EPIC Q&A - Can I answer all of your questions?
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- Опубликовано: 30 май 2024
- In this Q&A I try to answer all of your questions from the easy to the head-scratching. If you like these kinds of Q&A sessions then please do let us know and we can arrange more and don’t forget to follow us on IG where we provide a little more candid, day-to-day stories and live sessions.
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Everyone on FaceBook in the Gong Fu Cha group is up in arms that anyone in the group might have said something negative about you Don ... someone vaguely remembers something you might have said that someone might have felt was incorrect once upon a time but everyone is up in arms and waging lots of love right now - it’s important you know this
As for the subscription:
What if, instead of curating a different selection of teas that are good enough to be in the Mei Leaf collection but aren't, you package it as a tea travel and learning experience? You talk about tasting tons of teas all the time that never make it into the collection. What if you packaged those teas, as a small collection every month, with literature about where it's from, the taste profile, etc. Really help educate a person on what they're experiencing in the tea you're presenting to them, and teach them about what to expect. Include pictures of the farm and geography. Make it an all inclusive education and experience, maybe with the occasional guest presenting something they're really passionate and knowledgeable about; something that a person would like to learn from every month. You'd have to make a new bit of printing every month with the custom tasting stuff, but you seem to love that part of tea, so it shouldn't be too much of a drain on you.
Then, also included, would be a nice sample of one of the teas you do stock, and why that particular tea made the cut. Not a large portion; just enough to let them learn and experience, but not so much that it stresses your stocks. The entire point being to learn from "failure"... it's really easy to say a tea is great, but people learn best when you're pointing out what's falling short, then show them what it can be instead.
Sorry, but no. I really wouldn’t want a subscription in which I get Don’s failed teas.
That would be highly educational.
I think instead of a subscription service I'd prefer more flight boxes. Mei Leaf is good at what they do and for a subscription I'd rather go to someone who specializes in that kind of service.
Some answers I missed:
Setting up an EU warehouse to reduce Brexit issues - on paper it sounds like a good idea but the cost of setting up a distribution centre in the EU and all of the running costs would mean an increase in prices that go far beyond any extra costs associated with Brexit. It would also cause a lot of disruption in our supply chain as we would have to ship and store in 2 locations which would impact all clients. We would still have to pay administration and other charges moving the tea to the EU site which would further add to costs.
What is the meaning of life? I think that asking this question is similar to asking ‘What is the colour of the number 3?’. It is an understandable question linguistically but in reality, it either makes no sense or has an almost infinite number of answers, all of which could be valid individually but without a singular, universal answer. It is similar to one of the most baffling questions out there: ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?
Collabs with other vendors - sure we are open to exploring ideas and I just did an IG live with Jeff from Unytea yesterday.
OK but 3 is definitely pink...
(Apologies to other synaesthesiacs reading this)
3 is definitely yellow/orange...
Could you and Crimson Lotus schedule a live stream tea talk? I think it would be very interesting.
That would be good to see
Exactly my thoughts! They have such great content on youtube. Has anyone here ever tried their teas?
@@rainbowdeathblow I’ve tried the B.A.D (bizarrely aged dianhong) tea and I loved it they have reward systems in the website as well if you have account delivery is £4 approx so it does add up but it was very lovely it’s definitely acquired taste that particular tea. You can find a video about it if you check out Mei leafs RUclips channel.
@@rainbowdeathblow yes, we have been drinking Mei Leaf’s tea for about a year now. Both me (from China) and my Belgian partner (completely new to tea before we ordered tea from Mei Leaf) enjoy it a lot!
They did a video together 5 months ago, on the channel Oolong Drunk
Great Q&A! To all the shipping comments...yeah it's high if you're international, but people need to stop expecting every business to ship stuff for free and get it to you in two days. Our current expectations (driven by Amazon most likely) are unreasonable. I don't find your tea prices to be much higher, but it's worth it to me for the sourcing. YS is great but overwhelming. I'm happy to pay a (still not unreasonable) premium price for something I know I'll like. I also had a great experience with shipping fees with your customer service. I decided I wanted to add a couple of things to an order I'd already placed and reached out to your team hoping it could be added instead of placing a new order. And you guys added it to my current order, and even though I expected to have to pay the increase in shipping, I didn't have to. Super impressed and pleased. Overall, I think you guys are amazing. Can't please everyone.
