ANMO Art Cha – German tea shop review

[Bok]

First of all, full disclosure, I do know the owner of this shop, but will nonetheless give my honest and personal opinion on what they have on offer. Aside from them being friends, I do think they have some things of interest.

Anmo’s approach is more that of a curated selection, rather than a generalist approach, although they carry a little bit of everything. Various teas are the results of collaborations with specialists in their own tea niche, which makes the offer quite eclectic and interesting. This quirkiness is maybe also due to the fact that both founders are also artists, reflected in their presentation and approach to tea and tea culture. They also frequently host exhibitions or tea related art events. They have a full disclosure policy on their sources, always clearly stating where a tea is sourced from, not just repackaging it as some others do.

I have sampled a broad selection of their offering over the last year and here are my conclusions:

Puerh is mostly sourced from Sunsing in HK, an established brand with decent teas. This is one of their main focus at Anmo, so their Puerh is all good in my opinion. The advantage for buyers in Germany being that there is a physical shop where they can try those beforehand. Actually, most of the teas can be tried there, just like you would in Asia.

Japanese teas are their second focus, one of the founders is Japanese, so they are able to source some teas that are hard to find, even within Japan. I have had all their Gyokurus and some Sencha, Hongcha and others. Ippodo is one of their more well known sources, but I prefer their smaller farm sourced teas, like the organic Gyokurus from Asada-En. Some quite special things on offer, like White Gykuru and a 100y+ tree single origin Sencha from a temple garden outside of Kyoto. A lot of them I have mentioned in the last few months elsewhere, without citing the source at the time.

The temple tea is real special and deserves special mention, but it is limited and sold out quickly, not sure if it will ever make its way to the online shop… The first time I had a sencha where I would want more of.

Another partner is called Tealeafster, sourcing some Chinese teas for them. I did particularly like the unsmoked Lapsang and Jinjunmei. Interesting red teas and a welcome change to my usual Taiwanese reds and definitely more interesting than Japanese red teas.

Brings me over to the Taiwanese teas, which I haven’t had much of, so I can’t comment much.

Korean teas are another collaboration with a guy called Dado. Kind of an eye opener for me, I did not think much of Korean teas before… their green Tea is quite nice, more like a Chinese green like Longjing. The black teas are more like Japanese ones, clean and without major faults, maybe just a bit uninteresting…

Teaware selection is still in the progress of being developed, again an eclectic mix of contemporary, German-clay Japanese-made, Japanese, Chinese and vintage/antique styles.

All in all I’d say worth a browse and some unusual teas can be found, as well as another option for EU-based tea friends. Customs can be a major headache for European customers, so worth considering some else taking the brunt of it and deal with them in your place…

https://anmo-art-cha.com/

[Tea Adventures]

I’ve had some samples from them and they were really enjoyable. They have some white tea from Sichuan and it’s unlike other aged whites.

I have also tried one of their shou bricks (from Sunsing in HK) and was amazed by it. The flavours were rich, deep and oh so earthy.

They have just launched their webshop and I will definitely place an order in the near future. For me, personally, only positive experiences with their teas so I’m curious to try more of them.

[swordofmytriumph]

I really love unique teas, I'll give them a try.

[the_dalu]

I am having difficulty contacting ANMO. I asked about a product long time ANMO took Summer break. Never got a reply. Then I placed an order before the Summer break. No change of the status. I asked for an update via an Email. It is being months. The somewhat disappointed about the experience.

[Bok]

I am having difficulty contacting ANMO. I asked about a product long time ANMO took Summer break. Never got a reply. Then I placed an order before the Summer break. No change of the status. I asked for an update via an Email. It is being months. The somewhat disappointed about the experience.

It has been a one-woman-operation since covid, so I guess that might explain some of the delay. As far as I know she just got back from the break.

[the_dalu]

mm. Yeah, I spent a reasonable time waiting before she went on vacation or returned from vacation. I will wait couple of more days and give a call.

[GaoShan]

I just looked at their shop and the prices seem pretty high. I saw 50 g of 2021 roasted Si Ji Chun for $91 and 25 g of Ruby 18 for $86. These teas come from Exoteaque, a vendor I also have no experience with. Are these teas really that good or are the prices inflated because the shop is in the EU? They also have a lot of puerh, which I can't comment on because I know nothing about it.

