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I have been drinking "natural farm" teas from Hojo because I thought they might be the safest teas to drink. Hojo only mentioned that his natural farm teas have no fertilizer or pesticides. He has never mentioned about the use of herbicides. In fact, no one has ever mentioned about herbicides that I know of. Tonight, after searching for new "natural farm" teas, I came across Farmerleaf, a vendor specialized in Puer teas from the Jingmai region. He mentioned that his tea gardens are natural tea gardens. However, he was also honest in mentioning that his gardens use herbicides once per year (https://www.farmer-leaf.com/pages/our-tea-gardens).

He has a very fascinating video about about weed control and the use of herbicides.

Nonetheless, to me, a natural tea garden cannot be called natural garden if there is use of herbicide.

So my question is...do you know of any tea vendor who sells teas without the use of pesticides and herbicides (I don't mind about the use of fertilizer)?

It may be that I may never be able to find those teas. In which case, the best case scenario for me is to buy teas from someone like Farmerleaf...since he appears honest and forthright. I love buying from honest vendors.

Is that possible in any meaningful quantity? Even organic teas use fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, they just use organic-acceptable ones.

Seven Cups mentions it specifically about teas they carry so that’s one vendor with a variety of options. There are probably more but you may need someone that isn’t stocking huge quantities. This might be something that’s done by small farmers.

Also, did you ask Hojo about herbicide use?

Edit: i misquoted Seven Cups. What they say is “No chemical fertilizer, pesticide, or herbicide was used in the production of this tea”

You won't find a farm that doesn't use ANY herbicides, pesticides, etc. -- just one's that use organic ones.

I’d second that. In order to stay economically viable, even for small quantities it’s seems unreasonable otherwise. If so, only completely wild teas maybe, but those would come at a price tag that you won’t see on offer online.

Some villagers do that , but it takes few hours hike trough the forest and pick tea leafs from hardly accessed position ( shrubs and bushes around or very tall trees ) and of course in very small batches.
The price could be from 500 - ????? $/kg ....depends on trees and area.
The effort and time you have to put in ( if you want to honestly keep an eye from picking and trough the processing ) is much higher than you can make / gain on it ( money / reputation )
So just simply said : some tea is not suitable for business .

I can make it happen only if I'm near to some location like that ( when doing tea sourcing for our shop ) and have got already seriously interested customer to purchase such a tea. I've done it few times but not for foreigners .

I've had a few teas like that produced by a friend or his colleague. My favorite teas if I can get them and afford them. Certainly not cheap and a different experience than most.

Thanks everyone for replying.

So there is such a tea. However, I guess you have to be a part of a special group in order to find and purchase these teas.

An interesting read about Puer's Elitism:

https://mattchasblog.blogspot.com/2019/ ... inner.html

vuanguyen wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:21 pm

An interesting read about Puer's Elitism:

https://mattchasblog.blogspot.com/2019/ ... inner.html

Interesting article, thanks!

What I thought of adding, after reading the article is that while there might be elitism in Puerh circles(other teas as well, I am sure) there also is the other end of the spectrum: the self-entitled newcomers who expect a right of information and access to the best, without working for it, or even saying please and thank you. Both extremes, a balance would be somewhere in between as always

Thank's for sharing that blog post! Hadn't read it, interesting discussion. I think a lot of good points were made in the comments section.

(Though I don't think the "elitism" described has much if anything to do with herbicides.)

vuanguyen wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:21 pm

Thanks everyone for replying.

So there is such a tea. However, I guess you have to be a part of a special group in order to find and purchase these teas.

An interesting read about Puer's Elitism:

https://mattchasblog.blogspot.com/2019/ ... inner.html

yep, we have a such a wechat group . ....but I wouldn't call it illuminati ...it's too exaggerating. It is not some elite group for elite tea. Elite stuff comes with elite $. I share there stuff which I don't share on internet but not coz some dark secret , it's just more convenient there ...photos, videos from tea market or tea gardens. Easier to upload and share.
No body spams it with links to their shops or customer's posts "look somebody has got our tea ! " ....and such.
Just a genuine Teachat on Wechat.

aet wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 14, 2020 7:59 pm

Teachat on Wechat.

Poetic

Herbicide is a pesticide.

Insecticides, fungicides, herbicides are kill pests, such as unwanted bugs, fungi or weeds.

So if someone is claiming their tea to be free from (all or chemical) pesticides, that includes herbicides as well.

I'd contact promising vendors directly and ask for specific teas. Farmerleaf, EoT and Global Tea Hut spring to mind for puer, you can also fibd certified organic productions from bigger producers from many places. Though, as someone pointed out, many organic certificates allow for some pest management, and sometimes measures permitted by certificates can be quite close to conventional farming. This varies from certificate to certificate, though.

FL, claims that their better gardens are totally free from pesticide use, if I recall correctly.

Sounds like you are looking for yesheng - "wild tea". Not easy to find, often faked, if real extremely expensive.
https://teadb.org/2003-cyh-yesheng/

Teas We Like wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 15, 2020 6:30 pm

Sounds like you are looking for yesheng - "wild tea". Not easy to find, often faked, if real extremely expensive.
https://teadb.org/2003-cyh-yesheng/

Ye Sheng variety can be also cultivated. They have small arbor trees like that in Fengqing ( mainly black tea production ) or in Yongde for example. Unfortunately these days Ye Sheng ( wild variety ) is not the guarantee of "clean tea".
Please note : I do not refer to the particular tea you have linked.