Mei Leaf / Chinalife - 1600 Year old Pu-erh

565 Replies

A month ago I wrote an article about how to stop fake claims of old arbor.

http://coolcodyc.wixsite.com/theoolongdrunk/single-post/2017/01/09/Spotting-Old-Arbor-Bullshit

One thing that strikes me as interesting, or rather odd, is the fact that a single claim on this companies tea is enough to make people question the legitimacy of their tea. While doing my research I’ve found that,

1. Mei Leaf wasn’t present for the actual pressing of these teas

2. Mei Leaf got the estamite of the tea tree based on the measurement of the tree’s trunk (which they seemed to defy any common sense in coming up with this number)

3. They actively push the health benefits of tea on their website, blog, and youtube channel

4. They claim that their tea blog was one of the best tea blogs on the planet, based on rating system on Feedspot… They we’re only ranked 67th.

So my point being, there’s more that comes into play when it come to Mei Leaf’s legitimacy than just one specific claim they gave to one of their teas. If they weren’t shady on other areas, then these claims specifically could be misinterpreted as a one time fluke. However, based on their marketing and how they acquire their fact, and other attributes, I can’t overlook this one. But then again, some people will make excuses for this, and will find ways to justify tea like this. It’s whatever.

I like knowing that a company is being honest, and has a clean track record of being honest…

Ken said

Ever wish they just went with that, show a picture, say it’s big, it’s old and it tastes good…. buy it!

I would respect that!

I havent bought from Mei Leaf yet, but I have bought from verdant tea, which got mixed up with the 1000+ tree stuff as well.

It was pretty good, the tree looked good, the tea tasted good, the price was good, they really dont need to make stuff up to sell it.

onjinone said

There’s one sure way to see through this stuff in terms of determining whether a tea is good or not, which is to try the tea. The worst part is when inexperienced people buy into these claims and it gives the majority of people in this industry a bad image.

Jillian said

Well said.

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tea123 said
AllanK said

That is very strange. It doesn’t meet their standards so they charge 1000 pounds for 20g? Why bother to list it?

Dxniel said

They don’t mean to sell the tea. But having the tea listed shows people how selective they are in their teas, so that’s good advertising I suppose.

bef said

So they’re basically listing on their website à tea that they are giving away because it’s so bad.

Weasser said

Nope, they’re not. I decided to brew some of the 20g sample he sent me so I could respond properly, and the tea is excellent. I’ve never had an oolong like that, and now I’m looking forward to trying what he considers a great version of it. Watch the video if want more information, but no matter what can be said about him, he didnt give away bad tea.

They had sampled that tea from the farmer, decided it was good, and went ahead with a large order to resell. They got duped and were given a different tea, of a lesser quality. Don decided it wasn’t good enough to sell apparently, so they’re giving it away in samples, on orders above a certain dollar amount.

I guess I would agree with Dxniel, that it’s a marketing strategy. I’m not sure why else they’d list it in the first place.

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Weasser said

He put it there to link the video about it, and put a price nobody would ever pay on it. Not sure why, but he did. I actually have that tea, but havent tried it yet.

From the listing: “Our B batch of Bai Ji Guan which is NOT FOR SALE (we have to put a price but we assume noone will pay £1000!).”
“This tea is a good tea but does not meet our standards as Don had to admit during this video of the tea unboxing.” “Instead of selling this tea we are giving it away free with orders over £40 if you type in the coupon code which can be found on our YouTube channel”

Weasser said

I just tried it, and if that’s an inferior version of that tea, I can’t wait to try what he considers a great version. It’s really good.

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toby8653 said

TBH, if you have watched any Mei Leaf youtube video, you know you can’t take them seriously.

Ken said

Why do you say that? I pretty much learned to brew from watching Mei leaf and TeaDB

My brewing was so awful before watching those videos.

LuckyMe said

I feel exactly the opposite. Mei Leaf is one of the top tea channels on YouTube. Don’s passion for tea is infectious and even though I already knew how to brew gongfu, I’ve learned a lot from watching his videos as I’m sure many others have.

toby8653 said

Well, each to their own ;-)
TeaDB though, I agree with Ken that it is beneficial to the tea community.

LuckyMe said

I like TeaDB too but I think it’s geared more towards experienced tea drinkers. Mei leaf is more accessible to beginners.

toby8653 said

And selling 1600 years old tree puerh to beginners?

Ken said

I dont think that many beginers are going to be jumping into 1600 year old sheng

I think most beginers start with something more accessible like green or oolong.

toby8653 said

I am talking about puerh, strictly.

Dxniel said

Why are people so worked up about the 1600 puerh (which is sold out and no longer for sale, by the way…)? People talk as if their entire profit comes from this single tea cake, and they just keep on lying and scamming people to make money… This single tea cake seems to be enough for some people to tar and feather them… Its nonsense. Perhaps the tea wasn’t really 1600 years old, but perhaps they trusted the farmers enough to take their word for it.

People can be so cynical…

There is a saying in my country: “you are only as good as your last contest”. They “messed up” according to some, and now they disregard all the good they have done for the tea community…?

