Aliexpress teas

[Exempt]

a six-year-old cake for less than 10 bucks?!

It is only shu puerh

[Puerlife]

a six-year-old cake for less than 10 bucks?!

It is only shu puerh

OK, you trade me a six-year-old Langhe cake or Dayi White Lotus Golden Needle for one of these.
Yipintang sells sheng, too, BTW.

[Tofsla]

There's a company on Alibaba called Yipintang, in business since 2005. They sell various puers and other kinds of tea in small enough quantities for individual buyers. I think their main market is Japan. My question is: can you tell me anything about the quality of their tea?

There are many cheap teas by Yipintang on Taobao, but I have tried a couple of their higher-end products that are currently harder to find. I did not know about Japan, but I happen to know that their teas are gaining popularity in Russia. I have tried their 2012 Nannuo Chawang about a year ago. It was one of the very few teas I know, whose claim that their are gushu I am inclined to trust (others being certain teas from recent years from EoT and pu-erh.sk).

I have tried to locate the tea in the Internet and discovered two shops by the producer on Aliexpress, both legit, selling from different locations. A cake of this tea sold for about $90 at this time, and I bought few (which I do rarely, as I am the kind of collector, who prefers to have many different cakes, one or two of each kind).

Both of these shops seem to have no products for sale, currently, so, I am not giving the links here.

There is another tea from the same year and series, as my Nannuo Chawang, called Bulang Chawang, which I have heard good references about. And another pretty good tea from them I have tried is their 2010 Yiwu Gaoshan. It was rather cheap last year. While these teas are no more available from aliexpress, I believe one still can find them on taobao and in some less known Internet-based tea vendors (of the latter, I have found 2 Russian shops, 1 Israeli (!), and one seems to be US-based - in Brooklyn, NY).

[Puerlife]

Thank you very much. This is exactly the info I was looking for. I'm going to place an order with confidence. According to Yunnan Sourcing, this is yet another company headed by a former Dayi manager. The Brooklyn guy is where I first heard of this company but my gratitude does not extend to paying triple, which is what he's asking for the Yipin Puerh (gold prize) 2007 - $10 as opposed to $59. I just tried to PM you but either the system isn't working or I can't figure it out. I'll try again later.

EDIT: Whoops, I meant $19 above, not $10.

[Tofsla]

The Brooklyn guy is where I first heard of this company but my gratitude does not extend to paying triple, which is what he's asking for the Yipin Puerh (gold prize) 2007 - $10 as opposed to $59.

You are welcome.

As for the prices, I would not be so sure: alibaba often either does not quote any prices, or gives a rather wide range. I can tell that 2012 YPT Bulang Chawang sells in Brooklyn for about the same price, as it costs on Taobao. 2010 YPT Yiwu Gaoshan in this shop is only about double from Taobao price, which, taking into account shipping and agent's fees, makes it an ok deal, too. The prices for the 2012 Dayi cakes are not totally off, either, as far, as I know.

Anyway, please, let us know, how did it go for you buying from YPT on Alibaba.

And feel free to PM me, of course.

[Puerlife]

The price I just quoted is a quote the company just emailed me, FOB but I don't know what the shipping will be yet. Their Aliexpress site is confusing because they multi-list some products in order to get more hits. I'll be in touch later today (it's 3pm here).

[Tofsla]

(...)The Brooklyn guy is where I first heard of this company but my gratitude does not extend to paying triple, which is what he's asking for the Yipin Puerh (gold prize) 2007 - $10 as opposed to $59. I just tried to PM you but either the system isn't working or I can't figure it out. I'll try again later.
EDIT: Whoops, I meant $19 above, not $10.

I am sorry, but it looks to me like there is a lot of confusion.

So, it goes like $19 (not $10) for 2007 YPT Yipin at Alibaba, versus $49 (not $59) for 2008 (not 2007) YPT Yipin at teaclassico. It is not the same tea, and the cost is not triple, actually.

I could not find the 2008 cake on Taobao to compare its prices against the 2007 cake (which sells there for RMB150-160), but the fact it is one year younger does not necessarily dictate a lower price - the concrete year and material used in the year's version also matter. Last year there were cakes that cost higher than their direct predecessors that are few years old already.

Anyway, since I don't buy by tongs Alibaba is not an option for me, even if it might be a little cheaper (we don't know the shipping price, yet).

