Buyer Beware!!

There is a whole industry of tea producers and teaware manufacturers in asia that are targeting tea drinkers and enthusiast. While this means that there are a whole range of products for consumers, we are also susceptible to cheats and frauds as unscrupulous merchants attempt to sell inferior and at times even hazardous products to us.

In this highly competitive tea and teaware market, I will like to caution “Buyer Beware” attitude to all tea lovers. Do your research extensively before parting with your hard-earned money.

Just to highlight some of the potential dangers and pitfalls in purchasing tea and teaware, please see below:

1. Intentionally misrepresenting the quality and age of the tea leaves by using various over fermentation techniques or “reviving” expired tealeaves by roasting them again.

2. Using inferior clays to make “Zisha” teaware. Unscrupulous manufacturers add lead and other harmful materials to achieve the metallic sound of Zisha Teapots and to make the clay suitable for molding. Using such teapots could cause lead poisoning, cancer and who knows what not, because as the tea steeps in the pot, toxic contaminants in the clay seep into the tea.

3. Fake Antiques or imitation pieces. As with all valuable items, there is a robust counterfeit market. Some known techniques of aging teapots is by using shoe polish, rubbing dirt and even burying them in soil for a period of time. Not only are these items inferior, they maybe dangerous to use. Neither should you judge the authenticity of a teapot by name seals as these are also easily imitated.

4. Mixing inferior quality tea leaves with good quality ones and market them as High quality tea leaves.

5. Selling tea leaves that are grown using high level of pesticides.

I will try to update the above potential dangers for readers as I learn more. In the next post, I will relate my own experience of being cheated.