Yee On Tea Co. – 義安茶莊

Vendor news and self-promotion
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YeeOnTeaCo
Vendor
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2020 3:58 am
Location: Hong Kong
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Mon Oct 05, 2020 10:07 pm

Hi All!

As mentioned in another thread, I was very happy to stumble across this forum after seeing some backlinks from here. As stated in that thread here is just a brief history of our store.

We are now 2nd/3rd generation owners of Yee On Tea Co. (義安茶莊) a retail and wholesale company that my grandfather had started in the 70s in HK. We might look like a small retail store compared to other famous tea houses in HK but we’ve been selling and distributing our large selection of aged Pu-erh tea to our local market, including these larger tea houses, collectors, and auction houses in Asia, and we’ve been known to have one of the largest stock of aged pu-erh tea in HK today.

In March of 2019, we’ve decided we wanted to share our knowledge and expertise in Pu-erh to the world. So that’s when we started our online store to cater to aged Pu-erh lovers all around the world. To our surprise, we’ve since connected with many of our loyal customers who have migrated to Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the US, Canada, UK, France, Australia, New Zealand just to name a few!

So please come visit us https://yeeonteaco.com, use "TeaForum2020" during checkout to receive 10% off.

Happy Drinking!
Last edited by pedant on Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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cbrace
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:00 am
Location: Amsterdam

Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:56 am

I've just placed my first order for some loose-leaf shou cha! Thank you for the discount. Look forward to tasting these teas in due time and exploring your other offerings. Greetings from Amsterdam :)
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YeeOnTeaCo
Vendor
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2020 3:58 am
Location: Hong Kong
Contact:

Tue Oct 06, 2020 4:42 am

cbrace wrote:
Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:56 am
I've just placed my first order for some loose-leaf shou cha! Thank you for the discount. Look forward to tasting these teas in due time and exploring your other offerings. Greetings from Amsterdam :)
You’re welcome! Hope the teas will reach you soon. Great choices btw, the Second Millennium Raw loose is 😗👌
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Balthazar
Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:04 am
Location: Oslo, Norway

Tue Oct 06, 2020 10:44 am

Always nice to see more Hong Kong vendors! I'll be taking keeping an eye on your page :)
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YeeOnTeaCo
Vendor
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2020 3:58 am
Location: Hong Kong
Contact:

Tue Oct 06, 2020 9:05 pm

Balthazar wrote:
Tue Oct 06, 2020 10:44 am
Always nice to see more Hong Kong vendors! I'll be taking keeping an eye on your page :)
Please visit often as we are adding more to our online catalogue soon! 8-)
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StoneLadle
Posts: 347
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:19 am
Location: Malaysia

Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:58 am

Would be brilliant if you could tell us about your method of raw PE stewardship!
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YeeOnTeaCo
Vendor
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2020 3:58 am
Location: Hong Kong
Contact:

Fri Oct 09, 2020 8:34 pm

StoneLadle wrote:
Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:58 am
Would be brilliant if you could tell us about your method of raw PE stewardship!
Sure!

Since the late 90s majority of our tea is stored in climate-controlled warehouses, with dedicated raw and ripe separation. Within the warehouse, we constantly move our teas around to keep quality consistent. Removing tea which we deem ready to consume to another smaller warehouse for further separation to further enhance the tea.

We still have warehouses with "Tradition HK" storage in the most traditional sense for clients who still prefer it.

When talking about the stewardship of Puerh in HK we first need to know the history. It’s it well documented here in this chapter from this book about Puerh written by then deputy chief of Yunnan Tea Import and Export Company. http://m.ishuocha.com/show-65-32158.html

The person in this chapter is the founder of Yee On Tea. 姚计. Our father and grandfather.

Although we have modernised most of our storage methods and facilities, we have kept our founding philosophies intact and believe that storage of Puerh is important and the product should have a degree of fermentation before it’s ready to drink. Agreeing or not depends on your personal taste and we are fine with that! 😊👍🏻
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d.manuk
Posts: 655
Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2017 4:13 pm
Location: Dallas

Sat Oct 10, 2020 10:37 am

Welcome. It's nice to have another HK puer vendor here.
vuanguyen
Posts: 105
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 6:06 pm
Location: San Jose, California

Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:33 pm

Just a tip...

If you want to use the 10% discount, make sure you order it in Hong Kong dollar and not in your home currency. I made a mistake of ordering in USD. They automatically converted the USD to HKD with the addition of another 8.5%.

For example, 25 gm of "1999 Second Millennium Broad Loose Leaves Raw Pu-erh Tea" is listed on their website as 100 HKD or 14 USD. When I get the final payment, it was charged as 108.50 HKD.

I did not know that they automatically converted USD to HKD until after the payment was done and when the invoice was emailed to me.

