The short answer: NO. De Minimis Orders below USD 800 from Japan to the USA are classified as De Minimis by the US Customs and are not subject to tariffs even after April 9th, when the new tariff rules are…
A letter to all of our users As of this very moment, we have not heard from the shipping company yet whether they are releasing our cargo from their abruptly imposed “quarantine”. Yes, you read it right, the shipping company,…
Change is an integral part of Life In 1986 when I moved to Chicago from Hong Kong, I carried with me only a large suitcase, leaving all my books, albums and other stuff in my parent’s home. So it was…
We shall begin our move to Nagoya this July. Since it will involve packing our whole workshop and inventory to ship across the ocean to this inland city in Japan, and then setting up again, there will be a period…
It’s “Cold” when fresh A traditionally processed white tea has a cold inclination in its TCM energy when fresh. It is good for some occasional sips but could tip the balance of yin-yang energy in one’s constituents when consumed regularly.…
“This is reserved for ourselves” If you ever travel to the tea mountains in Yunnan where Pu’er tea is produced, you may very likely see hardworking tea pickers, basket weavers, bamboo cutters, tea processors, tea transporters etc from various indigenous…
Resonance with the ninjas This evening, my wife and I had a good time watching the Netflix series House of Ninjas. They have put a good modern and human twist in telling a story which plot would otherwise be much…
While we have a stubborn belief in the purism of tea, we do things to some of our teas sometimes. Like making milk tea for instance. After all, we are from Hong Kong — the birthplace of the famous Hong…
Amongst old tea drinkers, Wuyi oolongs are referred to as “Yan Cha” — Tea from the Rocks, or Rock Tea, as some in the trade call it. The mountains in the Wuyi-shan area are made up largely of big dark…
The first black tea recorded In 1732, a new kind of tea that was black in colour of the leaves but yielded a red liquor was traded in an area called Xing Cun (星村) in Wuyi (武夷) in the northwestern…