I agree that people don't have to get too excited about shipping cost. I think it's a fair deal. However since Brexit things (and this is off course not the fault of MeiLeaf) are becoming very much more expensive. For instance, for my latest order which contained the beautiful Yixing handmade teapot, I had to pay 30% taxes extra! I have raised objections to the tax authority, but still waiting an answer. So paying almost more than 100,00 pounds extra on taxes due to Brexit, makes buying tea wear in England for me sadly very expensive. I will for sure keep buying the tea, but sadly tea pots or other beautiful items are too expensive this way.
@@moniquenuijten8590 I can understand how that could be very frustrating. I’m in the US, so it’s just the high shipping costs hitting me.
@@jessbee That could be it. Indeed when I order from the US I also get extra taxes, but it’s so strange to have to pay them now for delivery from a country that is so near to me (I live in the Netherlands). It’s such a waist! Extra money just for tax authorities; civil servants who just tick a box.
@@moniquenuijten8590 oohhh I’m going to be really sad if I end up with import duties on one of my Mei Leaf boxes lol. That’s never happened to me with any international purchase of any sort. Maybe I’ve just been really lucky.
@@moniquenuijten8590 Friendly reminder: if you buy glassware the EU taxes are 35% - 15% import fee according TARIC (you can google it out) + 20% VAT (just googled out Netherland's VAT - it's 21, oof, so 36%) + customs fee if you ship via Post I assume
P.S. it's the same with me - we got used to UK being so close and tax-free and suddenly everything collapsed - import taxes, sales taxes, customs fees
Your point on free shipping and price inflation as a result was exactly what was brought up by Scott from Yunnan Sourcing years ago in one of his QnA's, very pertinent point. Mad respect to both of you vendors for sticking by your guns.
40 minutes in and he hasn’t drank the tea bag! Our questions have failed 🤣🤣🤣
I'm thinking the same thing at about 30 minutes in 😂
Thank you for doing this on YT. I am not going to waste my time on Insta.
Looking forward to your Brexit video.
Agreed, I like to have mei leaf vids like this play in the background. The channel has a real podcast quality to it
Whew that last comment was salty. I have noticed some honestly disrespect toward Don in online spaces I don't understand them at all, it seems obvious to me that people are just so entitled and unwilling to pay for quality they want their cake and eat it to. I just hope you guys know that some of us do notice and appreciate your integrity and passion for the best quality teas. From your website design and the free videos on RUclips which is super informative it's definitely a big factor when I personally choose to purchase from Mei leaf, I wouldn't have discovered what tea could be had it not been for this channel so thank you guys for all the hard work 👍🏻
Another salty comment I guess... You should try other vendors as well. Each vendor is good with certain category of tea. For example MeiLeaf's Gui Fei (hate western names, but they call it Honey Duchess) is the best Gui Fei I've ever tried. I still buy from them, but it's silly to limit yourself with only 1 vendor. Explore. The beauty of the tea world is that it gives you a way to explore, evaluate different teas, different vendors, experience different styles and processings, find your favorite teas. The tea variety is endless.
Anyway, don't listen to the salty and grumpy person. Keep drinking the good stuff I guess.
@@Abken. yeah I will, you just assumed I only drink Mei leaf I never said that, I know there are good vendors out there I just know I can trust them for quality tea. Coming from someone who is tired of settling for medium grade tea that's just disappointing
@@Abken. What do you think is better about Mei Leaf’s Gui Fei compared with others?
I really appreciate that you don't try to get the 'best' deal from your tea suppliers. We're so used to getting ridiculously affordable products nowadays and it's easy forget that, sure it's affordable for us, but it's not affordable or sustainable for the parts of the supply chain who are being underpaid and overworked to attain the desired end price. I am happy to pay for mei leaf teas ... It might be more expensive than Pg tips, but let's be real, I could just drink water and I would survive. Tea is a luxury and I am happy to buy fewer luxuries, support smaller local-ish businesses and mindfully enjoy the luxuries I do choose to spend my money on.
In the past I've also really appreciated your more nuanced approach to sustainable and the organic label ... It all makes sense to me. Oversimplified green washing is so frustrating!
