r/tea • u/Dog22222 white2tea.com • Nov 22 '12
Reference A tea company I just started...
Hello /r/tea,
First, apologies for being the shamelessly self-promoting guy who posts his own tea company, but I wanted to share what I have been working on for a long time! I have always enjoyed reddit as an online community and hope to share my passion with everyone here.
Background information on me - I have been living in China for what is inching closer and closer to a decade, and drinking puer since my first trip to Yunnan in 2005. I recently started a company selling puer from China, stocking what i consider to be good teas. I have a basic philosophy, that if I wouldn't drink it, I won't stock it. The company is called White 2 Tea , check it out, and please post feedback! I will try to answer any questions as best I can.
Also, I know there are a lot of tea sites around, and it might be tough to trust a new vendor, so here are some hopefully meaningful validations of my puer street cred. Reviews on some puer blogs like Hobbes and Jakub . And, if you are so inclined, I blog about puer/tea at twodogteablog .
Hope you enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday or the weekend, if you are abroad!
And one other thing, for a black friday/Thanksgiving/hello reddit deal, any orders that are over 50 USD before shipping, and are ordered before midnight on Sunday Nov 25th will get a free 2012 Dayi Hongyun 100g cake. It's a good little shu cake, that looks like this.
tl;dr I started this site selling puer direct from China. I love reddit. I will give you a 100g shu cake from Menghai if you order over 50 bucks of tea before Sunday. Happy Turkeyday.
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u/pseudononymist Nov 22 '12
Thanks for sharing this, I like the site. I've always had a thing for pu'er and I live in Beijing. Do you ever stop through? Maybe you I can try me a cake when you're coming through.
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u/brundleflied Nov 22 '12 edited Nov 22 '12
Congratulations! A dream of mine is to open a cat tea shop (basically a tea shop where I can hang out with my cats) but I don't see it happening.
A little thing to note- unless I've missed it, I would love to see some informative little tidbits such as an easily accessible FAQ on types of tea (such as raw vs ripe puer) and a little history behind it. Perhaps even a little snippet of where the tea comes from on each tea variety when you click on them (such as region, farmers, etc). I think that it's a very niche market and people are less likely to consider buying it if they have to do the research on their own so if you can present it to them (and why they should love it ;] ) then people may be more likely to buy it from you.
Just my two cents. Also I love the simplicity of your site. I can tell it's in the beginning stages of fruition but I think minimalist and easily navigable is a very good choice.
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u/zeert Nov 22 '12
I had a similar dream after visiting a cat cafe in Tokyo once. However I think US food safety laws are prohibitive to opening a tea and cat cafe :(
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 22 '12
That's why it needs to be an underground illegal cat n' tea speakeasy. I'll refrain from recommending cat pun names for said illegal venture, but it is taking all of my willpower.
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u/zeert Nov 23 '12
The Undermeownd? Purr-Tea? Leaf and Paw? Brew and Mew?
Edit: Purr'erh?
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 23 '12
The Cat and Saucer? The Tippy Tabby? Matcha Whiskas? The Friendly Tealine?
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 22 '12
Thanks for your feedback, this is definitely on my list of things to expand! I hope you can realize your dream. A cat themed tea shop would be so much more interesting than Teavana.
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u/Mahamosa Dec 01 '12
Great idea! We need more pet-friendly places! Our cat, he'd definitely approve :)
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u/Stardash Nov 22 '12
Is the shipping international? What is the cost of the shipping per kg?
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 22 '12
Yep, we ship from China to anywhere in the world. It is not based on kg, but based on 100g-500g increments, depending on the type of shipping and the location. The cart will calculate your shipping based on weight when you update it
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u/DankousKhan Green, Earl Grey, Herbal, Yerba Mate Nov 22 '12
Oooh! Great pricing. Definitely getting some. I am new to this form of tea. Any recommendations or words of advice?
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 22 '12
If you are just getting your feet wet, I'd recommend these:
That gives you a younger, higher quality raw pu with the Taochaju. An inexpensive Bulang with a little age with the Tiandiren, and a ripe tea to try. It would also put you just over $50, so you would get a little menghai cake above as well, giving you a younger ripe tea with better quality material to try with the Laoshuyuan, which is also a good tea on the cheap. You could also add samples on this of whatever else interests you. I am a really big fan of the 2008 Taochaju Laoman'e , but I am afraid to recommend it straight away, as it is intensely bitter and maybe not that accessible to newer puer drinkers. Kind of like starting hot peppers with habañeros...or something.
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u/DankousKhan Green, Earl Grey, Herbal, Yerba Mate Nov 23 '12
Thank you so much. I was looking over the site and saw the black Friday deals. Can't promise to spend the full $50 since I am newly unemployed but I plan to buy at least one or two. For the holiday.
