Resources
For buyers
Technical and commercial reading for people who source tea professionally. No consumer content.
What Is Xiangxi Golden Tea? A Complete Guide
An registered Chinese geographical indication that almost nobody outside China has heard of — what it is, where it comes from, and why its composition is unusual.
9 min read
Chinese Gongfu Black Tea Processing: The Six Steps Explained
There is almost no complete English-language explanation of Chinese gongfu black tea processing written for buyers rather than hobbyists. This is one.
8 min read
Amino Acids in Tea: Why 7.8% Matters for Flavour
Why one number on a certificate of analysis predicts more about how a tea tastes than any tasting note.
7 min read
Pre-Qingming vs Post-Qingming Tea: What Buyers Need to Know
Two dates in early April set the price of most Chinese tea for the year. Here is how the calendar actually works.
7 min read
How to Import Tea into the EU: MRL, Documentation & Customs
Pesticide residues are the single largest cause of tea detentions at EU ports. Here is what the rules actually require and how to prepare for them.
10 min read
A Buyer's Guide to Tea Grading and Specification Sheets
The letter grades you know from Assam and Ceylon do not apply to Chinese tea. Here is what does.
8 min read
Bulk Tea Storage & Shelf Life: Protecting Value in Transit
Tea does not spoil, it fades. Four things cause it, and all four are controllable at the packing stage.
7 min read
Private Label Tea: From Sample to First Container
The realistic timeline is four to six months, and artwork approval is almost always what delays it — not production.
9 min read
Hotel & Foodservice Tea Programmes: Formats, Costs & Sourcing
Room tea is one of the cheapest guest-perception levers in a hotel, and one of the most consistently mishandled.
8 min read
Importing Tea into the United States: FDA, FSVP and Customs
The United States regulates imported tea through a different mechanism than the EU: instead of testing at the border against fixed limits, it puts the verification duty on you, the importer. Here is what that actually requires.
12 min read
How to Write a Tea Specification That Gets You Comparable Quotes
If three suppliers quote three different prices for "Chinese black tea, good quality, 1000 kg", you have not received three quotes. You have received three different products. Here is how to write a request that produces numbers you can actually compare.
11 min read
What Actually Drives the Landed Cost of a Container of Tea
Two suppliers quote you the same FOB price per kilo. One container lands 18% cheaper than the other. Nothing was hidden — the difference was bulk density, and it was visible in the specification all along.
10 min read
Instant Tea Powder: A Buyer's Guide to HWS, CWS and Drying Methods
Most instant tea disappoints for one of three reasons: it was made hot-water soluble and used in a cold drink, it was dried in a way that cost it its aroma, or nobody specified the tea that went in. All three are avoidable at the specification stage.
11 min read
Auditing a Chinese Tea Supplier: What to Actually Check
Written by a supplier, which makes it worth reading carefully: these are the checks we would want a serious buyer to run on us, and the answers that should make you walk away.
12 min read
Choosing Black Tea for Cold Brew and RTD Beverage Production
The tea that wins your hot cupping session is often the wrong tea for a bottled drink. Cold extraction, dilution, sweetening and a three-month shelf life each change what the leaf needs to do.
11 min read
Private Label Tea Personal Care: What a Brand Owner Actually Signs Up For
The manufacturing is the easy part. What catches brand owners out is that in both the EU and the US, the legal duties of a cosmetic product land on you — not on the factory that made it.
11 min read
Buying Pre-Qingming Green Tea: What the Date Actually Buys You
Pre-Qingming green tea can cost several times what the same garden produces three weeks later. Sometimes that is worth paying. Here is how to tell which case you are in.
10 min read
Payment Terms and Risk When Buying Tea from China
Buyers spend a lot of energy negotiating the payment instrument and very little on the thing that actually determines whether they get what they paid for: who inspects the goods, and when.
10 min read