Thank you for your honesty!!!! I am so sorry you had to go through all of that but you were very diplomatic. This is why I order from you. I know I can trust you and the tea you sell. Thank you Don.💕

This might be your most important video,and here’s why: You could have told us that you were ‘experiencing supplier issues’ or something,and we never would have known about the mold debacle,a tea-pocalypse,as it were! But you didn’t do that. You were honest and forthcoming,and shared with us,this unfortunate situation. I respect that very much,Don. Yes,you are a business owner,a salesperson,but this showing of honesty and integrity is proof that you have a genuine passion for the potion known as TEA! I salute your integrity and passion. I’ll be in London from September 18-26,and you can be sure that I will be visiting MeiLeaf while I am there. See you in a few months!😊

What a journey that you let us into, the ups & downs of the tea business. Your expertise & passion is so much appreciated. Hooked!

I would gladly buy a thong of the none-moldy cakes that are getting opened for inspection, I dont mind them getting rewrapped In anyway, you could lower the price on them!

Despite the mistakes you’ve proven to be a trust worthy tea guy for your honesty and owning up to your mistakes and fixing it.

I agree with the idea of rewrapping and selling at a discount. Thank you for your open and frank discussion.

You deserve to have five times as many subscribers. You're THE tea authority. No peers. Head and shoulders above. I wish you had a slightly aggressive PR agent who could get you on terrestrial TV or a Netflix contract. You hide your light under a bushel, that's for sure. I'm feeling evangelical and wish everybody had access to your charm and knowledge. Fantastic channel and wonderful store. Off to place an order after pressing 'comment'. ;D

The breathable bags for tongs look like a fab idea!

The slow mic drop is actually pretty comedic, especially when you fast forward through the video... 😄

Don't throw it . Here is an idea , how about opening each cake before sending , make this very clear to the customer. Sell it at a reduced rate ( because it has been opened). So, you won't lose it all ,but you will not make the money from it you would expect... Surly better than a larger loss ?

What a bad situation! You guys sure turned it around though, that solution you & your suppliers came up with looks adorable. I'm glad you didn't up the price for customers as well to compensate, very up front. Looking forward to more videos and tea

When I saw that title, my heart dropped for you guys (and for me too😢). But then I saw the length of the video and I crossed my fingers. Glad everything's sorted out! Love the new gaiwan and also the tong bags. Please, can you make it possible to have the option of leaving the tong in the bamboo wrap or this new bag (if you're switching to this) at the checkout? I was a little sad to receive my tongs in individual packs. Alternatively, could you please add the tong bags as part of your merch? Because I will definitely buy them❤️ Thank you for always giving TeaJoy every Saturday.

Thank you for sharing your journey with us. It shows how much dedication, sweat and tears go into sourcing teas - and how incredibly complex and incomprehensible the global supply chain has become. To me, your videos are about so much more than just tea, they provide us with deep insights into what goes into the production of goods. The first step to a more sustainable supply chain is showing what it means to grow, produce, process, transport and sell those goods. I'd love to see more of this! I'm happy it all ended on a good note. You're amazing!

The thing I’ve found most informative with both you and Unytea is you do not shy away from sharing the many hurdles that go into getting us our tea. It’s an important part of tea education and I can’t imagine it’s a great feeling, nor does it feel better sharing this information to the customers, but it’s actually because you do this that you remain on the top of your game.

What an intense episode. Thank you for sharing the good and not so good times with us.

I’m so glad you take these risks to provide people with quality tea. You embody what tea is all about! Excited to try Find Your Sunshine :-)

Oh my word, Mr. Don! The IRONY of "finding your sunshine" in this situation!!! My heart is so grateful for you and the Mei Leaf team; I'm so glad you guys were able to sell this, despite the heartbreaking dilemma!

Behind the scenes was amazing!