Yesterday one of my employees came to me excited about having purchased a car. Finally she could drive to work and not beg for rides. I had her bring me her paperwork too look it over. The dealership had sold her a 4k car for 13k…… Need I say more.
This is not a fairy-tale world. This is a real world. They are a business… If they do any good they received profit for it.
We are not obligated to treat them like our children and give them chances to fix their behavior and stop exaggerating and lying.
I wish all well but if someone is blatantly lying or is blatantly willfully ignorant of the business they are in I think it a kindness to share that with others.
I do not like apathetic attitudes of complacent submission used to coerce others into “playing” nice.

Weasser said

I’m with Ken. I started with Mei Leafs videos, found TeaDB, from those videos then found Yunnan Sourcing, Crimson Lotus, and White2tea, to name a few, from James and Denny. It all started with the video about the yixing tea pot that Mei Leaf posted. That video has cost me a few thousand dollars, and put me on the path to drinking great teas, and knowing how to brew them to get the most out of them. Not to mention I’ve influenced at least half a dozen people to appreciate, and want to learn more about real tea. That’s all happened in about six months, after spending years thinking I was getting the best out of my tea. I’ve said it before, he’s not only helping his own business with those videos, he’s helping many other companies as well. He’s only gotten a fraction of the money I’ve spent. Once I discovered puerh I spend most of my money at the other stores I mentioned. In my opinion, Mei Leaf has great teas, and I have lots of them, but for puerh, YS, CL, and W2T, are my main stores of choice.

Ken said

I respect him for his passion and I actually havent bought anything from him yet. But because of his videos, I found TeaDb, Verdant tea, and Yunnan sourcing’s videos. Now because of that I bought tea from alot of different vendors, including Taiwan tea crafts, Verdant, Yunnan sourcing, Tealet, Leaves of Cha, White2tea, Tealife HK, Teavivre, Crimson Lotus, The tea spot, and Sheffeild tea and spice. Now look how much his videos have benefited both me and all of those companies as I now have contact with every one of them, have spoken to them here, on their own boards, or email, or even a few in person.

His videos are really good for newbies, TeaDB, Green tea guru and YUnnan sourcing are better for more experienced people.

Dxniel said

@Cavemanking33

This is about tea. Its very different than a car. A car can have more of an objective value (its functionality, durability, brand, etc.). With tea, price doesn’t have to equal quality. You can have tea from a 1600 year old tree that is nothing special, but you can also have tea from a 50 year old tree that is spectacular. In this case, if the 1600 year old tea tree were vastly more expensive than the 50 year old, you would only be paying for a novelty and nothing else (that said, of course if somebody wants to buy tea from a 1600 year old tree as a novelty, its still wrong to trick him). So saying that “its not a fairy tale” makes no sense with tea, because the age of the tea tree has no objective value like a car might. You can store puerh in a dusty, smelly place and leave it to age naturally for 40 years, it will still be bad.
Tea is an organic product that farmers grow. Prices can vary greatly. I used to always buy green teas from this one shop for about $20 per 100g, and it would be one of their highest quality. Now my favorite green tea is from a different shop and only costs about $4 per 100g (higher quality IMO). Too good to be true, like some fairy tale? Not according to my nose and taste buds. I don’t think you can talk cold-hearted business when it comes to farmers.

I don’t think they should be treated as children, but I do think we should treat them respectfully as people who happen to have a business. They seem to be kind people who are passionate about what they do. You seem to treat them like a company that is only out for profits and nothing more.

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I often feel like a serious lack of skeptism has led to absurd things being accepted as fact on the internet. I will speak to something I understand well as an example.
If you look at the internet you find a horde of self help books revolving around health and fitness. Sadly the reality is that most of it is repackaged Bs. There is nothing new under the heavens…..
The things that worked 100 years ago still work…
Business is the same… Only fools try to create a brand new business idea….
Just steal a successful business idea and plan from a high performance company in the industry of your choice and start.

These examples I use to illustrate the problem with fads. They look shiny and fancy but lack substance.
Everything of substance is simple and real.
So please I entreat everyone in our community to don their skeptic hat and with am open heart search for the simple beauty, the pleasent reality.

As my mother once told me
If you “have” to say it…. It is not true.

And I leave you to your tea.

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I’d like to add a quick 2 cents that I tend you use a bit in my self education on the tea world. I speak on Puerh, but this principle can be applied to other categories as well, i.e. yixing, green tea, bagged tea, storage, whatever.

I always and only ask someone that has nothing to gain or lose with what they will tell me. For instance, I spot tea that looks cool, so I do not ask the vendor. Rather, I go to someone that drinks like I do. Then, I go to someone else, and I keep doing this until I have a basic opinion.

I do not go to bloggers, vendors, sourcing agents, photographers, etc; because, they may be smart and experienced, but they still have either something to gain or lose from my purchase decision. Therefore, what they say has a higher chance of being bullshit than a regular old tea head.