Thank you for answering, Don. I loved the video.
Thank you for a great video, and for the transparency! I love love the idea of a tea club (as commented before, sorry) but your reasons/hesitations seem well-founded! I think the way you handled the Fractal Safari was really fun and I think tea club or something similar could be something similar; a sneak peek so to say. That way you get to try project samples before they hit the main shelves and are snapped up. There have been quite a few times that by the time I watch your video on a tea all the samples have already sold out, and that's such a bummer, so a sneak peek would be perfect! You could also run a tea club less often, so not monthly but every 6-8-10 weeks, or even by tea selecting season. Defs don't compromise! There are better solutions, and hopefully, you can find one! Mei Leaf is one of the only vendors I would trust to pick a sample selection for me without my input, and that's because of your dedication to quality (and transparency). So, thank you for the video, keep up the good work, and YOU stay away from those teabags 😂
On the subject of shipping: I don't know how much control you have over this, Don, but the thing that bothers me the most about it is the lack of tracked shipping available. Last time I was able to track my package fully wiht the free shipping offer that we got a couple of months ago. But now, looking through the options, there doesn't seem to be full tracked shipping to my location anymore.
I'll tell you, after finally getting the revelation of true tea, I'm fine with the shipping cost (it wasn't as elevated as I thought it would be) for some fantastic Mei Leaf teas here and there, but I do need to have full shipping. Due to some international mail shenanigans I had to go pick up my package at the post office last time, and I was only able to know that because I had the order fully tracked. If I hadn't, it's possible it would have just been sent back to you.
Well, that was so interesting I watched the whole thing right through! Cheers Don! 😊
P.s impressive and measured response to the criticism at the end. Bravo
You have been such an inspiration for me. I had discovered Gongfu Style brewing around a month ago. It’s quickly become a daily practice for me. You’ve been such a tremendous help. Your passion for tea is infectious :) thank you so much!
You could totally start physics now!! It’s never too late to begin learning something like that, I just recommend brushing up on math skills ASAP if so!
Thanks for the Q&A Don. Usually RUclips can be pretty negative but you're doing a fantastic job and have really helped me get interested in tea, thank you!
Regarding shipping prices - have you ever considered something like Amazon Prime? You can be sure people will buy tea more often and at the same time perhaps make shipping price from time-to-time customers slightly lower.
Thanks for your videos! They are all chocked with knowledge!
Your a great guy and provide a wonderful service…
Don, this was really interesting - thanks for sharing. I love hearing about the "behind the scenes" and learning about the details of running a business. Carry on doing good work!
I really enjoyed the video!
Yes, I am interested in topics, which you mentioned.
I got to say I really appreciated this video. You see very sincere and if you’re not you’re one hell of an actor! Cheers.
More of these please! 😃
Interesting video and I like that you are trying to be transparent about your pricing and considering the amount of work and quality of Tea, it doesn't feel overpriced.
I think you missed the question about collaborations with other tea vendors. Think this could be really fun :)
Some videos focused on your design process and work philosophy would be really interesting. Also another philosophy-themed video would be really enjoyable as well! I got really tea drunk with some nice puerh and sort of fell into a trance watching your "WHAT IS TRUTH?" video last week.
I thought you were a bit snobby when I first found your channel, but thus video really helped humanize you in my mind. I love tea and have enjoyed other videos of yours since
Wonderful video! And congratulation for a wonderful business and great value for your customers!
Luv it. Thank you.
I love you brother 😂 what a story!! Just the old tea searching with a few a bit of missile smuggling 😆 we’ve all been there mate
I‘d love to hear more about your experience with pairing food and tea. When you mentioned nuts at 55:10 I tried it immediately and like it a lot.
Thanks for answering my question! I was the one who asked if Mei Leaf teas were overpriced. I was afraid I might come across as a bit condemning or complainy, so if someone interpreted me that way that's not what I meant. Haven't bought any before since I've always been turned off by the prices, but if they really are as good as you say then I'll be setting my expectations to the sky. 😉 Think I'll buy some of this year's shincha when it comes out.