I've had moldy shrooms before and here I stand! 😅 I truly wouldn't mind buying some of these moldy cakes lol I've eaten around moldy fruit too, and I'm fine

Can’t wait to to try the tea myself. I am going to wait with my order until the cups are released. They are absolutely beautiful. I might have to get the new gaiwan as well

You are amazing! Thank you for sharing. We hope all gets sorted out. 🙏🍵🍃

I literally started watching and didn’t realize a) how long the video was + b) that you mentioned that date in the beginning when you were first recording. I literally ran into our bedroom and told my boyfriend the sad news. Then I came back in and watched the rest of the video, feeling better and better for you guys every minute. I’m so happy Sunshine II is gonna be okay. I gotta say, I would LOVE to purchase samples of original, moldy cakes. (Obviously pieces without the mold LOL). Also love the new tong wraps. I am no stranger to understanding the love of the authentic, traditional nature of using bamboo for wrapping the tongs, but I honestly love the idea of these moisture/aerated bags to hold your tea. I’ve been falling down the ML rabbit hole watching videos that I missed throughout the years. In one you mentioned storage methods, for example, Malaysian style storage, Hong Kong storage, etc. I would love a video on storage styles, (and if you already have one, I’m actually gonna go on a hunt now), because I’ve been speaking to some people in China and they don’t really get too geeky.. but I’d like to dive into the geekdom and know more. Thanks guys!

please check the parameters of the warehouse that you store the tea in. If you have other tea stored in that same area, its probably also susceptible to mold! You can also maybe ask the factory to really take their time with the process to allow the moisture to evaporate better.

Interesting story! It makes perfect sense that there would be risk in creating a new tea form like that. Good that you could get it resolved.

During the sampling part of the video is I think the most manic we've seen you, you really felt anxious and all over the place like you just wanted to get the video done. Which is of course completely understandable given everything! It's also good that they where able to remake it for you. Lets hope this doesn't sour your experience with the tea when you drink it, it would be easy to get hung up on your personal history and hardships with it.

Bit of a nail bitter to start with so glad it got resolved might have to nab a cake as I missed out on find your sunshine 1

Thanks for sharing trials and tribulations. Puts my annoyance at discovering that a 2000 Yi Wu Huang Pian raw tea cake I have been keeping and trying from time to time has become utterly tasteless into proper perspective. I’m glad this disaster seems to have resolved reasonably well for you Don. I always think of you as the James Brown of tea business i.e. the hardest working man. I’ve bought the stunning gaiwan.

perfect tea. Just ordered a tong

Hopefully the supplier will have a reasonable resolve solution for you ! Totally understand how frustrating it is can be .

Pretty gaiwan, is it Ru Yao ? I could see that classic crackling. Gonna age beautifully!

Call it blue tea and increase the price? They did that with cheese also :P

As a business owner myself, I know all too well the stress of such debacles. I’m sure you had to take a hit on this, but it looks like you found your sunshine.

You could always market the affected cakes as m-old growth pu'er. 😅 But in all honesty I hope it wasn't too costly for the remakes. Maybe use the tea for watercolor art?

I’d still drink it!!

I wouldn't be overly alarmed. I will have to find the article about a man who rehabs moldy shou. Mainly air drying and some sun I believe. I will look now and post when I find it.

Omg I am so sad fir you;;;; It made me stressed out too and I went to open up my cake from 2014 that I have never opened till now just to ease my worries

product of nature, needs more sunlight & ironically it's named.... "****"

there will be many other tea sellers suffering the same problem

I would suggest, that the tea was packed on a relatively humid day and the moisture was trapped by the plastic wrapper around the boxes, so it began to mold.

Well damn, I should of finished the video before leaping like I did in previous comments. You really should have started by telling us it was already resolved. I was having a panick attack for you. 🤣🤣

Any recommendations for good books on tea blending or other things about tea?

You can re-wrap them in your using a new "labeled: re-wrapped" wrapping paper and it they are okay, you can try sell at discount price, explained why it was opened, to reduce your damage. I would buy one like that if I see it on your website. Amazon does that all the time, sell "opened box" on discount price.