I can spot a few names on this forum that are giving solid advice, and they have absolutely nothing to gain from you not spending or from you spending that .22 cents a gram (or however much it costs) on some BS cake. A lot of people see their responses as extreme and negative, but we are passionate about trying to educate and provide what we have come to understand as common knowledge.

Personally, I have a few vendors that I do like, and I talk to them quite frequently. Hell, I even count a few of those guys as friends. However, I do not go to them for advice on their products.

Look to the people that are just drinking and learning. They know more than a guy that will say/do/produce/ whatever to get a dollar and will do so with a smile and HD video.

*quick is a relative term ;)

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tea123 said

Teadb did an episode about buying tea with tree age in mind. For the people in this thread that were called fake users enjoy the episode.
https://youtu.be/MnDxHe7oZhM

Weasser said

I saw it, as I’ve seen every one of their episodes, many of them multiple times. I’ve also seen every video from Mei Leaf, Yunnan Sourcing, Crimson Lotus, and a multitude of others. I’m not a fake user, and never was. It’s a good episode. I still love all of the teas that are in question, but know that the teas are not as old as claimed. It doesnt matter to me though, they taste good, and I’m glad that they do.

Jillian said

And I’ve got a bridge to sell you. (◔_◔)

Weasser said

Which one? I already own the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the lower level of the George Washington Bridge. I wanted the whole thing, but I couldnt afford it. Let me know, and we’ll talk.

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@Weasser – I have 4 DuckDuckCoin,…
https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/Exchange/?market=DUCK_BTC

Wanna trade for the Golden Gate Bridge? I have always been fond of that bridge. I am sure DuckDuckCoin is going to be the next Bitcoin.

Weasser said

I would think that I could get a bit more for the Golden Gate, Scott, but since it’s you, DEAL! :D

@Weasser LOL! ;-)

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tina said

I’ve tried many teas from Mei Leaf, and their teas really are just fantastic. I’ve tried doing blind comparisons of the same teas from other vendors, and I’ve never had anything beat the Mei Leaf version. Not once. I think it’s pretty absurd to judge them without actually tasting their teas yourself. Don’s videos have done so much for so many people in the tea community.

“I think it’s pretty absurd to judge them without actually tasting their teas yourself.”

You’re missing the point here. Many people won’t even try their teas because of their misleading marketing. Tea is very personable, and no one likes to be deceived by false advertising.

Plus the false claims = Don doesn’t know tea that well or he’s lying to make money.

Also the false claim on said tea increases the price. Very well could be decent mid range tea, but you are paying massively more than if went to another vendor who isn’t lying about their products to charge more.

AllanK said

He may have done some good things but he also has been lying about the age of his tea trees. There just isn’t any tea available for a price below five figures from a 1600 year old tea tree. A farmer who really has a few 1600 year old tea trees can get a fortune for the leaf. Why would they sell it to Mei Leaf on the cheap. I don’t doubt the man has sold some good teas but if I am going to buy internationally and pay expensive shipping I would like for the seller to be telling the truth.

@oolongowl @allanK

I completely agree with everything you two said here…

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tina said

I do understand what you guys are saying. I do. I am a fan of some of your tea blogs, and I respect your opinion. But I guess I’m just not in the business of defining any tea seller by one mistake. I can see your point, but as someone who has bought and tried a lot of their teas, I was actually completely surprised by the honesty and accuracy with which the teas were described. The flavor profiles are 100% spot on. It was so accurate it was completely unexpected because I expected it to be so far overstated, but it wasn’t. They are the ONLY vendor I’ve found that have teas as good as they say they are (even if not as old as they say they are). So they are not dishonest across the board.

The age of these trees is probably inaccurate. I’m not going to draw conclusion on whether he was lied to and perpetuated it, or lied intentionally, I can’t know the answer to that. Any statement claiming to by anyone but Mei Leaf is nothing but intentional fallacy. So I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt and call it a mistake. I’ve noticed that he now always claims that the age of the trees are what he’s been told, but that you can never be sure if it’s true. So as far as I’m concerned, a mistake may have been made, but I’m not going to let that overshadow the positive experience I’ve had with Mei Leaf.

But how do you know who is a reliable source and who is not? Because I’ve bought tea from some really reputable sources (really highly praised on here) and have just been really disappointed.

Weasser said

Very well said Tina. I’ve had most of Mei Leaf’s teas, and they have always been exactly as described. They even helped me to pull my wife into fine teas, and that was no easy feat. I’ve been called fake, a troll, and other things on here because I’ve stated my opinion on Mei Leaf’s teas. At this point I don’t care who does or doesnt try them, it’s their loss if they don’t. He offers quality tea, and his videos are the reason I’m here in the first place. He introduced me to fine tea, but he was only a starting point. I don’t know him personally, but his goal, besides making money, seems to be spreading the word on real tea, and he’s done that, and because of him I’ve met many fine people, including the owners of well respected tea stores. I’ve loved teas I’ve gotten from many of them, and I wouldnt have known they were there if it wasnt for Don Mei. So thanks Don, and thanks Scott, and Glen, and Oli, and all the others that have shown me what I was missing. Tea is delicious, and I know it now due to a video I found on a clay tea pot one day.

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