Grateful for the explanation of what free shipping is about. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
This video actually got me to place a order. I was one of those people that was a bit salty. In my prior order, I accidentally placed an order $5 short of getting my second token (removed an item and forgot to replace it with another item) and thus free shipping on the next order. Understandably, nothing could be done to fix the issue of my own mistake but I said I wasn’t going to pay the higher shipping cost again. Well this video changed my mind and I immediately placed an order after finishing it and will for sure get my second token. I will then put in another order with my free shipping power up.
You have many fans on Gong Fu Cha, there not all haters.
Thank you for the insightful video it sounds like I’m missing out on a lot on Instagram but I did away with all my social media. I like to watch your videos and pretend my cheap Asian market oolong is more of a tasting tea rather than a drinking tea. Keep on making the great content!
Thank you for taking the time to go through all the questions :) I was looking forward to this video and it did not disappoint.
Yes to more pairing videos, yes to more recipes, yes to more Q and As and I know it has nothing to do with tea but I would love to see a vinyl video one day! Maybe you could get away with it over on IG :)
The prices of the teas are good and fair. The only crucial point is delivery costs. But if we can afford good quality tea, we can also afford 12€ for delivery. Love the video and your teas :)
I live in Hawaii, and I don't mind paying the shipping at Mei Leaf at all. I respect your choice to keep prices down by not offering free shipping. You are a small specialty store, not a massive corporation.
Thank you for your openness with this video. I would love to see more cooking recipes as well as more tea + foods pairings! Since, as you mentioned in some of your older videos, you are half Chinese half Swiss, and Celine is half French, it would be very interesting to see what kind of meals you choose to have most often! Learning some of your family recipes (or some fusion?) would be very interesting and exciting to see
I want to ask, if there is a difference between brewing high quality tea bags in a tea maker, and cutting the bag and brewing them lose. I have a tea maker that I like, I always use it as it separates the water from leaves easily, even with some TWG tea bags that I like I use it because of the lid, I think it infuses better. So by cutting the bag lose it seems like the leaves has more contact with the water than being compacted within the bag. What are you're thoughts?
Good Man!
You are my TEA MASTER
Yes sir!! ❤️
More tea recipe videos!!
As a buyer from far away Singapore, I feel that the shipping prices aren't high, and mei leaf teas (especially the higher priced ones) have been very value for money. Comparing even to local shops here that have much closer proximity and access to China's markets, I'd have to pay 30% to 50% more to find equivalent quality teas.
I just placed an order to NYC. It seemed that Mei Leaf was better priced with shipping across the ocean vs local curators
I love Neem tea what do you think about it.
...Gong Fu Jedi shirts, Don. They'd sell like FIRE. 🔥 Thank you for your responses and insights!
In the group there are only like 3 people pandering to "small vendors" (definitely not impartial) that insist on considering Mei Leaf customers as beginners.
Don is just an Artist and he manages to package things in a way that make tea a very pleasing experience and its ABSOLUTELY worth every penny
Yes to more of the recipe videos, I love those!
I love how honest you are. I can see I'm gonna be get hooked on your selection of fine teas... Not a bad vice to have, though! :)
About subscription ideas: what if you make an artsy magazine of adventures in tea, including updates/stories on/from tea-focused travels, life of the teashop and life in the tea business, tea art (like tea-inspired art, photos of teaware, etc.), snippets of lit (quotes, favorite bits, haiku, etc.) from Mei Leaf folk, and other creative things Selene could play with in her own time. Maybe not a monthly subscription, but one where more time is available to make this possible.
More podcasts please! 😊
I greatly appreciate your philosophical content 💚🙏
This last case was really weird. I mean / running a business is not a charity for f sake! I think that the preassure comes from the fact that Mei Leaf truly defined a new quality of tea store and created a true community. It didnt come in a year, it was tremendous effort to implement brillant idea, to make loads of mystakes, to spend hours on editing the videos, to stay in touch with the community, to compansate a huge amount of knowledge into a coherent communication and into a brand. Now coming with the argument that its too expensive or that there is a conspiracy behind the scoring...