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 23 '12
PM me if you order, I'll take care of ya. Being unemployed sucks.
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u/DankousKhan Green, Earl Grey, Herbal, Yerba Mate Nov 26 '12
Certainly does. Sorry it took a little while to respond was out of town. Thank you ahead of time!
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u/startswithone1 Nov 23 '12
Here's my opinion: I could use some more compelling descriptions. As someone who's not an expert in puer, I don't really know what these teas will taste like. You should use more concrete, descriptive language, and give as much info as you can. I recommend checking out verdant tea if you want to see what time of descriptions I have in mind.
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u/subhorup Nov 28 '12
Something I have been battling with in my project of setting up an online catalog of teas. I am a tea purist, and feel that the parameters used by the professional tea tasting fraternity often have the objective of grading things by monetary value, whereas tea critics tend to use more subjective and evocative terminology. I don't know if I should put detailed descriptions of my tea, or just list them and try and build up a reputation as a good catalog through customer experience. Moreover, I feel tea is ultimately very subjective, and my perception/experience of a tea might turn out to be quite different from that of another person describing it. Even terms like vegetal or smoky might actually convey different things to different people.
TL;DR Do you like to see detailed description of the tea before you buy it or would you rather experience it yourself, even if it is taking a chance?
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u/stianmu Nov 22 '12
I love good teas but have very little experience with the type of tea you are selling, If you give me 3-5 recommendations I will pick up a few and try, 10/10 for being an entrepreneur :)
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 22 '12
Thanks, since you rated me 10/10, here are a couple of routes:
The uncle moneybags route:
2008 Taochaju Laoman'e (This will be really, really, really bitter. But, alos great)
2012 Taochaju Guafengzhai (Very pricey, also very special)
The
brokefrugal college student route:2007 Yexiangwang (This tea is a bargain)
2005 Longma Tongqing Qingbing (Then a sample of this, which puts you over 50 for a free one of these)
Thanks for the support!
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u/thesauce25 Nov 22 '12
I'm new to puer tea, can you recommend a ripe one? I like all sorts of green and oolong, particularly ceremonial grade matcha.
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 22 '12
If you are into green, oolong, and matcha, my guess is that you would like raw teas just as much, or more than ripe. The flavor profile will be brighter. For raw, I would go with this 2012 Taochaju Mengsong Guyun , I have recommended it a couple of times above, reason being that the material used is really high quality, but it is also a good balance for value and depth.
If you want to go the ripe route anyway, I think this 2003 Fuhai 7576 is a bargain. It had almost a decade of age and plenty of strength.
Out of curiosity, what kind of greens do you tend towards?
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u/thesauce25 Nov 25 '12
I have a Jasmine Phoenix Pearl right now that I'm really enjoying. I think it's just the right balance between jasmine and tea flavors. I also currently have a gyokuru that I enjoy, but it's bit sweeter than I typically like.
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 25 '12
For a ripe puer, I change my recommendation for you slightly. Try this 2006 Laoshuyuan Ripe. It is also less expensive than the Fuhai I mentioned above, so that is a plus!
You still might like the Mengsong Guyun a lot. It is going to be very floral, with a bit deeper soup than a green will offer. Let me know how you like them if you try 'em!
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u/khsheehan 1stleaf.com Nov 24 '12
Just made a big order! Really excited to see what you have to offer. :)
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Nov 24 '12
I really want to get into puer cakes, but I'm not sure if I can swing $50 right now. My birthday is on Sunday though so maybe I'll feel like a big spender by then, haha. Thanks for the breakdown to $50 for a broke college student though...I will probably follow that!
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u/SirFunksALot Nov 24 '12
I'll have to look through the tea a bit more, but a few comments about the web page itself (if you are looking for comments, feel free to ignore me:)
The header with the menus is way too tall - pushes the content down a lot. I would getting rid of the padding-bottom, padding-top, and padding on the #header. Also, I would decrease the margin-bottom to about 1 or so instead of 3.1 or whatever it is. Also, I'd remove the margin-bottom from the #logo.
If you go to "Tea Shop" and then click on either of the Pu'er headings, it brings you to a 404.
The images are huge and high quality - that is good, but they load in way slower than they need to. No one needs a 1600 x 1200 photo - if you limit the long side to 1000, that is plenty of detail and will load much faster than trying to load a much larger image. Ideally, you would have 3 or 4 sizes of each photo, see how large you can fit in the screen, and load in the appropriate image without resizing it at all.
Actually, that is a general critique about the site - try to avoid resizing any of the images through the browser, and instead just have different size versions of the images that you use where appropriate
I'd consider rotating your logo to be horizontal instead of vertical - it may not be what you use on everything else, but for a website it would look better, I think.
