Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

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May 3rd, '12, 23:27
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Re: Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

by Chip » May 3rd, '12, 23:27

No, as I actually just posted in another topic, tea for personal use is not subject to custom's charge.

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May 4th, '12, 13:34
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Re: Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

by teaisme » May 4th, '12, 13:34

good to know, I have never had anything withheld, but was just wondering if anyone in the US had.

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Re: Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

by Chip » May 4th, '12, 17:26

Although I have to wonder if there is a USD limit for custom's free? It seems I heard someoner say 300 USD? (fortunately Japanese greens are actually and usually relatively cheap compared to Chinese counterparts. :mrgreen: )

I think this is also a reason the mark packages "small packets?"

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Re: Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

by Drax » May 4th, '12, 17:46

I used to get shipments from Canada held (and charged extra) when they were over $200-ish (I forget the exact amount) -- I was ordering wire and metal (for jewelry and armor making).

Never had a tea order held or charged additional customs fee... even on a recent YS order that exceeded $300...

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Re: Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

by debunix » May 10th, '15, 14:12

I'm very interested in checking out the Taiwanese teas reported as available on Yunnan Sourcing's US site, but I'm not able to access YunnanSourcing.us/store: it keeps coming up with a 'connection to the server was reset' error. I get the same problem in 4 web browsers on 2 devices. But down or not says the site is up.

Does anyone else have trouble getting to their US site? I know I've checked the site out a long time back, but I've only ordered from the original storefront and haven't been to the US site in a long time.

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Re: Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

by Drax » May 10th, '15, 17:13

I was able to connect to it as of a few seconds ago...

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Re: Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

by debunix » May 10th, '15, 17:14

And it's letting me connect now. Very odd. Thanks for checking.

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Re: Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

by bellmont » Mar 9th, '16, 23:13

One kinda crappy thing I noticed about Yunnan Sourcing is that of my writing this they do not allow negative reviews of their tea to be posted on their site.

Ethically this sits uncomfortably with me...if I am going to take the time to write and post review of their product, I would like my voice to be heard.

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Re: Yunnan Sourcing "Official" Ool, Wht/Yllw and Puerh Tea Topic

by joelbct » Mar 10th, '17, 08:35

YS and YSUS has 12% off black, white, green through midnight March 12 Pacific time, and TS has the same 12% off 2016 Oolongs. Code 12off.

I just ordered 500g of the Autumn 2016 Imperial Mojiang black! And spent $120 on 25-50g samples just last week ;) I like their prices.

As for no negative reviews, well, I don't blame them, they are in business to make a profit, tea is subjective, and competitors can post fake negative reviews.

Take all reviews on any vendor sites with a grain of salt anyway, for any product. Screened negatives, fake positives...

Caveat emptor goes with everything.



Mar 10th, '17, 14:07
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Re: Yunnan Sourcing

by ethan » Mar 10th, '17, 14:07

joelbct wrote:
I just ordered 500g of the Autumn 2016 Imperial Mojiang black! And spent $120 on 25-50g samples just last week ;) I like their prices....
& obviously you are quite fond of the Imperial Mojiang black--500 grams!

Several years ago one harvest of the Simoa gold buds.... was one of the best teas I ever had. The same tea the next season & season after that was not nearly as wonderful. As for Yunnan black tea in general, the "best" does not seem much different from the rest to me now. About twice a year I drink 2 or 3 of Adagio's Yunnan blacks w/ a friend here in Boston. Adagio's Yunnan Noir which is its cheapest of the 3 offered seems very close to its other 2. Likewise it seems as good as the Yunnan blacks from YS to me (by memory not direct comparison).

On the contrary, for me now, the differences between good, better, & best gaoshan from Lishan is very noticeable. Likewise for many types of oolong differences in quality are noticeable & important. I hope you share how you like the various oolongs you bought. Cheers

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Re: Yunnan Sourcing

by joelbct » Mar 10th, '17, 16:25

Yup, I tried the Simao and a few other of their tippy Yunnan black offerings in 2015 and preferred the peppery/slightly maltiness of the Mojiang, which they describe as "sugarcane." Personal preference is a funny thing ;)

12% off, plus $6 in "vouchers," means I get half a kilo for $66 incl shipping, an awesome price for the quality imho.

And similarly, I don't find the 2016 autumn Mojiang quite as spectacular as the 2015 and 2014, but it's still good enough for me to buy enough to drink daily for a while.

As for tippy yunnan blacks/golds in general, I find a huge discrepancy between average/mediocre, good, and fantastic. The latter is, to me, just a very distinctive malty peppery almost sometimes leathery taste.

In my experience, a lot of what's sold as "Yunnan Gold" in the states looks the same but isn't necessarily that great. Some of the best I've had was actually through Ito En's NYC shop 10 years ago, and specialteas.com before they closed, I don't know where either of them sourced it. I ordered a bunch of YS's gold at the same time and it wasn't as good as Ito En's and specialteas', which was ironic, them being Japanese and American based companies.

I will definitely share my experience of the Oolongs. I bought a bunch of their blacks also. And a few samples from jay's site.

Any recommendations for Taiwan Sourcing 2016 Oolongs? May as well, while their 12% off sale lasts.

Mar 10th, '17, 19:16
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Re: Yunnan Sourcing

by ethan » Mar 10th, '17, 19:16

joelbct wrote: " Personal preference is a funny thing ;

half a kilo for $66 incl shipping, an awesome price for the quality imho.

Any recommendations for Taiwan Sourcing 2016 Oolongs? May as well, while their 12% off sale lasts.
Yes, we are different from each other in our preferences; &, our present selves like tea we did not like before. However, I am sure you will get your $'s worth from those 500 grams at that price even if you don't like it quite as much at the end of your stock of it as in the beginning. "Re: From the people who brought you Yunnan Sourcing: Taiwan Sourcing" is a thread here w/ some discussion of TS's teas which might help you, Joel.

I have 21 teas on hand from Taiwan chosen from > 150 sampled from my trips there; so, you can understand I have not done on-line buying for quite a while. Good luck.

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