With ridiculus sums ... that is just awful! If one can affort to buy the teas selected by Mei Leaf just once in while then it’s fine. But stop the conspiracy and attempts to ruin the reputation of someone who just honestly runs a business! In my opinion Mei Leaf is really an innovative formula and the amount of work and effort that Don and Celine put into is just outstanding! I may consider certain types of teas slightly more expensive than averege but common - its like you go for a shopping and realise that you cant buy four luxurious items at once - you do not run to the manager with claims that its too expensive! You just buy three instead. Mei Leaf its a premium store and the service and knowledge, the whole formula for selling the tea, sharing the information and passing this on is superb and time consuming. I truly admire Mei Leaf and will always respect Don! My personal judgments about the certain prices of certain teas should remain my private opinions and not a rocks to throw at someone who is hardworking and just doing a great job! I strongly oppose against spreading the poison and conspiracy, irrational claims without any proves. Don please remain yourself, never give up your brand idea! Thank you for your devotion! You opened my eyes and eyes of many people on a true quality of the tea, how to judge it, how to Love it, how to find a pleasure and positivity in it’s simplicity! I am very, very greatfull for that!
👏 Well said
@@ZootedTMan thanks!
King plum 😍
About the free shipping being discriminating for people who don't need shipping. Another way to look at it is that it's discriminating for those who need shipping (it's a must, they can't just fly to London to buy the tea). So free shipping would make it fair for an online business, where everyone chips in a bit so not a few have to be burdened with prohibitive shipping costs. Of course I'm EU citizen and honestly I've checked out the site and with shipping costs it's just a no go.
Loved the video!! Kudos to your for answering the comment at the end. Keep up the good stuffs, I’m a huge fan!! Bonjour de Paris 😉
I work for UPS and I know for a fact our prices are high but we offer the best shipping service in the industry. In my opinion of course.
Enjoyed this video immensely! Thank You Don for really focusing (out of all others) my interest and joy in Chinese produced Tea. Love your Tea- and the Culture!
Now, a ‘Live Session’ would be Welcomed again!
Don, l love your comment at 0:41, thank you for your patience.
Can you talk more about your cannabis tea experience and how you went about it
Thank you for answering my question! 😊 This was a fun Q&A video. I appreciate your willingness to be genuine and answer all types of questions.
Love the transparence you are giving, it gives me more confidence in keep on buying meileaf teas.
Whatched through the whole thing. Love these!
Thank you so much for answering my questions! You're the best!!!
Regarding questions about the price of your tea and shipping cost, I am sharing my discovery of premium tea with my mother and we both marvel not at how expensive great tea is, but quite the contrary. We marvel at the fact that it is not more expensive than it is, considering what a manual process it is. There are uncountable cheap, awful teas in grocery stores, and if one is satisfied with the quality to price ratio, you are welcome to them. Quality costs money; no way around it. But all that said, shipping to the US is painful. :-)
I myself am a recent coffee to tea convert. I can only currently get low quality tea from a medium sized big batch vendors so im excited to discover more real and quality tea 🍵
Oh! Mountain green is wonderful for a cold-brew summer tea or just when you're looking for that wonderful green kick! :D
Truth or Teabag... LMAO!
I grew up in a small, no name village, in an unimportant country. I had passion for science, which latter turned into electronics and programming. In school the other kids used to tell me that it's easy for me because I "simply know things". In university I've started to design electronics, fix electronics, and people did not like my pricing because according to them "I SIMPLY had to just do this or that". Now the same thing happens when I'm teaching. It's easy for me because I'm not doing physical work, I have good salary and I have long holidays. Who the hell had to learn for decades? Who had to buy equipment, learn the equipment, constantly check for new technology? Who had to do countless hours of research etc.? But from the outside I suppose I had it easy.
The same goes for tea I suppose. We do not see what hard work goes into keeping the business up, curating the tea etc. All I know is that I for one did not have a tea from ML that I didn't like (although I'm relatively new). Where was I going with this? I don't know.
Either way.
I do appreciate the passion for tea, and the quality of the tea. Thanks to MLs Royal Peach Orchid, I've started drinking Oolong again. I was on oolong hiatus because of some low grade e-bay ginseng (which was cheap and had free shipping) oolong which was bitter, sour, made me nauseous and made me question my life choices.
Now....if only that pesky young gushu would be on stock...:p.
I so value and appreciate these videos. Than you so much for your openness and sharing your knowledge and perspective.
