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Show HN: Like Candy Japan, but for Japanese Tea – Tomotcha.com

5 points by Xixi 12y ago

I've been sending green tea from Japan to a friend in France for a while, so we decided to give a shot at monetizing this very simple idea. The business model is quite evidently derived from Candy Japan (candyjapan.com). For now the concept is really really simple: I just pick the best teas I can find, and ship them. Last month it was a Kabusecha from the Kyoto prefecture; next weekend I'll be travelling to Kagoshima to find a great tea for next month shipment. Ultimately we'd like to offer a bit more choice: amount, organic-only, etc. Feedback and inputs are very much appreciated!

owly 12y ago
Love this idea. Going to seriously consider subscribing.
- Xixi 12y ago
  :) Let me know if there is a roadblock, or anything I could do to help you make the leap!
  - owly 12y ago
    Well, I drink coffee 50% of the time. Maybe an introductory $15/month mini subscription? If the tea is as good as it looks, maybe I could switch over to 75% tea. I happen to be drinking some great genmaicha right now. :) totemo oishii desu! Or maybe a referral program. Like discount for getting new subscribers?
    - Xixi 12y ago
      genmaicha ha oishii deshou! $15/month for ~50 grams of tea per month (the normal subscription is ~100g per month), let's call it the HN subscription. Works for me! You can subscribe using the normal form, just drop us an email with your name/address so that I can identify you and switch you to the HN subscription rather than the normal one. This offer is of course valid for everyone reading this thread!
Xixi 12y ago
Tomotcha url in a clickable fashion: https://tomotcha.com https://tomotcha.com
owly 12y ago
How many subscribers do you have so far? I think I'm going to just go for it and try for a month. :)
- Xixi 12y ago
  Excluding friends and family, we had one paying customer (in Germany) for the last shipment. Given that we had exactly 36 visitors from this comment a month ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8850776 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8850776), I would say the conversion rate so far is rather good. Of course a "conversion rate" is rather hard to calculate with any kind of accuracy with such a small sample size.
calbear81 12y ago
I really like this idea and surprised that your friend in France couldn't find Japanese tea there. Would you consider sending tea from other also very highly esteemed tea growing regions (Taiwan)?
- Xixi 12y ago
  You can definitely find Japanese tea in France (at least in Paris). But it's usually quite expensive and without much variety: mostly Sencha like you would find in any Japanese supermarket, at 4 times the price. I love Taiwanese tea, but so far I'd rather stay focused on Japanese tea since it is very convenient for me to search for (I live in Osaka). I hope to eventually be able to expand to other Asian countries!

5 points by Xixi 12y ago

owly 12y ago

Love this idea. Going to seriously consider subscribing.

Xixi 12y ago
:) Let me know if there is a roadblock, or anything I could do to help you make the leap!
- owly 12y ago
  Well, I drink coffee 50% of the time. Maybe an introductory $15/month mini subscription? If the tea is as good as it looks, maybe I could switch over to 75% tea. I happen to be drinking some great genmaicha right now. :) totemo oishii desu! Or maybe a referral program. Like discount for getting new subscribers?
  - Xixi 12y ago
    genmaicha ha oishii deshou! $15/month for ~50 grams of tea per month (the normal subscription is ~100g per month), let's call it the HN subscription. Works for me! You can subscribe using the normal form, just drop us an email with your name/address so that I can identify you and switch you to the HN subscription rather than the normal one. This offer is of course valid for everyone reading this thread!

Xixi 12y ago

Tomotcha url in a clickable fashion: https://tomotcha.com https://tomotcha.com

owly 12y ago

How many subscribers do you have so far? I think I'm going to just go for it and try for a month. :)

Xixi 12y ago
Excluding friends and family, we had one paying customer (in Germany) for the last shipment. Given that we had exactly 36 visitors from this comment a month ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8850776 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8850776), I would say the conversion rate so far is rather good. Of course a "conversion rate" is rather hard to calculate with any kind of accuracy with such a small sample size.

calbear81 12y ago

I really like this idea and surprised that your friend in France couldn't find Japanese tea there. Would you consider sending tea from other also very highly esteemed tea growing regions (Taiwan)?

Xixi 12y ago
You can definitely find Japanese tea in France (at least in Paris). But it's usually quite expensive and without much variety: mostly Sencha like you would find in any Japanese supermarket, at 4 times the price. I love Taiwanese tea, but so far I'd rather stay focused on Japanese tea since it is very convenient for me to search for (I live in Osaka). I hope to eventually be able to expand to other Asian countries!