FAQs
GENERAL
1.1. Do you have a physical store location?
1.2. Do you do wholesale?
1.3. Does your store offer white, yellow and pu’er teas?
1.4. Does your store offer teaware?
1.5. Are your teas organic?
PACKAGING
2.1. Are your tea pouches vacuum sealed?
2.2. How many cups of tea can I brew with 25g, 50g, 75g, 150g of loose leaf tea?
FEES
3.1. Is my price at checkout the final price?
3.2. How much are VAT, import duties and handling fees in my country?
3.3. How are VAT, import duties and handling fees processed?
PAYMENT
4.1. What payment methods do you accept?
4.2. Why am I being redirected to an external website to complete payment?
SHIPPING
5.1. My order is delayed, where is it?
5.2. My tracking number doesn't work, why?
5.3. Can I cancel my order?
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General
1.1. Do you have a physical store location?
No. We are an online store only. However, we encourage everybody to visit a physical tea store in their neighbourhood to get familiar with the various flavours and aromas prior to ordering online.
1.2. Do you do wholesale?
Yes. Please send us an email at sales@oolongtime.com.
1.3. Does your store offer white, yellow and pu’er teas?
No. These tea categories are not commonly produced in Taiwan. Regarding white tea, we do know some local producers, however their product has yet to meet our quality requirements. Regarding yellow tea, there are not many producers even within mainland China, and we are yet to meet a producer in Taiwan. Regarding pu'er tea, some specialist storage facilities and dealerships exist in Taiwan, but please note that the origin of all pu’er teas will be from mainland China. We specialise in Taiwan origin only.
1.4. Does your store offer teaware?
No. Although, Taiwan does produce quality teaware in the ceramics town of Yingge, we prefer to focus on what we know best and where we can deliver the most value to you, which is tea itself.
1.5. Are your teas organic?
Yes, most of them. Although, many of them are not certified organic. Predominantly producers of lower-quality teas and large-scale producers of commodity-grade teas will be incentivised to pay the cost of organic certification in order to mark up their prices. These poorer-quality teas are consequently largely targeted at Western markets where consumers tend to pay a premium solely based on the organic certification label.
Most of our teas are spring harvested, which eliminates the need for pesticides. Additionally, Taiwan’s strict environmental laws ensure our mid-to-high level elevation teas are free from chemical fertilisers. Lastly, we source all our teas from small-batch family farms which typically follow traditional, organic practices, and have done so for generations. These teas are bought up almost entirely by Taiwan's domestic market and local buyers here are already well aware of their organic nature, thus removing the need for farmers to pay the expense of organic certification.
Packaging
2.1. Are your tea pouches vacuum sealed?
No. However, our tea pouches are guaranteed airtight. In fact, they even go a step further and are also watertight and as we know water molecules are smaller than air molecules. You can test this yourself by pouring water into an empty pouch and then closing the zipper seal – it will not leak. Also, loosely rolled teas (think green teas, black teas, or oolongs like Bao Zhong) are never going to be fully vacuum sealed as air will remain between the leaves regardless. Another detrimental side effect of vacuum sealing is the potential to crush the tea leaves. Lastly, most vacuum sealable pouches are made of a layered combination of aluminium foil and plastic, whereas we have opted for sustainable materials.
2.2. How many cups of tea can I brew with 25g, 50g, 75g, 150g of loose leaf tea?
It depends on tea type and whether you are brewing gongfu or western style. For the following example we will use 25g of tea leaves as our starting point as all other sizes are easily multiplied from this base:
● For green teas, we can brew 50 x 50ml cups of gongfu style and 20 x 200ml cups of western style.
● For oolong teas, 55-60 cups and 20-25 cups, respectively.
● For black teas, 70-75 cups and 25-30 cups, respectively.
Please bear in mind that these are all averages – if you would like to understand the calculation in more detail, please check out our blog article. In any case, even if we take the most expensive tea in our store, it works out to around US$0.50 (that's half a dollar) for each 200ml cup. If we compare that to a similar size cup of coffee, it seems that tea is the rather more affordable option.
Fees
3.1. Is my price at checkout the final price?
Most likely. The price shown does not include: i) any potential VAT and import duties charged by customs in your country; and ii) any handling fees charged by the shipping company to clear these customs. In accordance with guidelines for international online sales, the buyer of the goods is also the importer, and therefore responsible for paying any fees charged in the country of destination.
3.2. How much are VAT, import duties and handling fees in my country?
These will be different per country. For VAT and import duties, please check with your local tax authority. For handling fees, please check with the shipping company.
In most countries, orders under a certain value will be exempt from any additional charges.
3.3. How are VAT, import duties and handling fees processed?
In most cases, the shipping company will take care of all the import formalities, including prepayment of any potential VAT and import duties. Should there be any amount due, they will notify you directly. Once the shipping company has received payment from you, they will then proceed to deliver the goods to your address or make them available for collection at your local service point.
Payment
4.1. What payment methods do you accept?
We accept PayPal, American Express, VISA, MasterCard and Maestro.
4.2. Why am I being redirected to an external website to complete payment?
Our banking partner, Mollie, is a registered financial operator based in the Netherlands. We have chosen to work with them as they specialise in e-commerce businesses and provide first-in-class encryption to guarantee full safety of your online payments. They are also the trusted partner for Deliveroo and UNICEF, among many others.
Shipping
5.1. My order is delayed, where is it?
Please use your tracking number to check directly with the shipping company or through a third-party parcel tracking service.
Shipping company: Chunghwa Post [please follow the 'international parcels tracking service' link]
Third-party service: 17TRACK or AfterShip [these providers are able to track shipments from Taiwan]
5.2. My tracking number doesn't work, why?
Please note that when using the Airmail shipping option, for some destination countries tracking will only be possible up until your order departs Taiwan. The main reason for this is Taiwan's complex political status. This is notably the case for orders being sent to the United States as unfortunately the tracking number systems used by Chunghwa Post (Taiwan Post) and USPS are not compatible.
5.3. Can I cancel my order?
Yes. You may cancel within 12 hours after placing your order, provided it has not yet been dispatched. Please send us an email at refunds@oolongtime.com.