FAQ

We ship from our studio located in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China.
If you live outside China/HK an added custom fee, VAT and duties may apply, and we recommend to check the import rules with your own country local rules. On our side we do everything possible to minimize the risk; feel free to contact us anytime for further support.
If you live in Europe or North America and you prefer to have your goods shipped from our logistic center in Milan, Italy, you can refer to our international website: www.easternleaves.com.
All the goods in our .com website have been already imported in EU,
therefore if you live in Europe or US you will enjoy a very quick
shipment, without any added custom cost or delay.

If you wish to have a special shipping system, courier, or format, please contact us, we will try our best to satisfy your request.

Our website is protected by the highest security SSL certificates, and we accept all the major credit cards, PayPal and Bitcoin.
Contact us if you experience any checkout issue, or if you have special needs.

We try to fulfil your order at the first business hour available; once that your package is ready to be picked by the delivery company you receive an email with all the tracking information.
Once the shipment is on its way, for any local arrangement with the courier we suggest to directly contact their local branch, following the shipping tracking information.
For further info and support write us an email.

The teas we produce are labelled either as "Wild forest" or "Ancient trees", according to their origin.
The "Wild forest" ones come from our land in Nannuo mountain; the tea trees are about 40-80 years old, and live and grow shaded and protected by a thriving forest.
The"Ancient tree" teas come from our Lunan mountain tea trees, across the Nannuo valley. Their age is 200-500 years old, and they are also in the under-forest.
Both teas are produced with the same care, and both have a great ageing potential.

The pressed cakes on our shop are all ready to be consumed; they can be drunk starting from 6 months after their pressing dates and they will age for many years. 
The loose-leaf format is perfect if you plan to drink your tea within a year or two: its ageing pace is much slower, yet it retains more fresh fragrances.
In both cases you get the best quality and ageing potential, what changes the most is the timeframe.

If you notice that a product of your preference is out of stock, open its page and click on "contact me when in stock" button, you will receive a notice as soon as it is back.

If you wish to customise any of our packaging to better suit your preferences or the ones of your beloved ones contact us, we will try our best to fulfil your needs.

If you require a special tea let us know, we are based in China and we are happy to source it for you!It may be from a mountain you want to experience, a special harvest or a vintage: we will do our best to find it and to guarantee its quality.

All the photos in this website have been taken by Eastern Leaves, either on our land, tea-room, or during our travels.
Please respect the intellectual property; before using any content by Eastern Leaves we kindly ask you to contact us.
If you wish we would also be glad to let you in touch with our photographer.

All the effort of producing a single tea leaf are enhanced and highlighted when it is properly brewed: this is the reason why, rather than sending free samples, we prefer to invite whoever wish to to places that know how to proper prepare and serve our teas. These places are "Eastern Leaves experience points": get in touch if you wish to become one of them.

Through our forest and ancient trees we offer a program of Corporate Social Responsibility to involve your company in the forest protection, adopting a piece of our forest and thus offering its tea to your clients as special and customised gift.
Contact us, we will be glad to find the best solution according to your comapny needs.

We have always believed in youth: as a tea terroir is composed of many different ages, so is the tea culture, and it is our responsibility to contribute to its formation around the world.
In China we have been working with the Kunming Tea Education Academy since 2015, In Europe since 2016 we have been cooperating with SDA Bocconi University of Milan as case study for their students, besides several cooperations with Food and Beverage schools.
Contact us to start a cooperation, we will be glad to talk about it.

To read our work in other people words is important; this is the reason why we welcome new professional cooperations, and we support them with our usual commitment.
If you wish to cooperate with us please write an email, including a brief presentation of who you are and detailing the cooperation you have in mind.
We are open both to tea-industry subjects and to more transversal ones, yet in any case we require a professional approach that respects the effort that our people put daily in their work. 
We welcome any kind of media, either printed or digital, well-edited blogs, open-discussion, and we love to support young projects.
The same is true for Instagram profiles: it doesn't matter how many followers you may have, what matters is the quality of the proposals. We think that to send out free samples for a published photo doesn't qualify for an independent reviewer, therefore - while happy to cooperate - we evaluate the whole proposals.

In most cases, we record our online tastings, master-classes and long-term courses, so if for some reasons you miss one class we send you a link to stream it at your convenience.
We will then available for further questions and support.

We organise training both online, with dozens of premium tea samples shipped directly at your place and our utmost care to support your study, and on-site in Xishuanbanna, Yunnan, and in Milan, Italy.
Since the first day our forest has taught us a lot, and we have learnt that to walk the land, to feel the smell of the soil, the raw leaves, the fragrances of the tea processing, is the best and most solid way of learning your way into Yunnan tea.
We welcome visitors in our land with training programs, tailored to your learning needs: contact us to plan your visit.

Vivian Zhang is a tea master who graduated at the highest level from the Chinese Tea Academy, after attending courses in Beijing and completing her specialization in Kunming. In 2014 she became a tea producer after founding her company, Eastern Leaves, on mount Nannuo in Yunnan. Over the years, she has added the various degrees of the official training on tea - from the ceremony to the cultivation - to her liberal education in Ancient Chinese Literature. In 2016 she graduated with a Master degree in Food and Beverage Management, at Bocconi University in Milan. Together with Eastern Leaves, she divides her life between the mountains in Yunnan and her international travels, where she shares her experiences and the tea leaves she brings from her native land.

Upon passing the exam at the end of the Daye-Big Leaf level, a unique certificate in "Chinese Tea Taster and Connoisseur", legally registered with the Chinese Federation, will be issued by All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, Kunming headquarters.
Students in possession of said certificate are able to judge and accurately describe teas with respect to their own terroir, to brew tea as a professional, to trace the production techniques, and finally to understand and actively participate to market quotations.

Dry leaves needs a last step of processing to become a infuse; to extract the best out of your leaves is a pleasurable and passionate act that can become challenging in a fast-paced service in a restaurant or bar: every place has its own needs, and we are ready to listen to your demands to plan the best training possible according to your available resources.

We are open for visits of our land and trees, with courses directly on plantations and in neighbouring mountains.
Visit this page or contact us, we will be happy to book a visit with you.

Twice per year we organise extensive tea tours around Chinese most fascinating terroir, visiting places, people and leaves that are the most dear to us.
Visit this page to see the current plan, and subscribe to our newsletter to be always updated.

In Milan, Italy, there is our urban tearoom: feel free to pass by or to book a tasting menu, you will find all our best leaves and clays.