The Cha Tong

[teamagi]

Hey all,

I'm looking to see if anyone has experience with teas from https://thechatong.com.

I couldn't find a thread about this shop so thought I'd open a new one.

They're offerings of puerh and oolongs are enticing, but I have a hard time believing some of their claims around gushu etc.

Either way, if the teas are good I might give the shop a try.

[polezaivsani]

Sorry, can't vouch for the teas, but their macro shots of tea splashes bear pretty saliva inducing colors I'd be curious to know if the nice photography is accompanied by like wise teas too.

[Victoria]

Yes, the macro shots of tea drops in action are great, as are the descriptions. Looks like they are out of UK, with most shipping from Taiwan. The ‘about me’ could be better, it’s pretty vague. The site is convincing enough though to make me curious.

[pantry]

The tea is from IG: cytea9
If you trust their tea it’s probably okay.
Photos/web/marketing I think are done by Marcin (lefu79) in UK

[Bok]

The offer looks interesting. One thing I wonder though is how they manage with their Yancha. You can’t import Yancha in commercially viable quantities into Taiwan, the people who sell it usually hand carry it into the country.

[pantry]

The offer looks interesting. One thing I wonder though is how they manage with their Yancha. You can’t import Yancha in commercially viable quantities into Taiwan, the people who sell it usually hand carry it into the country.

Wow, good info to know! Thanks, @Bok !

[TeaTotaling]

@teamagi did you ever give The Cha Tong a shot?

@pantry have you tried any tea from cytea9, or heard of anyone who has experience with them?

[Victoria]

The offer looks interesting. One thing I wonder though is how they manage with their Yancha. You can’t import Yancha in commercially viable quantities into Taiwan, the people who sell it usually hand carry it into the country.

Interesting, heavy tariffs on all Chinese teas into Taiwan, or just some?

[Bok]

Interesting, heavy tariffs on all Chinese teas into Taiwan, or just some?

Basically they want to protect the Taiwanese tea industry. As I understood it, commercial import is not allowed at all. But I am not 100% sure if it only applies to Yancha specifically or all Chinese teas. Another concern are pesticides, etc. the regulations and tests foreign tea have to pass to enter are quite strict. One reason why most Japanese can not be imported into Taiwan in commercial quantities, they do not seem to pass the tests in most cases. Japanese government is quite relaxed in terms of allowed amounts, compared to Taiwan.

But – same does not apply to Taiwanese teas, they do not have to pass these examinations (only if they apply for certain labels). One of my friends in the tea industry said to me that the imported tea is mostly clean for sure, while the local tea not necessarily.

[Bok]

Actually a couple of my tea friends here spend all their free time trying to track down clean teas, which seems to be quite the task apparently.

[pantry]

@TeaTotaling I have not tried their teas, and at the moment am not very interested. Please report back if you decide to order