeeling sencha tea was grown on his family farm back in China!

I started following you in 2014 (I think).. and Pu'erh was the tea you recommend then and I fell in love with it... and on an off topic note, I am perplexed as to why you don't have over 100k followers keep up the great work

I’ve got a local vendor who is Tibetan and imports through family. Bought a decent 150g cake from 2006 for just €12 in 2022. Usually a lot cheaper to buy from him than through the internet, though I place one big €200 order at w2t each year.

I think this is great advice, I think it's important for someone getting into chinese tea to experience having it imported themselves. I know for me I never had anything sent to me from so far away before. Necessary to open you up to some of the real good stuff

I would say, even as a not so knowledgeable but avid tea drinker, I think this is fairly solid advice. At least when you just start with tea, once you have a sense for what tea can be, then of course people should shop around locally, talk to store owners and get a feel for if they might have products that are worth while. However, outside of China and Japan, the only tea store that I have tried that was worth while is down to a single store in London, so as you said they are hard to find. On the topic of tea stores, at the moment I have exclusively bought from CLT and YS. I was wondering if anyone here has some suggestions for stores who specialize in the following teas, which I should try and give a go in the future?: Puerh (Raw&Ripe), White tea (predominantly bai mu dan), and dancong. I also would like to try some more Taiwanese oolong, I have thought of trying taiwan sourcing, but I am up to try other places too.

Great advice. If you’re new, I highly recommend the monthly tea club and various samplers available at Yunnan Sourcing. Lots of options and never a bad tea.

Solid advice, it would be great if there was greater tea appreciation & culture in the West. But at this point the path to good quality tea is generally on line. Even if I lived in one of the few Cities that have a world class tea shop, selection is limited greatly. Living in Hawaii I have access to locally produced high quality tea which is great, the style of tea here is excellent but different. Even if I lived in Kyoto or Fujian I would still seek out variety and specific teas from other places. I really appreciate North American based vendors and purchase from many of them regularly. I’d love to live a block away from Yunnan Sourcing, Crimson Lotus, Floating Leaves, West China Tea, Old Ways or Camellia-Sinensis and would have far more of their tea in my stash if I did, but I can’t envision a time soon where any one City could support a selection and quality of tea I’d be fully happy with, for that matter I can’t imagine any vendor on line, next door, or even a single country I’d like to be limited to.

When I lived in Paris France it was an easy thing just go around the corner and buy really good tea (also expensive but at least gives support to the vendors). Now in Spain it is completely unthinkable to go to a shop. And unfortunately the tax for the custom from China has gotten so expensive that basically tea is just a memory from other times

Everytime I hear about Chinese communism, I think about the small producer that charges me a premium for their cakes 😂