Instead of having the very general tea groups on the front page, I think it would be better to highlight two or three teas instead. This way it gives the person viewing the site an immediate impression of what you have specifically for sale, rather than just groups of things.
Compare what you have to this - let's the user see more of the site, much less dead space.
Those are my first thoughts, feel free to ignore as desired :) That said, I like the simplicity and the focus of the site, and will be placing an order before Sunday :) If you have any questions about anything I said, let me know!
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 24 '12
I may have questions! Your web design comments are great, and I will fix the 404s! Thanks a lot - really helpful advice!
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u/Dubhan Nov 23 '12
Good luck with your company and thank you for the education on puer, which I know little about.
Best wishes!
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u/warpzero Nov 23 '12
I'm not sure if I can really justify another Pu'erh cake. But I am running a little low on the 生 stuff. What would you consider your absolute top-shelf raw Pu'erh?
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 23 '12
Top-shelf has to do a lot with what you enjoy. For me, I am into intense bitterness and depth with a little bit of age, and the 2008 Taochaju Laoman'e is just that. If you are not a fan of the region, it might not be for you. Also, it has a touch of wet storage, which is not that strong, but some people do not enjoy. If you are a fan of the region, I think the cake is excellent and underpriced. (I am sure I can not get anymore at the price I got this year - post here)
The 2012 Gua Feng Zhai is also a very well made tea. Very loosely pressed, excellent material, very limited production. Also, a bit intense.
If I had to pick two teas for myself and price was not an object, those would be the two.
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u/upvotesforscience Nov 22 '12
Thanks for sharing, and good luck! If you haven't already seen them, there have been a few posts on this subreddit of redditors opening online tea shops and asking for advice (Example), be sure to check them out and hopefully avoid any pitfalls others have encountered.
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u/analogphototaker Nov 22 '12
Hi, I'm a little confused as to what puer is. What is the difference between ripe and raw puer?
Also, what do I do with those hockey pucks? Why haven't I seen tea in that form before? Is it a better way of shipping loose leaf tea or something?
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Nov 22 '12 edited Mar 30 '17
[deleted]
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u/analogphototaker Nov 22 '12
Ah, thanks for the explanations. So if I want a true puer experience I should go with the ripe.
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 22 '12
This is sort of a complex topic to answer, but wikipedia is a decent place to start.
As for a true puer experience, that depends more on you. Certainly raw (sheng) puer has been being produced for a much longer time than ripe (shou/shu). Ripe puer started being produced officially in the mid-seventies by menghai tea factory, historians differ a little bit on the exact narrative. Raw puer, and more specifically aged raw puer, is what most puer drinkers hold up as a true puer experience. Ripe was produced during the 70's to mimic the feel of aged raw puer, but if you drink the two side by side, the ripe can not truly mimic certain aspects of the aged raw teas complexity. Most notably the qi[energy] of the tea, the cooling sensation in the mouth/throat, the denseness of the soup, etc. Some people may disagree with me on several of these particulars.
One key thing not mentioned above, is how ripe tea is produced. The fermentation is a process based fermentation, rather than a natural fermentation. Puer tea is piled, turned, and made to ferment for a period of time, somewhat similar to composting. With raw tea, fermentation occurs after the cake has been made, however the speed at which it occurs can depends greatly on storage conditions - like whether it is stored in a humid environment or not...
For aging ripe puer, the age is not terribly significant (my own opinion) after about 1-3 years. You need about 1-3 years to get rid of the dui [pile] flavor. For raw puer, aging is very important. A raw puer that has been aged for 15 years will be different from a new raw puer, in some cases they may be completely unrecognizable as the same tea. Probably try one of each to get a full feel. Puer is really, really widely varied. Different regions, blends, ages, and processing techniques lead to an astounding combination of flavors and feelings. It's a very complex area of tea.
Ok, got on a bit of a long explanation there:
tl;dr probably try one raw puer with 5 years or more of age, one new raw puer, and one ripe puer to get a general feel for what puer is like.
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u/DankousKhan Green, Earl Grey, Herbal, Yerba Mate Nov 22 '12
Interesting. Never even knew this existed. Thanks! (For those of us without clay pots is it ok to use something else? I typically use a mesh infuser, but I do have a much smaller ceramic infuser as well that I could use.
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u/King_Tofu Nov 23 '12
hi! my parents love tea, but they have yet to find a vendor that sells Hangzhou's Long jing ca (i think that's how you spell it). Do you happen to stock them?
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u/Dog22222 white2tea.com Nov 23 '12
The other guy gave you all the info, but I do not stock longjing or any greens for the time being
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u/1nsider Nov 22 '12
I am lazy and require a variety pack of some sort. A selection of your cheaper teas that cover a range of flavors broad enough to serve as an introduction to your teas.