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Loose Leaf Tea / Pu'er Tea

Chinese Pu'er Loose Leaf Pu'er Tea

Chinese Pu'er

Regular price $7.49
Regular price Sale price $7.49
Sale Sold out

18p per cup

Style

This is a dark, richly umami loose leaf tea from Yunnan Province – the home of Pu'er Tea.

This Pu'er loose leaf tea has been chosen for its flavour. We have broken the tea up from the cakes to make it easier to infuse. It might not cost an emperor's ransom, but it does taste rather good.

Also known by a myriad of different spellings - Pu'er, Pu'erh, Puer, Puerh, Pu-er, and Pu-erh are all used.

Tasting Notes

The texture is silky, like well-water and the flavour is deep, earthy, with notes of autumn leaves and a wonderful underlying sweetness.

Cost Per Cup

18p per cup based on 2.5g of tea per 150ml of water and 3 infusions.

Origin

Yunnan, China

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Origin & Craft

Pu'er tea is traditionally a very slow fermentation of a partly oxidised "dark" tea that can take decades to reach maturity and cost many thousands of pounds. This ripe Pu'er has first been "wet-pilled" where it undergoes an initial wet fermentation for 45 days to begin the process. This allows the tea to reach a smoothness and delicacy of a much older "raw" Pu'er. It is also vastly more affordable.

Some very old Pu'ers that date back to before Chairman Mao's Revolution are extremely valuable. They can be traded for eye-watering sums due to their rarity and the history they belong to - much like vintage champagnes. An old bottle of champagne may be worth a king's ransom and then disappoint as soon as it is opened. It may be corked or spoilt. Its value is not determined on the quality of the liquid inside but on the age of the bottle. The same is sometimes true of Pu'er. Once an old Pu'er cake has been unwrapped, broken and the tea infused - it might not be the most delicious tea despite its price - and its value is then lost, so they are often more traded than drunk.

Shipping, delivery & more...

Shipping Information

UK Shipping Rates
FREE UK Tracked when you spend £30 or more
FREE UK Express - Next Day* when you spend £60 or more
UK Tracked - Two Day Tracked £3.99
UK Express - Next Day* Tracked £5.49
UK Express - Next Day* Courier from £8.49

USA Shipping Rates
FREE DHL Tracked/DHL Plus Tracked when you spend $30 or more
DHL Tracked/Plus Tracked from £4.99
USPS Priority from £8.99
FedEx Home Delivery from £16.99

Europe Shipping Rates
FREE Europe Tracked when you spend £50 or more
Europe Tracked Delivery from £4.99
Europe Express Courier from £21.99

Canadian Shipping Rates*
FREE DHL International Tracked when you spend $40 CAD or more
DHL International Tracked from £5.99
FedEx Courier Delivery from £34.99

Worldwide Shipping Rates
FREE Worldwide Tracked when you spend £50 or more
Worldwide Tracked Delivery from £5.99
ROW Express Courier from £20.49

*Subject to next day cutoff and postcode location. Availability of rates depends on location and order weight. For a complete overview of our shipping rates please see our delivery page. All prices quoted in GBP and will be converted to your local currency if available.

IOSS for EU Orders

Rare Tea Company uses IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) for EU orders placed on the website.  We have enabled it for all EU orders from 15th February 2023.

How IOSS works and how it is applied on the website.

The IOSS scheme allows us to collect VAT during checkout on your behalf, meaning that no VAT is due when your order is assessed by your local authority.

  • If the combined value of the products in your cart are equal to or below €150 (excluding tax), VAT will be included at the point of sale and you should not be charged any fees when your order arrives.*
  • Once the €150 threshold is exceeded VAT will be removed from the items in your cart and from this point onwards when your order ships you will be liable for local VAT, duties and import fees.**

To avoid unnecessary import charges, keep your orders under €150 (excluding tax and shipping). Tax is included on all applicable products at Rare Tea - if your order is applicable for IOSS tax will be shown at the checkout.

Valid for IOSS

Not valid for IOSS

Your order confirmation and shipping confirmation emails will also confirm whether your order is valid for IOSS.

As with all complex shipping methods, the IOSS system isn't foolproof, and orders that are valid for IOSS are occasionally incorrectly charged VAT by customs.

If an order shipped via IOSS and that you have paid VAT on does get incorrectly assessed by customs, please don't worry. It's usually just a mistake that can be fixed by contacting customs and explaining that the order shipped via IOSS with VAT already paid.

If this does happen to you then we suggest the following:

  1. Please contact us before speaking to customs.
  2. We will double check that the order was valid for IOSS.
  3. We will provide a VAT receipt and a shipping label as evidence.
  4. Contact your local customs for assistance, using the shipping label as evidence.
  5. If all else fails we will attempt to get our shipping provider to investigate, but this process can take a while.

*Please note - this does not include any applicable duty charged when the item is cleared. Within the EU tea is free from duty, but your region might have a different rules for non-tea items such as tins and teaware. Any duty charged is payable by you, the customer before delivery via your local customs authority.
**In special cases where custom fees have been unexpected we have retroactively refunded these in select cases. As of the 15th February 2023 (the start of IOSS) we have discontinued this process.

What is IOSS?

The Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) is the electronic portal businesses can use since 1 July 2021 to comply with their VAT e-commerce obligations on distance sales of imported goods.

Up until the 1st July 2021, no import VAT has to be paid for commercial goods of a value up to EUR 22. New VAT eCommerce rules abolished this provision as of 1st July 2021. Thus, from 1 July 2021, all commercial goods imported into the EU from a third country or third territory is subject to VAT irrespective of their value.

What is IOSS for?

IOSS allows suppliers and electronic interfaces selling imported goods to buyers in the EU to collect, declare and pay the VAT to the tax authorities, instead of making the buyer pay the VAT at the moment the goods are imported into the EU as it was previously the case (for products over 22 EUR).

What are the advantages of IOSS?

IOSS facilitates the collection, declaration and payment of VAT for sellers making distance sales of imported goods to buyers in the EU. The IOSS also makes the process easier for the buyer, who is only charged at the time of purchase, and therefore does not face any surprise fees when the goods are delivered. If the seller is not registered in the IOSS, the buyer has to pay the VAT and usually a customs clearance fee charged by the transporter.

What countries does IOSS apply to?

IOSS applies to the EU member states of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

It does not apply to the EEA.

How much tax will I get charged?

Tax will be charged at the base VAT rate of the shipping country.

Full details of IOSS can be found on the European Comission website.

Any questions? Please get in touch!

Send us a message using the form below, or call +44 (0) 207 681 0115 (9am - 5pm GMT, Monday - Friday).