[Bok]

I just looked at their shop and the prices seem pretty high. I saw 50 g of 2021 roasted Si Ji Chun for $91 and 25 g of Ruby 18 for $86. These teas come from Exoteaque, a vendor I also have no experience with. Are these teas really that good or are the prices inflated because the shop is in the EU? They also have a lot of puerh, which I can't comment on because I know nothing about it.

Exoteaque is not a vendor of tea per se. He is procuring some premium stuff for Anmo exclusively. I have had some teas from that cooperation which have all been very good. As to pricing, you need to take EU customs and regulations into account, which drives up prices a lot more so than for the US for example... but it shows quite well how this makes it almost impossible to sell premium teas outside of Asia – and make a living.

[GaoShan]

I just looked at their shop and the prices seem pretty high. I saw 50 g of 2021 roasted Si Ji Chun for $91 and 25 g of Ruby 18 for $86. These teas come from Exoteaque, a vendor I also have no experience with. Are these teas really that good or are the prices inflated because the shop is in the EU? They also have a lot of puerh, which I can't comment on because I know nothing about it.

Exoteaque is not a vendor of tea per se. He is procuring some premium stuff for Anmo exclusively. I have had some teas from that cooperation which have all been very good. As to pricing, you need to take EU customs and regulations into account, which drives up prices a lot more so than for the US for example... but it shows quite well how this makes it almost impossible to sell premium teas outside of Asia – and make a living.

I thought EU customs fees were contributing to those prices. I'm always morbidly curious about "super premium" vendors, especially if they sell Taiwanese teas, though I mainly window shop from those companies instead of buying from them. It's always nice to have something in mind for the occasional splurge.

[Ethan Kurland]

I hope my comment is not inappropriate, because it involves a vendor's prices.

I'll just say that I sell both of the teas mentioned & what I think is top-quality; so, basing it on my experience of costs, EU customs does not explain the high prices of that vendor. Nor would express shipping from Taiwan to Europe for the vendor's supply.

I will note that problems w/ European customs being priced into what is charged for tea is another issue. So many problems! All or most of the tea in a package missing, ripped open packages not being properly re-sealed, etc. (I no longer will send tea to Europe & expect some other vendors also will not.)

[GaoShan]

I'll just say that I sell both of the teas mentioned & what I think is top-quality; so, basing it on my experience of costs, EU customs does not explain the high prices of that vendor. Nor would express shipping from Taiwan to Europe for the vendor's supply.

Yeah, almost $2/g seems too much to charge for Si Ji Chun. Sazen Tea, which is not exactly a bargain basement vendor, sells 100 g of charcoal roasted Dong Pian Si Ji Chun for $35.

[LeoFox]

I'll just say that I sell both of the teas mentioned & what I think is top-quality; so, basing it on my experience of costs, EU customs does not explain the high prices of that vendor. Nor would express shipping from Taiwan to Europe for the vendor's supply.

Yeah, almost $2/g seems too much to charge for Si Ji Chun. Sazen Tea, which is not exactly a bargain basement vendor, sells 100 g of charcoal roasted Dong Pian Si Ji Chun for $35.

Its exoteaque. You paying to experience exoteaque

[aet]

I think that importing tea to EU is like 20-30% import TAX. I don't know shipping fee from TW but it is not cheap either , from what I've heard. Other costs could be pest test , which local customs ( or rather health $ safety dpt. ) might require. That's around 600$ per tea. That might seriously raise the price / kg , especially if you import just like 5kg or something ( talking from experience, coz happened to my customer ) . Other expenses are shop rent, workers and I think you have to also pay some TAX from actual sells.

[Bok]

Sijichun can be acquired in all sorts of qualities, simply comparing teas by cultivar name is pretty useless. Without side by side comparison those are just names…

That said, after a certain price point, I very much doubt most people will be able to tell the difference from a good tea to a top shelf tea. A lot is then also due to teas being processed exceptionally clean and in organic ways.

@LeoFox I don’t think having a colourful personality should impact the judgement of a tea. I personally had many conversations with Othniel and he definitely knows his tea and surprisingly grounded and no bull shit talker - all butterfly massacres aside. The Yancha I tried was certainly very good.

[Baisao]

I think that importing tea to EU is like 20-30% import TAX. I don't know shipping fee from TW but it is not cheap either , from what I've heard. Other costs could be pest test , which local customs ( or rather health $ safety dpt. ) might require. That's around 600$ per tea. That might seriously raise the price / kg , especially if you import just like 5kg or something ( talking from experience, coz happened to my customer ) . Other expenses are shop rent, workers and I think you have to also pay some TAX from actual sells.

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