Here are of Tea Nazi that I wrote two years ago.
Ok... I admit I was really blunt to call him "tea nazi", as he is by far not as harsh as the "soup nazi", and he is really a nice guy!
This spring I got "official" announcement from Pan that he is back to tea business - on part-time basis, but in some sense, more devoted than a lot of full-timers in tea world. I know a bunch of "amateur" tea people, part-timers, moonlighters, or "hobby sellers(?)". In fact, among my favorite tea friends, tea suppliers and tea "colleagues (?)", there are probably more part-timers than full-timers. Thinking of that just surprised me! I haven't had any business relation with Pan yet. But I sort of like it that he has come back to tea business on part-time basis!
Now I know it's easier than ever for foreigners to shop on taobao. So here is Pan's taobao store:
http://youjianchapu.taobao.com/search.htm?spm=a1z10.1.w28-18216832851.5.3q9noD
His store name is the same as the name of his store before he "retired" from tea business last time. It literally means "Here's a Tea Store". I think it's a lovely name!
There aren't many items yet there. And I've already asked him "would you please add more stuff in the store and make it more business-like?!"
Pan told me that he will add more items to the taobao store, but probably not a lot and not very fast. So far, he would visit every of the production site or collection source of his teas, and he would only carry teas that don't use any pesticide. He will not do a lot of business in a short time. But he will maintain very high standards for quality and health of the teas, as always!
I think it's not hard to tell that one can hardly make a living selling tea in this way, especially in China, where there are about a few million tea sellers doing business more efficiently on lower budgets. But it may work out just fine as Pan keeps his day job, which is an interesting job anyway.
If you look for more things to see, his "tea travel" page is very cool:
http://shop58835027.taobao.com/view_page-43393581.htm?spm=a1z10.3.w3-18202084498.4.9cTPU6
And I'm sure he will add more photos and writing to this page to document his tea journey and his teas. I've already suggested him to put his writings in text format on the webpage so that non-Chinese readers could use google translate to read them. But so far photos dominate and photos tell most of the stories already!
Besides, anybody who are Chinese-English bilingual, if you are interested, please feel free to translate his writings, publish the English version online and link back to his webpage.
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2 comments:
"...easier than ever for foreigners to shop on taobao."
Really? You don't have to use a Taobao agent any more, or what makes it easier than ever?
I remember a few years ago that foreigners were not allowed to buy directly from Taobao. Then you had to use an agent unless you had a Chinese address or bank account.
Hi Rickard, I think you will still need a taobao agent in most cases. I meant it's easier than the time when there were no taobao agents :-p Currently you could pay with visa card on taobao, and could theoretically buy directly if a seller speaks English and is willing to ship internationally. But such chance is small.
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