Loved this video
Your face in the thumbnail is amazing, don. Haha
Okay but what IS the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?
I am glad you answered my question regarding Darjeeling although my question had only two 'likes' :)
Yes pls show us more tea recipes, like what can we do with wet tea leftovers after brewing.
Great video thank you for sharing !! 😍
Keep it up I love your tea and your videos thank you for introducing me to tea
I really don't get this idea of free shipping. My wife writs books and It's funny to see that sites that offer free shipping just charge you between €2 to €4 more. People need to understand that there is no such thing a free shipping. And yes I agree with the Brexit thing, I also have had to pay way more 'also supper random' tax and import costs. But here is my simple and elegant solution. I live in Belgium and a train ticket to London is not all that more expensive than the sometimes just plain random import tax that I have had to pay on some goods, so I'm going to go to all my tea buddies ask them to make an order list and just go in person with my wife. That way we have a lovely weekend, we can say hello to the mei leaf tea team, and we don't have to pay extra sipping and so on and so on.
So once this Corona thing is finally at an end, you can expect me in your shop in person with a list.
Loved the q&a, very informative and a nice podcast style thingy to put on while doing a tea session of my own.
nice to hear my question anserd and hear there are options to see new teas produced and that tea sellers like you promote it, keeps the things intresting indeed ;)
only sad that you got dizzy with the teabag right after my question, but it was kinda funny at the same time ;p
Matcha in a teabag.
How does that even work? Aren't you supposed to consume the powder, not steep it?
Thank you for answering these questions, Don! I purchased from Mei Leaf back in January, and found that the price matched the quality of the product. As for shipping, I think that Amazon has adulterer our expectations for what to expect out of small vendors. The token system is a good compromise. Keep up the good work on the videos! 😊
China's a mixed..... what? A mixed what? Hahaha. A bag? :)
Canopy Flasher- "bitterness is very very light". Now you weren't being entirely honest with us there Don. Kudos though for keeping the video posted and not re shooting it. The vast amount of info in your RUclips vids has taught me loads and carried me off on amazing tea journeys in the mountains of China and together with Teahouseghost, Teadb and Marshaln I have learn so much. So a big thank you for that. I personally would prefer it though if you would tone down your ecstatic sighs of pleasure during your tea tastings to something more associated to tea drinking, rather than something one might hear whilst walking past a brothel!
Your RUclips site is well structured and easy to search, but your website tea article pages REALLY do need sorting out.
I find your teas expensive as I do fine wines. Is just a matter of deciding how much I am prepared to pay in order to get the good stuff. I am not prepared to pay £20/10g for the Long Jing sold by Postcard teas or any of their other highly priced teas, but a lot of your teas are worth the extra. I have compared quite few of your teas with those from vendors costing half the price and yours are usually significantly better and more true to the expected tea profile. This gives your marque a guarantee of quality. I am rarely tempted by your more expensive offerings though and have had a small number of disappointments.
I find your teaware quite pricey but again, they are well tested by you and are of high quality. This is probably not what someone starting out would be looking for though, so maybe you could have a starters corner where some less expensive products of acceptable quality could be found. A few cheaper everyday teas would also help to spread the word.
Your connoisseur brewer is over £20 whereas Yunnan Sourcing list a very similar one for around £8. That's some mark up.
I don't think many people in the UK will agree with you about not including VAT in your prices, as it is not the norm in this country and when encountered, raises suspicion of potentially more skullduggery. Many vendors have a user interface for their domestic market that is seperate from their international one.
If your business is a success and enough people are willing to pay your prices, then maybe there is nothing that you need to change. As long as you pay your taxes and don't exploit people then it really isn't anyone's business how much money you make. Unless of course it doesn't fit into your declared ethos.
With free shipping and samples, I have spent £170 with another vendor who not only gave free shipping but also included a free 200g cake of raw puerh. I had to spend more than this with you just to be eligible for 2% discount on future orders. I have now spent around £1,000 with you and am still only on the 2% rate, which a significant number of products are exempted from. I have never received any of the free samples that you mentioned you give out.
Posting your thoughts on line can be interesting and thought provoking, but you do risk upsetting some customers. My wife who is a nurse will have nothing to do with you since your dismissive comments about COVID.
