Each export of Chinese loose-leaf tea travels with a small set of trade and plant-health papers. This page is a working checklist: the usual documents, who issues them, and what you or your broker do with each one. Use it when a lot is already chosen and you are assembling a wholesale shipment that will actually leave China.
It does not replace the shipping page, which covers modes, transit time, insurance, and clearance in overview. This is not where you choose a tea. If you are still choosing, start from the tea catalogue or a category such as green tea.
Evaluation samples, sent so you can taste a lot, do not travel with this document set. This checklist is for an order that is packed, declared, and exported.
What this checklist covers
The core set is the papers that almost every ocean shipment of loose-leaf tea needs so the goods can leave China and your broker can start import clearance. The extra set is requested by a destination market, a retailer, or a specific buyer. Extras are not assumed.
We prepare the commercial papers: the invoice, the packing list, and the data your forwarder needs for the transport document. Government or chamber bodies issue origin and plant-health papers against that file. We are not the issuing authority for those official certificates.
A typical core set looks like this:
- Commercial invoice
- Packing list
- Bill of lading
- Certificate of origin
- Phytosanitary certificate
Names vary slightly by forwarder and destination. If your broker asks for a document that is not on this list, send us the exact name they used. We will say whether it is another title for one of the above, or an extra.
This article does not list destination import rules country by country. Those change, and a wrong number on a public page is worse than a short note to ask us for that destination.
Who does what, in brief:
- You confirm the legal buyer, Incoterm, destination, and any extra paper your broker has already named.
- We draft the commercial file and apply for the official certificates that belong with that file.
- The carrier or forwarder issues the bill of lading.
- Your broker files the import entry and tells you if the destination wants a form we have not yet applied for.
Commercial invoice
The commercial invoice is the trade document. Customs, the bank, and the insurer all read it. Quantity, weight, and description must match the packing list and the transport document.
We issue it. You should see:
- Seller and buyer legal names and addresses
- Invoice number and date
- Description of the tea (name, grade or lot mark, number of bags or cartons)
- Quantity, unit price, and line total
- Currency (we invoice in USD)
- Incoterm and named place
- Country of origin
- Payment terms agreed for that order
What you use it for. Your broker files it with the import entry. Your bank may ask for it if you pay against copy documents. Your insurer uses it if a claim is filed.
What to check before we lock the file. Confirm the legal buyer name — not a shop brand if the importer of record is a different company. Confirm the Incoterm and the tea description your broker wants on the entry. A mismatch between the invoice and the packing list is the most common reason a file is sent back.
If you will split one export across two delivery addresses, say so before we issue the invoice. One export file should describe one consignment.
Packing list
The packing list is the physical record of how the lot is packed. For loose-leaf tea that usually means inner food-grade multi-layer aluminum foil bags inside export cartons, then onto a plastic pallet when the order is palletised.
We issue it. You should see:
- Number of cartons and bags
- Net weight and gross weight
- Carton dimensions when your forwarder needs them
- Marks and numbers that also appear on the cartons
- A line that ties the packing to the invoice (same lot, same order)
What you use it for. The forwarder uses it to book space. The receiving warehouse uses it to count the cargo in. Destination customs may ask for it next to the invoice.
What to check. Weights on the packing list, the invoice, and the transport document should agree. If you need a different inner-bag size than our usual export pack, say so at order confirmation so the list and the cartons match.
Do not treat the packing list as a retail label spec. It records how the export carton is built, not how a shop will bag tea for a shelf.
Bill of lading
The transport document proves the carrier took the cargo. It is not issued by us. The carrier or forwarder issues it from the booking file we — or your nominated forwarder — supply.
You receive a bill of lading. Under FOB, your forwarder usually books, and the B/L goes to you or your bank per the payment terms. When we arrange the main carriage, we send you the B/L copy once the vessel is on water. Originals versus telex release is a decision you make with your forwarder and bank. Tell us which you need before the vessel sails.
What you use it for. Proof of shipment, insurance, and — for originals — title. Your broker needs the B/L number to locate the cargo.
What to check. Consignee and notify party must match how you clear. A shop name on the B/L when the importer of record is a different legal entity will delay release.
Certificate of origin
The certificate of origin states that the tea is of Chinese origin. Importers use it for tariff treatment and, in some markets, for a simple origin check.
Our certificates of origin are issued by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) — the China Chamber of International Commerce, an ICC World Chambers Federation member chamber. We prepare the application from the invoice and packing list. We are not the issuing authority.
The face of the certificate prints a reference number and a check address. You can confirm the document with the issuer before the cargo arrives.
What you use it for. Your broker attaches it to the import entry when the destination asks for origin evidence. If your destination needs a named preferential form, send us that title before we apply to CCPIT.
What to check. The origin on this certificate must match the invoice (China) and must not contradict the garden or province we printed as the more specific origin on the invoice line. The certificate is a country-level document. The invoice can still name the province or garden.
Phytosanitary certificate
Tea is a plant product. Whether a phytosanitary certificate is required depends on the destination. Where it is required, the consignment enters as plant material inspected under the exporting country's plant-health system.
In China this certificate is issued by Customs (the plant-health function now sits there). Additional declarations follow the destination's requirements. We apply using the same commercial file. We do not run a private-laboratory inspection to produce this paper. The certificate is an official plant-health document, not a residue or contaminant report.
What you use it for. Your broker lodges it with the import plant-health service. Some ports will not release tea without it.
What to check. Product description and weight should match the invoice. If your country requires the certificate to name a specific additional declaration, your broker must give us that wording before we apply. We will not invent a declaration.
Apply for this certificate only after the invoice and packing list are stable. A late change to weight or description means a new application.
Export customs declaration
The export customs declaration is the seller-side filing that lets the cargo leave China. You do not file it. We — or the forwarder acting on the export side — do.
We can provide a copy on request. Some banks and some destination brokers like to see that the export was declared on terms that match the invoice.
What you use it for. Optional support for your file. It is not a substitute for your own import entry.
What to check. You rarely need to edit this document. If a bank asks for a stamped export declaration, tell us at order confirmation so we know to request the copy.
Keep this paper with the invoice if you receive it. It is part of the export story, not a second commercial invoice.
Extra papers the buyer may request
These are not part of the default core set. Ask for them when you confirm the order if you know you will need them.
- A laboratory report for the lot you are buying, when your retailer or your import advisor asks for one. That report is a separate paper from the phytosanitary certificate. How to read one is a later guide. This page only records that it is requested, not assumed.
- Origin or garden letters that repeat facts already on the invoice, when a retailer wants them on letterhead.
- Papers tied to an organic programme, when that lot is sold under such a programme. Certificates under an organic programme are issued to the certificate holder. Where a lot is covered, we pass on the copies we are permitted to share.
- A copy of the export customs declaration, when a bank or a destination broker wants proof that the export was declared on terms matching the invoice. See the section above for what it is and is not.
- You will not receive a wood-packaging treatment certificate. We ship on plastic pallets, so that inspection point does not arise at destination.
If a destination needs a document we cannot obtain, we will say so before the tea is packed. Do not assume a paper exists because a template you used with another origin listed it.
How the set is sent. We send scanned copies as they are issued, then originals (when originals exist) by courier to the address you name — often your broker. Keep the invoice, packing list, and transport document together; they are read as one file.
When you are ready to attach this checklist to a real lot, open that tea on the site and send the inquiry from the product page so the documents match the lot you actually buy. Evaluation samples are free of charge; the buyer covers the courier cost. Most teas can be ordered from 5 kg. Start from the tea catalogue.