Hi
Thanks for your post. I'm sorry to take so long to answer. I am in China again, and I become less reliable with a big dose of jet lag.
I just wanted to briefly comment on you post, since I short of time.
First about the Chinese online sellers. They rarely will have top quality tea. It is very easy, because of a wide variation of price to quality that it is possible to buy tea of lesser quality and successfully pass it off as the best. I will give you an example. The best green tea is harvest in the early spring and for just a few days. After say April 5th (This date changes a little year to year) you can buy the tea for half the price, and then half again as much a couple of weeks later. Unless you are really an expert in this particular tea, and most consumers both in the west and in China as well, will not know the difference. The other thing as you mentioned, the Chinese websites are circumventing the export law and are avoiding inspection and FDA scrutiny. Tea Spring for example blocks it site so that it can not be accessed from within China, as to hide what they are doing. The Chinese this year cranked up the export laws for tea so that every exporting company has to register the tea producer, who in turn must pass local test for water and soil, because they don't want anymore scandals.
Actually the rule is more that organics and quality go together in China. The best tea makers have never risked their tea by using chemicals. The other thing is that most farmers can't afford those chemicals. Chinese tea is for safer, than the commercial plantation tea that is grown outside of China on huge plantations that are primarily focus on production quantity. Of course pollution is much more complicated then the farmers using the chemicals themselves, there is pollution from old mines, factories, cars, etc. that they have no control over. In China by in large, tea is grown in relatively isolated mountainous areas, that have less exposure. Also the insect that can cause the most harm to tea don't exist in the early spring nor do they exist at higher altitudes.
The other issue is certification. Just because there is no certification doesn't mean the tea is not grown organically. Certifications are expensive. I know all of the producers personally for many years, and know their processing well. Plus the Chinese laws now forces them to document everything for their registration, and all legally must be tested, not only for contaminates, but it is also judged for quality.
We are working continually on expanding our online content. It is very expensive and time consuming and we are limited as a small company. If the is further information that you would like, please let us know, in the mean time, we will have a completely updated site coming online soon, so keep checking back.
I am so glad to know that you have heard good things about us in Italy. We currently have customers in 35 countries, and we are so happy to be servicing a small but passionate following.
Thanks
Austin
