Dear friends in previous part of the article we have already told you what exactly Pu-er is and why it deserves to be loved! In this article we will gladly share with you some tricks and give you practical tips on how a real connoisseur should chose Pu-er on Taobao!
So if you have never tasted this wonderful drink before, you shouldn’t wait any longer!
Unfortunately, many dealers use consumers’ ignorance and often offer low-quality tea at high prices. Most people who were unlucky to taste the low-quality tea may decide that they don’t like Pu-er. But this can be prevented, as an attentive consumer should understand that a good Chinese tea should be bought in China only, because selection is decent there and the prices are much lower. The selection of tea requires thorough and careful approach, but this process becomes interesting and exciting if you know in advance on what you should pay your attention.
What does a new connoisseur need to know?
So let’s specify the main parameters of the product (as well as the seller or shop), which will help us to understand that we are buying high quality Pu-er on Taobao.
If you type in the search line “普洱” (chin. – Puer) then you will see some panels with filters and more than 300 thousands of results found. Dazzled… So we need to narrow the number of results and we can use filters for this. (At this stage we recommend you to translate the page to English or any other language that is convenient for you. How to do it?).
- Origin. Although modern technologies allow growing tea literally even on the balcony, but still the most tasty and healthy Pu-er is the one that is grown in its natural homeland environment – the mountainous province of Yunnan. Therefore, at first we recommend to apply the filter “The search Criteria” – “Province” and select the option “Yunnan”, which is usually placed at the very top of the list. The number of results is reduced to about a half.
- From the point of view of price/quality/quantity optimal packaging is a “cake”. Statistically “cakes” contain the highest quality raw materials, and if you want to purchase a good Pu-er, it is recommended to look for the “cakes” weighing 357 grams. Filter “search Criteria” – “Form” and select the “Tea cakes” (this is how the translator translates the required name). The number of results is again reduced to approximately a half.
- Age. It is necessary to note the fact that a good Sheng Pu-er (green tea) can’t be younger than at least 5 years. That refers to the Shu Pu-er (black tea) ina smaller degree. But if you don’t want to mess it up, it is still recommended to focus on older age. 10 years old tea is like a good indicator. In the filter category “Year” select “10 years and older.” The number of results should be reduced to 10 thousand approximately.
- After we have weeded out some of the results which have important parameters for us, we can roughly understand what price we should expect. Use the filter “Price segment” in order to choose the optimum upper price limit accordingly to our financial capabilities.
- The seller. After you have set the main searching parameters for the tea, you should next proceed to the consideration of the available results. Now your main criteria for a good product are the seller or store, whose goods we have in our search results. On this stage, please, pay attention to the photo of tea (item icons) right on the search page. The better and the more detailed the photo is –the more likely it is that the seller is serious about his work. Additional trust deserve those photos, that contain tea accessories (porcelain cups, brewed tea in teapot etc.) and not only the tea cake. Let’s chose some of such lots and check their pages carefully. If you see a large and impressive description, an abundance of beautiful photos, screens of various certificates and photos of products so this option should be interesting for you. Now it is the time to pay attention to the ratings and the name of the seller (or shop). If the seller has big sale experience (at least one diamond, but preferably at least one crown) his credits are not less than 4.5 out of 5, and the name of the seller (or shop) is somehow connected with tea then you can be sure that this seller specializes on selling tea and has extensive successful sale experience. Of course, it is useful to read customers’ feedbacks on the product pages and to ensure that tea storage was appropriate. You can go to the store page and learn it to get more information. It is extremely important to check whether the shop contains tea and tea accessories only. If we see clothes, furniture, electronics or anything else which is not related to tea on the store page then it is better to skip this seller and move on to the next lot.
Now using these simple recommendations your chances to order high-quality Pu-er tea must increase significantly! In the end try to trust your intuition while chosing the final option. And we sincerely hope that your first experience of buying tea on Taobao will bring you no less joy than tasting of this famous drink!
And finally we are happy to share with you the links to good tea stores on Taobao where you can start your search.
https://shop33536826.taobao.com/?spm=0.0.0.0.xfiGGf
https://shop34353981.taobao.com/?spm=0.0.0.0.xfiGGf
https://dytea.taobao.com/?spm=2013.1.0.0.rkXwNy
https://shop100783819.taobao.com/?spm=2013.1.1000126.d21.VKrMYF
Have a pleasant shopping with
Parcel Up (Taobao FOCUS)!