So a 10% discount code is actually a 1.5% discount if you order with another currency.
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Balthazar
Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:04 am
Location: Oslo, Norway

Sat Oct 10, 2020 2:10 pm

vuanguyen wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:33 pm
If you want to use the 10% discount, make sure you order it in Hong Kong dollar and not in your home currency.
Thanks for the heads up.

Actually, in my experience this is a good tip for all internet shopping. Always buy in the currency of the shop's country (and let neither the shop's site nor PayPal do the currency conversion for you). Try to compare prices at Thés du Japon in JPY and USD, for instance :)

@YeeOnTeaCo: "We still have warehouses with "Tradition HK" storage in the most traditional sense for clients who still prefer it." - Are any of these teas available on your site? If so, could you list some examples? Personally, I'd find it useful to see this (storage category) as a choice in the "Filter" options of the site.
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:10 pm

Balthazar wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 2:10 pm
Actually, in my experience this is a good tip for all internet shopping. Always buy in the currency of the shop's country (and let neither the shop's site nor PayPal do the currency conversion for you). Try to compare prices at Thés du Japon in JPY and USD, for instance :)
I will add to this.

First of all, it is not always true. I have seen it the other way around in few cases. I typically will check both to compare.

Also, keep in mind that your credit card company does not perform currency conversion for free if an amount on your card is charged in a currency different from that of the card. Depending on the currency conversion rate of your credit card issuer and that of the vendor, it could go either way.

The other thing is, beware of Paypal. They charge high fees for currency conversion. I am often exposed to that, because almost none of my purchases are in CAD (the currency of my card) : in addition to selecting a currency on the vendor's system, I need to chose whether I let Paypal charge me in the same currency as the vendor, or convert to the currency of my card. It is systematically cheaper for me to use my credit card company's exchange rate rather than Paypal's. Paypal defaults to its own service, and this is close to being a scam if you ask me, as they use that default behavior to nudge you to a very unfavorable exchange rate (worse than credit card companies, that is saying something). The profit they make with this trick must be jaw-dropping.
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Balthazar
Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:04 am
Location: Oslo, Norway

Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:39 pm

faj wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:10 pm
First of all, it is not always true. I have seen it the other way around in few cases. I typically will check both to compare.
Checking both is definitely the safest bet. That being said, I'd like to see an example of a store that charges in foreign currencies at below market conversion rates. I've yet to see a case where it's anywhere close to not being a clear win for paying in the local currency (this holds true for "physical shopping" abroad as well). Might be some black swans out there though.

Don't know about the currency fees on Canadian credit cards, here it's typically in the 1% range. So for a vendor like TdJ, where the difference in price between JPY and USD has been in the 10-15% range (when I've checked) compared to market average, it's an easy choice. Also, as a Norwegian, shopping from foreign stores is always an option between different foreign currencies (not many shops outside our borders would charge customers in NOK for obvious reasons), so a currency conversion fee is unavoidable...
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Sat Oct 10, 2020 4:06 pm

Balthazar wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:39 pm
Checking both is definitely the safest bet. That being said, I'd like to see an example of a store that charges in foreign currencies at below market conversion rates.
There is a store known to members that I will not name because I would rather things stay the way they are, but I just checked and prices in CAD are about 3,5% less than their JPY counterpart converted by Google to CAD. In addition to this savings, I also avoid the currency exchange fee on my card, so that is a double bonus.

I think both the credit card system company (e.g. Visa, Mastercard) and the card issuer (i.e. your bank) charge fees, and your 1% may only be one part of what you are truly charged in the end. Those cartel-like structures extract incredibly high rents on consumers. They charge as much or more as when everything was done by hand, but the cost of transactions as basically gone close to zero for them. They have a stranglehold on consumer payments because there is an incredibly high barrier to entry for potential competitors. Basically, their fees are taxes, and taxes are constrained by politics rather than just economic power. They try to stay just a tiny bit below the level where there would be political intervention.
vuanguyen
Posts: 105
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 6:06 pm
Location: San Jose, California

Sat Oct 10, 2020 4:49 pm

Yee On Tea agreed to refund the conversion rate difference they charged me and also gave me a free sample.

They didn't have to and it was very kind of them.

Good customer service...similar to Wistaria...I like.

Still...make sure to order in Hong Kong dollar.
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YeeOnTeaCo
Vendor
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2020 3:58 am
Location: Hong Kong
Contact:

Sat Oct 10, 2020 4:59 pm

vuanguyen wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 4:49 pm
Yee On Tea agreed to refund the conversion rate difference they charged me and also gave me a free sample.

They didn't have to and it was very kind of them.

Good customer service...similar to Wistaria...I like.

Still...make sure to order in Hong Kong dollar.
Glad we’ve sorted this out. 👍

In the end customer satisfaction always wins. If in anyway you feel unhappy about the order contact us via email anytime and we’ll sort it out.
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