Hello Canadians! I'm in Toronto - I'm finding that with the crappy Canadian dollar, and the high delivery charges from online pu sourcing, $36 cakes are turning into $80 cakes just like that. I'm wondering how you are managing to get around this? There don't seem to be too many Canadian vendors (Other than Jalam) who have a good selection of young Sheng to explore. Are you all sucking up the bad exchange rate/delivery rate too, or have you found local companies/ways around this?
Any advice would be welcome! Thanks
Re: I'd like to hear from Canadian pu heads
Sorry, that won't help much, but I'm just considering the USD price when I buy tea these days. Otherwise I wouldn't buy anything.
Other than that, you might want to make only big orders to save on shipping, or subscribe to a tea club and drop extra tea on some months.
I'm not sure that buying locally will help, since there isn't much good deals on puerh in Canada. My guess is that you get better value, even with the exchange rate, by buying online from specialized puerh vendors (except from a few crappy places you should avoid).
Other than that, you might want to make only big orders to save on shipping, or subscribe to a tea club and drop extra tea on some months.
I'm not sure that buying locally will help, since there isn't much good deals on puerh in Canada. My guess is that you get better value, even with the exchange rate, by buying online from specialized puerh vendors (except from a few crappy places you should avoid).
Re: I'd like to hear from Canadian pu heads
I don't know if there are any good Chinese tea stores in Toronto or not so I'll talk about ordering online only.
I generally avoid ordering tea online from other parts of Canada. Canada post from a different province usually costs as much or more than international shipping. Since all of the tea is imported you're going to pay for the bad exchange rate anyway, and there's not many Canadian vendors that do online retail which have pu-erh that's any good anyway.
US vendors usually aren't worth bothering with either. There is a decently affordable shipping option in USPS first class but many vendors inexplicably refuse to make it available and insist on UPS or USPS Priority. If you find a US vendor that ships by USPS first class and has pu-erh you like that can work.
Ordering from vendors located in China is usually the best bet. Most vendors will offer China Post SAL which is affordable. EMS isn't too bad either if you're impatient. Most that are western oriented will charge in US Dollars, there's not much way around that.
Avoid vendors that use private carries like UPS, FedEx, and DHL. These companies will all charge "customs brokerage fees" on delivery. Tea is exempt from import duties in Canada. They're just holding your tea hostage for ransom.
Ultimately because of the change in our exchange rates our money is worth less than it used to be, so we're effectively being paid less than we were before. Unfortunately, that means we're going to have to spend more for our tea
I generally avoid ordering tea online from other parts of Canada. Canada post from a different province usually costs as much or more than international shipping. Since all of the tea is imported you're going to pay for the bad exchange rate anyway, and there's not many Canadian vendors that do online retail which have pu-erh that's any good anyway.
US vendors usually aren't worth bothering with either. There is a decently affordable shipping option in USPS first class but many vendors inexplicably refuse to make it available and insist on UPS or USPS Priority. If you find a US vendor that ships by USPS first class and has pu-erh you like that can work.
Ordering from vendors located in China is usually the best bet. Most vendors will offer China Post SAL which is affordable. EMS isn't too bad either if you're impatient. Most that are western oriented will charge in US Dollars, there's not much way around that.
Avoid vendors that use private carries like UPS, FedEx, and DHL. These companies will all charge "customs brokerage fees" on delivery. Tea is exempt from import duties in Canada. They're just holding your tea hostage for ransom.
Ultimately because of the change in our exchange rates our money is worth less than it used to be, so we're effectively being paid less than we were before. Unfortunately, that means we're going to have to spend more for our tea
Re: I'd like to hear from Canadian pu heads
thank for your detailed replies! Looks like I've been following the correct route, and there ISN'T a secret Canadian society of pu heads... at least, not that I'm ready to join yet...