You offer a well informed, quality service that I believe many people are grateful for, but........ at a price.
Thank you, Don and the rest of the crew :)
About shipping cost and free shipping I really see it as two separate charges between buying the product and shipping it to you. People talk like its the same thing when its really not, you buy the sellers product and then you need to cover the charges to get it to you, by all means the sellers job (theoretically speaking) ends when they sell you the product, leaving the shipping for you, but while the seller acts as a middle man for the shipping there is only so much they can reasonably be expected to do. Do I wish it was cheaper? Yes, but that's economy for you.
omg, maybe put even more dust into the testers? -.-
Man I'm really trying to collect all your cakes! Is there any way I can subscribe for a cake each month or whenever you release one?
I have flower crane and find your sunshine In my cart now hahaha
Thank you so much for answering my question, Don (I asked about biscuits), I really appreciate it. I'm in the UK, but as I have a good specialist tea shop near me I feel I should support them - particularly during this difficult time - so I'm sorry to say that I haven't bought any Mei Leaf teas as yet. I will certainly do so when I'm able to travel to London again, or when buying gifts for London friends.
Thank you for the entertainment and the education - I feel enlightened.
All the best. Stay safe! x :)
maybe you can put a different price on the label when shipping, so we pay less for the customs ;) just a thought not sure that would work tho.
I think they might check on prices occasionally … and then we’d all get it. 😬😨
I actually thought of that one before, too. 😕
As a native Chinese, also a tea lover, I highly recommend people to use purified water when making teas, soft water is the best option. When I was living in the NL, I found the water there is too hard for teas, it changes the flavor a bit more bitter, but when I use SPA bottled water, the flavor became much better, you can taste the sweetness and the smell is getting more fresh as well!!! A small tip to your guys, when you buy mineral waters, try to buy the one with minimum minerals, otherwise, water will be too hard for your lovely tea leaves!
Don, don't let people try to make you feel bad about making profit. It isn't a bad word. It's how entitled people try to make you feel as if you owe them something. We ALL work for profit and anyone who says otherwise is a liar. If they say they don't then I challenge them to quit their jobs and volunteer full-time. Profit is why we do what we do. We can provide a service or product and make a profit guilt free.
I feel like the person behind that negative last comment should focus more on the positives in life.
In response to the final question, I have to say, they said themselves that all the MeiLeaf teas they had tried were good/great, so it follows that by stocking high quality teas, you would naturally get higher than average community reviews. As for written reviews, obviously you need to purchase the tea before you comment on it, otherwise how would you be able to have an opinion on something you never tried? Also, I can personally vouch that I have seen comments by newer clients, you can tell by their avatar how many "seeds" they have gathered through purchases. I have also seen reviews that are not just sycophantic gushing - but yes, the reviews tend to be positive due to the quality that Don sources. Do I pay more for MeiLeaf teas than I pay to other sellers? Yes. However I know that when I purchase from MeiLeaf, I will be getting an excellent quality tea. Have I loved every single tea that I've purchased from MeiLeaf? No. However, I could tell that was due to personal taste preferences and not lack of quality. I continue to purchase from many different sellers, but MeiLeaf is one of the few that I know that even if I don't love the product, I will be able to appreciate it, and so I am willing to pay a slightly higher price and know that it's not going to be a game of "hit or miss". As far as the money, money, money comment : they are running a BUSINESS not a CHARITY. They have to be profitable to stay in business.
I started laughing out loud when the teabag came out! Great reason for it though!
I mean, you can't demand the truth if you just want to hear what you want to hear.
Maybe the tea subscription box wouldn't always have to have tea in it. Maybe some months you could ship a box with a piece of teaware or something.
OR you could make the subscription box less frequent than monthly. You could do a box for summer, spring, fall, and winter with some good examples of tea that represent that season.
Props for facing even the harshest criticism head on, and on video no less.
You abandoned the tea bags so quickly 😂 this was an excellent video! Took me a few sessions to get through it (but that's just because I struggle with videos longer than 15-20 minutes regardless of topic or creator) but I'm glad I stuck it out to the end. I learned a lot about you, your family and your business
Anyway, keep up the good work, and keep spreading the T word around the world.
May the light shine on your path.