Ouch!! So much damage to the stock!! Very sorry that the whole first batch was tainted. On the other hand, glad that they had enough tea and _chén pí_ (陳皮) to make another batch.

the composting process would certainly contain some mold , is it not a part of the process is it realty a huge problem ,,, you said it tasted fine

Hello,I havent commented on your videos in a long long time.. but am wondering where this tea came from? Lately been trying to be more aware of where the tea is coming from, the elevation, humidity.. etc..

For the molded batch, you should have the cakes that aren't moldy be an in shop brew only. Might not move fast, but it would be a way to dampen the hit you take on them (assuming you're comfortable with that.)

Oh no, every time you opened something I held my breath. I hope a good resolution occurs.

Build the shrink into your margin. When you look back at your total sales over the years...how much "shrink" or loss have you experienced? Maybe the loss isn't so bad as a % of total sales but still hurts. Scrap off the mold, shock blanch and repurpose into a blend? Don't know if that's possible...sometimes in the food/drink biz....these are the moments when a new product is created! Hahaha.....

The store where I get my Pu Erh labels products as 'damaged package' and drops like 3-5% from the price. But if the whole batch is dodgy, if you sell a 'good looking' cake to someone and he gets food poisoning, coz god knows what's on the inside of the cake, mold is not always visible, you'll have huge problems. Better be safe than sorry.

Glad your business isn't ruined. So when/where can we get the Chinese matcha?

test the mould, might be consumable if so then pass it off as a ray of sunshine

i would buy a opened up cake

With time of year and humidity high I would guess it shipment sat somewhere in overly humid area waiting somewhere along covid restricted route. As long as it is only surface and not deep in cake yet it should be salvageable.

Honesty is the best policy and this too shall come to pass and will be figured out….

oooof. the first part of this was stressful to watch! glad it worked out in the end! I am yet to find a puerh i understand, but this does sound tempting. that new gaiwan tho... may have to get that with my next batch of teas.

Let it continue to mold then rebrand it as some "noble rot long ferment" specialty tea and triple the price.

For those of us who don't get the whole tea market mechanics: Why does unpacking a tea to check it for mold make it "unsellable"? Wouldn't it be an option to repackage the good cakes after checking?

50% off and they’ll disappear in a week 😂

Could it be the white stuff is just crystallised sugar or something like that if its just on the chenpi? I heard it’s kind of common

I will buy some opened ones so you can at least work towards a ROI.

Just ask help from the Chinese tea master, what to do with the tea : Is it acceptable condition or not? Could you re-fermenting & re-ovening them once again, so the taste could be improved, hopefully? Sometimes some incident could be a blessing in disguise.... It's Pu'er tea after all... Not green tea 🍃🍵🤗 Calm down, ask the expert, solve the problem while enjoy your tea 🍵🤗 WUATB 🙏

Just make it an NFT! 😂

This sounds like a worst cake scenario.

This is not just problem solving. You could have yelled your ass out in the video against the producer or other ppl. You didn't. You could have taken the other route and not even speak. You didn't. This is temperance and diplomacy at its best.

break it all down & sell it by the gram?

Microwave them?

That gaiwan is amazing

FIRST, better verify if is really mold in a analisys laboratory, i think. And if it is, if is dangerous. If not dangerours, maybe try to sell in a loose way

Find all the cakes with no visible mold, break them up, and use it for the next ten years making kombucha! 🌱🥃🌱

Maybe you should insure everything? A thought.

Pu'er tea in China

Take off the mold and sell it loose?

This has no doubt been a stressful 5 months for you and the company, but I'm glad everything has worked out. A real shame to say goodbye to all of that excellent material and chen pi. If the moldy stuff isn't safe to sell, then I think you and your employees/family might have a great evening making a large (and VERY aromatic) bonfire; I think it would be safe to roast some marshmallows over it haha!

1/10 cake for your loss, thanks for your honesty share, please relax, will be fine.

I get you're on camera and want to be professional, but I would have had way more expletives when opening the tongs.

I really value your honesty and transparency. ever thought about politics?

F