As of now only 2 or 3 of my vendors have made mention of upcoming price increases due to tariffs. It seems, so far, to mostly be applying only to teawares.
The one that will affect us/you most is For Life Design. Prices increase effective 5/1/25. I don’t know by how much yet.
I have just placed a relatively large order, and I would be willing to place one more order if any of you have some special item that I have not already ordered and you would like at current prices (less 15% discount for pre-payment) . Visit their website (link above), pick out your item and color preferences (give me 1st, 2nd, 3rd choices in case a color is out of stock). Call or text the shop to prepay and get the discount.
These photos are only a small example of the variety available. Visit forlifedesignusa.com for the full selection and availability*.
[*Note: even though a color/item shows available when you view it, by the time I order it may not be, so please let me know 2nd and 3rd alternatives, if any]
We ended up having 5 sessions with 5-6 guests per session. The teas we sampled were:
Nine Ladies Dancing – Scottish grown tea, limited stock each year. Absolutely every person in attendance really enjoyed this tea. It is a Very smooth black tea with excellent flavor. We WILL get some of this next year for sure! However, if there is enough interest, we Can get some still this year and it has been added to the website for Pre-order HERE. ….. This IS a Luxury tea, at $2.80 per gram – but Oh so special. I am selling it by the gram to make it affordable to anyone to at least try it or gift it to someone who will really appreciate it. We used 4gm for a 12oz pot and got 2 quality steeps out of the leaf.
Sovereign Bud – Heirloom yellow tea – originally an Emperor Tribute tea, the leaf for this tea is said to come from the same bushes that provided leaf for the Chinese Emperor(s). You can purchase small, affordable portions as a gift to yourself, or someone you love!
The following teas are all from The Chinese Tea Company (CTCo) and were all very much enjoyed by most attendees in varying degrees. Keep reading to find out about purchasing any of these. Pre-ordering now will aid my cash flow to bring in a full batch of CTCo teas ASAP – Travtea.net
Red Heart leaf – Hong Xin varietal
Tie Guan Yin Red Heart – a very special oolong that comes prepacked in an 8gram bag that we steeped at least 4x and it still had Lots of life in it. We have this one priced on the website at $10.50 per 8gm.
Pricing is already on the site to pre-order any of these 3 as well:
Mo Gan Mountain Snow Buds; Anji Bai Cha, and Anji Bai Cha Aromatic Spiral – All of these were well received, especially the Aromatic Spiral. They are rare, small farm, small batch production from Spring 2024 harvests.
Chinese Tea Company website offers MANY more small farm teas that sound just as delicious as the 4 we tried. I want to put together a large order to save on shipping, and your input can help to make this happen. Pre-order (if you want the full size shown), or deposits toward a smaller portion. [A few customers have already indicated some that they would like to try small portions of, if we get enough interest.] If you comment on this post – others can see what you are interested in and it may help to encourage a group buy.
Visit the CTCo site ASAP, to review the other availalable teas; contact Kateri via email (info @ traveling-tea.com) or calling or texting the shop (314 647 8832).
IMPORTANT INFO: Prices are shown in British pounds on the site – if you add 40% to the price shown that should closely cover the exchange rate and sales tax. There will be very little markup if you are purchasing a full unit as shown – making this more of a co-op purchase. You are still getting a significant savings as you will not be paying for any shipping ($20-30 approx). (I do not yet know how it will be treated for customs.)
If full units are beyond your means or interest – tell me what teas and quantities you DO want; if there is enough interest to bring in a full unit I will take a deposit towards your purchase. [NOTE: if you are not purchasing a full unit, there will be some additional markup to cover handling and packaging, and a small profit)
RECAP: The greens and oolong that we sampled are available for pre-order on travtea.net – Additionally, there are many other quality teas available from Chinese Tea Co and You can help to bring them in, by visiting their site, make a list of your priorities and contact Kateri ASAP. All pre-orders and deposits must be completed by 10/1.
[Note; if you like ripe puerhs, we also have some Old Tea Tree from CTCo – please try it while we have it – I hope to get more of it as well]
As many of you know – sourcing quality post-fermented teas – like puerhs and hei cha (dark tea) has been an ongoing challenge for me. Occasionally I have been able to get some special teas from my friend Eric (Fragrant Cup) who is most knowledgeable in the area of Chinese teas. So, I asked him if he had any suggestions for London shops and he turned me on to two that I got to visit, and intend to source from going forward, and I hope will have finally resolved our post-fermented tea “shortage”.
The first is Mei Leaf tea. They do sell retail online, so some of you may have heard of them before. What I focused on from them this time is more yellow teas and some “puerhs”. Because I was able to sign up for wholesale terms I was able to bring in more from here than most of my other stops. I have not yet had an opportunity to personally try much of what I bought. I did enjoy a glass of iced purple leaf tea during my shopping excursion. It was quite refreshing, but not significantly different than anything we currently offer.
Available now in shop and online: GABA Oolong, 2 of the 3 Yellow teas, a couple of Puerh bings (White Shou and a Sheng), and a really cool glass tea brewer (8oz)
Amber GABA Oolong – organic oolong version that we have not offered for a couple of years. Tea researchers discovered that by exposing tea to nitrogen during the oxidization process brings forth the naturally occurring (gamma-aminobutyric acid) GABA amino acid compounds in tea. GABA is a natural chemical produced in the brain that relaxes the nervous system and reduces anxiety. When we offered this in the past, some customers reported that it did help them with migraines and general relaxation.
Cleveland Clinic article about GABA https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22857-gamma-aminobutyric-acid-gaba
” GABA is present in some fermented foods, including kimchi, miso and tempeh. It’s also found in green, black and oolong tea. Other foods that contain GABA or boost its production in your body include brown rice, soy and adzuki beans, chestnuts, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, sprouted grains and sweet potatoes. ….. Like supplements, it’s not fully clear if eating GABA-containing foods allows GABA to reach your brain. More studies, with large numbers of people, need to be conducted.”
Yellow tea is very rare. Originally only available in China, it was considered a gift or tribute tea to the Emperor. As you may now know, Great Mississippi Tea Company is successfully producing a yellow tea as well {we are currently sold out on our stock}
We are offering 3 versions of yellow tea – try one, try all three and see what differences you note!
The Mei Leaf website offers a wealth of educational information, and we will be exploring and learning together!
