Transparency in the Tea Industry?
Some folks have given some great examples here. The examples include puerh and other teas, how so many in truth are not as labeled.
Taking this discussion to the next level, we all agree that there is a difference between what is Objective Truth (concrete verifiable facts) and Subjective Truth (narrative that I or a group of people accept as truth, but cannot be verified). The question next is, what is my personal level of acceptable truth?
The reality is, no one can convince anyone else to accept a narrative, and sometimes we can’t even convince another person to accept a verifiable fact. People are going to decide for themselves what is acceptable when they buy tea. Some may buy a Shui Xian from Taiwan, others will never do so. Some may buy Tai Ping Hou Kou or Da Hong Pao and don’t care about the distinction between the real strict criteria as to what these products are.
Some may accept that Puerh is only a product from the Yunnan Province, just as Champagne is from France, and that Assamica Large Leaf from Laos can never be puerh. To others, Laotian leaf trees don’t know what a border between countries is, and Laotian tastes like the Yiwu across the line and love the huge discount all these squabbles give us.
Because this is a personal decision we all have to make, can we agree that it is acceptable to draw our own conclusions? Can we agree the truth here is going to end up subjective and personal, and we can’t convince one another to accept a singular definition? We all agree that transparency is a goal to strive for, but the market is so confused and competitive that we may not achieve transparency, but that we can accept tea drinkers trying teas they want to try.
Can we accept tea drinkers here who choose to buy teas that I may or may not buy myself? Can I accept that my level of tolerance for marketing hype may not be the same as others? I think it is possible for me to discuss my preferences without telling someone else that theirs are wrong?
Honestly, I buy controversial teas and will continue to do so. I’m looking forward to reading narratives from other tea drinkers who bought teas I won’t get to try.
So I’m curious what’s going on with Verdant’s website. There are only 2 puerhs not listed as “out of stock” there right now. At the moment, they’ve only got a loose 2015 sheng and a yabao — the two least expensive, by the way. Everything else seems to be well-stocked. And given the popularity of puerh in winter, I find this a bit curious, and it makes me wonder if there are some changes happening behind the scenes. Or did they just not plan well and end up running out very fast? Not even samplers like the one I bought last year are available.
Added: There’s actually only one white right now, I see, but then I’d think white wouldn’t go as quickly in winter.
Not sure on the Puerh but I’ve never remembered them carrying many white teas (I drink it year round and thus noticed this).
That doesn’t sound out of the ordinary for them. I’ve been looking at their website regularly for about 3 years and a lot of the teas (including puers) come and go in cycles. They normally stock up on puer for release on Cyber Monday and then a few more times throughout the year. It may change in the future now that they’ve moved to China.
Also, afaik the only white teas they carry (jasmine silver needle and bai mu dan, I think) are sourced through their liaison Wang Yanxin, not actually made by any of their featured farmers.
Ah k, I only check them about every 3 months or so, so I haven’t seen this lack of puerh. Good to know.
Verdant is now selling loose sheng from 300 year old trees for $10 per 50g. While the claim of 300 year old trees is not too bad it is awful cheap for ancient tree sheng.
hi, is this problem mainly with just pu’erh? I bought their 15 years age oolong last month. Several weeks ago, I saw they had a 30 year aged oolong from the same farmer. According to their website, there’s only about 1KG available. I bought 100g of it a couple of weeks ago. For anyone who has bought the 30 years aged oolong, how much did you buy? I want to see if the total bought would exceed their claimed 1KG availability.
it is $12 per 25 grams. I did used a $10 coupon that they gave me from my previous order.
I echo mrmopar’s words. If the claim to price ratio seems too good for a tea from any vendor then approach with caution. I’ve not tried any of their aged oolongs in the past couple of years so I cannot comment on this particular one.
This thread coming back is like a headache that doesn’t want to die.
If you don’t like it, I’ll just buy it off of you. No reason to keep attacking Verdant. Customers can read all the information that has occurred, loud and clear.
(this is my opinion of course, someone else might come along with thanks that this is on top again)
I’m not attacking them. It was an honest question. I quite like their oolongs. If the topic I’d giving you such a headache, then just ignore the responses. Why even go in the thread to begin with.
Well, my apologies. I am just rather skeptical of newly created accounts who come to these particular threads. I have some of the 30 year coming my way as well. I know that if you email Verdant about how much is left, they will respond. If they sell out and you need a lead on aged oolong let me know and I can help you out :)
hey! no worries. I really do feel bad about all that has happened to them. But as you said, the information is out there and people will decide to buy from them or not.
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