[Puerlife]

Yeah, writing 10 instead of 19 was a typo. If I'd meant 10 I wouldn't have said triple. And when I wrote $59 that was the current price listed. But don't take my word for it. That's what googlecache is for:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... w-puer-tea
I think your point about the one-year difference is a weak one. It's more likely that the two products contain similar grade material. I could be wrong but so could you. But by all means don't let me stop you from buying from the Brooklyn guy, if you are not him .
BTW, the bing price is $19.15 but the tong price is only $16.20. Thanks again for the info about the good bings you bought.
And since you are confused about finding Yi Pin Tang on Aliexpress, I'll help you out: http://ynypt.en.alibaba.com/

[Tofsla]

... But by all means don't let me stop you from buying from the Brooklyn guy, if you are not him .
...
And since you are confused about finding Yi Pin Tang on Aliexpress, I'll help you out: http://ynypt.en.alibaba.com/

Thank you, Puerlife, for the link. Unfortunately, Aliexpress and Alibaba are not exactly the same thing. On the former, they used to sell by bing, and there was free shipping for some items, and the prices were generally cheaper than on Taobao. They had 2 shops there, and both are empty now, but I can give you the links, if you want them anyway.

And, no I am not the Brooklyn guy. In fact, I have never even been to Brooklyn. I have made last post just because I thought it is not fair to the guy, whose shop looks rather nice to me. But, since the price has been adjusted, looks like (s)he was reading us here : ) If you look at my posts, which are rare, you will see that is not the first time I do something like this - I just want to make sure all the good vendors stay around for the benefit of us, tea lovers.

[Puerlife]

OK, you're not the Brooklyn guy (yes, it's a guy). And thank you for your gracious response. You obviously know a lot more than I do (and that's an understatement) so I appreciate your comments. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to try to get samples of the higher grade shengs but if I can't I'll just order whole bings as samples since you've given me enough confidence in the company to do that. FYI these are the price quotes I've received so far:
The Yipin Tea King (2012) is sold out
The Yipin Tea King (2013) is 55.74 and 65.89 (for tong and bing respectively, all in USD)
The Yiwu High Mountain Pure Arbor (2010) is sold out.
The Yiwu Big Arbor (2013) is 26.69 and 32.03. It is 400 grams and is described as "raw tea, aged and big arbor of more than 100 years old from Mountain Yiwu with the average altitude of 1330 meters, spring tea."
Yipin Lasting Appeal (2013) 3.80 and 4.55. 357 grams "raw, small arbor of 30 years old from Menghai area with the average altitude of 1000 meters, spring tea". At that price, is it safe to assume this is very crappy taidicha?
Nannuo Arbor King (2011) 357 grams 12.72 and 15.26 "raw tea, arbor of more than 80 years old from Mountain Nannuo with the average altitude of 1400 meters, spring tea".
The age of these "arbors" paired with these prices do raise an eyebrow, but at these prices maybe I'll try one or two of the cheapies. After all, every once in a while researchers do try to give away money on the street as an experiment

[Puerlife]

I came across this thread today while looking for something else and remembered that I said I'd report back when I'd tried my sample. I wish I had something, anything at all good to say about all the sheng I tried but they were absolute rubbish, the worst tea I've ever had in my life. One of the shu was OK but most were crappy, and the worst was just pressed fannings. And so ended my adventures on Aliexpress. Maybe this company has some good tea but that's hard for me to imagine. Just thinking about their 'tea' makes me want to go brush my teeth to get rid of the memory of the taste.

[Emmett]

I would not recommend any teas from there. Many fakes or badly stored teas. Better off buying from a reputable seller and try samples first.

As I had warned!

[Puerlife]

I agree with you that ordering any tea from Aliexpress is a bad idea and I'll never do it again. Maybe this company produces some good tea but what they sell on Aliexpress isn't good at all, which suggests that they use Aliexpress as a dumping ground for their worst tea, and they have plenty of it. That's what I wanted to find out - can one buy good tea directly from a producer on Aliexpress. The answer is a resounding no, but that's not what you warned me about, Emmett.

[mr mopu]

I agree with you that ordering any tea from Aliexpress is a bad idea and I'll never do it again. Maybe this company produces some good tea but what they sell on Aliexpress isn't good at all, which suggests that they use Aliexpress as a dumping ground for their worst tea, and they have plenty of it. That's what I wanted to find out - can one buy good tea directly from a producer on Aliexpress. The answer is a resounding no, but that's not what you warned me about, Emmett.

Depends on where you buy it on Aliexpress. There are a couple of good shops on there.

[Puerlife]

I agree with you that ordering any tea from Aliexpress is a bad idea and I'll never do it again. Maybe this company produces some good tea but what they sell on Aliexpress isn't good at all, which suggests that they use Aliexpress as a dumping ground for their worst tea, and they have plenty of it. That's what I wanted to find out - can one buy good tea directly from a producer on Aliexpress. The answer is a resounding no, but that's not what you warned me about, Emmett.

Depends on where you buy it on Aliexpress. There are a couple of good shops on there.

Oh really? Could you please tell us or PM me?