Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

Comprehensive member driven guide to vendors of all teas


User avatar
Sep 26th, '11, 16:25
Posts: 20891
Joined: Apr 22nd, '06, 20:52
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by Chip » Sep 26th, '11, 16:25

They usually ship within a day or two and shipments are via EMS which is very fast.

Try emailing them again ... they are very nice people to deal with though there are always the language differences. So sometimes there can be a delay.

Welcome to TeaChat!

User avatar
Sep 26th, '11, 16:50
Posts: 404
Joined: Feb 24th, '09, 12:01
Scrolling: scrolling

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by rdl » Sep 26th, '11, 16:50

fomeboy wrote:Has anyone ordered from ippodo's website? I've places my order 1 week ago and so far no changes on the order status and no reply to my emails...
there have been some holidays which may have delayed your order if ippodo was closed on those three day weekends.

Sep 27th, '11, 10:02
Posts: 4
Joined: Sep 26th, '11, 14:10

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by fomeboy » Sep 27th, '11, 10:02

Just a quick update on my order. Ippodo answered my email and the reason why they haven't shipped it yet is because the EU has requested Japan to certificate that the products shipped were not produced in “the Listed Prefectures” near Fukushima nuclear power plant. Ippodo is trying to obtain that certificate right now.

Thanks Rdl and Chip for your comments.

I'll post a review when i get the shippment.

Sep 27th, '11, 10:40
Posts: 36
Joined: Jun 11th, '10, 01:31
Location: Daejeon, South Korea

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by Nathaniel87 » Sep 27th, '11, 10:40

Yes, the same thing happened to me when I ordered from Korea. It does take a week or two longer, which is a little frustrating especially considering that it kind of defeats the purpose of having to pay for EMS shipping.

I haven't quite figured out why it is required though, since another Japanese tea vendor I ordered from did not have to get the same certification. Either Ippodo is simply doing their business more cautiously or it is required because they blend their teas and need to prove that none of the blend comes from the restricted areas....I have no idea to be honest. Anyway, with that in mind I simply place my orders a couple weeks early.

Oct 10th, '11, 09:51
Posts: 4
Joined: Sep 26th, '11, 14:10

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by fomeboy » Oct 10th, '11, 09:51

I've just received a note from customs informing me that the order will be returned to Japan because it is not in accord to the EU regulation 297/2011.

Apparently things are really tough to Japanese exporters at the moment. Let´s wait and see if they can sort it out.

User avatar
Oct 10th, '11, 19:29
Posts: 688
Joined: Jul 7th, '08, 19:06
Location: ostensible universe

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by puerhking » Oct 10th, '11, 19:29

fomeboy wrote:I've just received a note from customs informing me that the order will be returned to Japan because it is not in accord to the EU regulation 297/2011.

Apparently things are really tough to Japanese exporters at the moment. Let´s wait and see if they can sort it out.
Interesting. I wonder if it exceeded the recommended limits.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex ... 008:EN:PDF

Oct 12th, '11, 13:43
Posts: 4
Joined: Sep 26th, '11, 14:10

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by fomeboy » Oct 12th, '11, 13:43

Apparently it was customs fault and the declaration sent by Ippodo was accepted. I hope i can finally collect my tea tomorrow.

User avatar
May 6th, '12, 08:01
Vendor Member
Posts: 397
Joined: Feb 2nd, '12, 03:03
Location: RSA
Contact: SilentChaos

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by SilentChaos » May 6th, '12, 08:01

Hmmm....it would great if Ippodo could have indicated somewhere on their online shop that they are on holiday and do not ship during this time or answer queries. :roll:

User avatar
May 6th, '12, 12:35
Posts: 2794
Joined: Oct 16th, '08, 21:01
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Arlington, VA
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact: Drax

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by Drax » May 6th, '12, 12:35

"Everything" shuts down in Japan during Golden Week, which was last week. You should see them come back to life shortly...

User avatar
May 6th, '12, 23:30
Posts: 404
Joined: Feb 24th, '09, 12:01
Scrolling: scrolling

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by rdl » May 6th, '12, 23:30

Drax wrote:"Everything" shuts down in Japan during Golden Week, which was last week. You should see them come back to life shortly...
drax, a week ago i would have said the same thing but on a different vendor's site i read this:
"Due to the Golden Week holidays, our shipping department in Uji will be closed from May 3 until May 7(Japan time). Orders received during this period will be shipped on May 8. Thank you for your kind understanding in this regard. The shipping department in Yame, Kagoshima and Shizuoka operate as usual (Monday to Friday)."
i am very curious. are traditions changing in Japan that GW is not always a week off? or have these regions always been different. not a tea nor ippodo related post but this information has left me very curious.

User avatar
May 7th, '12, 09:06
Posts: 2794
Joined: Oct 16th, '08, 21:01
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Arlington, VA
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact: Drax

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by Drax » May 7th, '12, 09:06

Good question... from what I understand, it's up to individual companies to decide what to do during Golden Week, so it wouldn't be surprising to see different things happen... buuuut, it does seem odd in this case to have different things within the same company (or maybe because they're different shipping departments, that accounts for it?).

As another example, I was surprised that "katsuragi" (a prodigious eBay vendor) continued throughout the period, still posting new items every day.

I think somebody living in Japan will have to provide deeper insight on the intricacies of Golden Week...

User avatar
May 7th, '12, 14:10
Vendor Member
Posts: 397
Joined: Feb 2nd, '12, 03:03
Location: RSA
Contact: SilentChaos

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by SilentChaos » May 7th, '12, 14:10

I'm intrigued too (as I always am) :wink: . As far as I know, O-cha and Hibiki takes orders and ships every day of the year...so either their staff don't have GW, or Kevin and Mr. Yasui puts on super 1 man operations during GW? :lol: , I don't know. (Once I ordered from Hibiki on new year's eve not expecting it to be even noticed anytime soon. It was shipped promptly on New years day in less than 24 hours :shock: ...but I digress this is not a hibiki thread.)

I assumed since there was no notice, Ippodo must just be operating as usual, and placed my order not knowing it won't be shipped until almost a week later (gyo n matcha withdrawl :oops: :lol: ). So in my post above, I was meaning more that it would nice if Ippodo had put up something of a notice like the one from Zencha in rdl's post above.

User avatar
Mar 29th, '13, 14:19
Posts: 20891
Joined: Apr 22nd, '06, 20:52
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by Chip » Mar 29th, '13, 14:19

In case you have been living in a TeaCave :mrgreen: ...

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18396

And since one topic is not enough to cover such big news ...

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=18443

I am sure we all wish them good luck!

Jun 1st, '13, 23:31
Posts: 1
Joined: May 27th, '13, 18:33

Re: Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by jinghasfun » Jun 1st, '13, 23:31

Starting from this year, I've ordered tea twice from them. Very fast delivery to Chicago. No complaint about the appreciation of USDs recently. Good time to buy. The shipping is a little bit expensive. But it is a much better good deal overall than buying at US.

User avatar
Jun 2nd, '13, 00:20
Posts: 68
Joined: Apr 25th, '09, 01:20
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Ippodo "Official" Japanese tea topic

by robbie_olive » Jun 2nd, '13, 00:20

I was in Japan during Golden Week, and this year, it was divided up into 2 parts: 27-29 April and 3-6 May. Although some people also manage to get all 10 days off in the period.

I found that the shops (including Ippodo, which I did go to buy tea) and the post offices were all open; the only thing was that it was 10 times busier than normal.

I can't see why they close down, when I found the opposite was true.

+ Post Reply