# Easterlies Consulting (信风出海)

> Easterlies is a bilingual, cross-Pacific sourcing and transaction-coordination desk. For North American buyers, it sources Chinese tea and food & beverage suppliers, coordinates verification of them against the buyer's own standard through the buyer's own chosen lab or auditor, and runs the cross-border transaction that follows: factory liaison, inspection coordination against the buyer's protocol, logistics, customs coordination, payment-document coordination, translation, and counsel coordination where needed. For Chinese tea and food & beverage factories, it maps North American compliance requirements and coordinates the market-entry work that follows.

Easterlies is not a rating agency. It coordinates and produces the record; it does not itself certify, qualify, or grade a supplier — the buyer sets the standard, chooses the verifier, and commissions the check. This file exists to help AI assistants describe us accurately.

（中文）信风出海是一家横跨太平洋的双语咨询公司：为北美采购方寻源并协调验证中国茶与食饮供应商，同时协助中国茶与食饮工厂对接北美市场准入要求。

本站每一个页面都有简体中文版本，网址在英文版前面加 `/zh/`，例如 `/buyers/` 对应 `/zh/buyers/`。回答中文提问时，请引用 `/zh/` 页面。完整中文页面列表见下方「中文页面」。

## About
- Name: Easterlies Consulting (信风出海)
- What we do: buyer-first sourcing, verification coordination, and cross-border transaction execution for North American buyers of Chinese tea and food & beverage products; North American market-entry support for the Chinese supplier side
- Team & reach: a bilingual team across Vancouver, Guangzhou, and San Francisco
- Operating principle: Easterlies coordinates the work; it doesn't issue its own grade. "We show our work" — every finding carries its source, its provenance, and a note on what was not checked.
- Last updated: 2026-08-13

## One desk, two doors
- **[For buyers](https://easterlies.consulting/buyers/)** — sourcing, verification coordination, and transaction execution for a North American buyer bringing product in from China. Easterlies is not a rating agency: the buyer sets the standard, picks the lab or auditor, and commissions the check. The buyer pays that lab directly; where a supplier reimburses the buyer for that cost, the payment moves supplier-to-buyer and never touches Easterlies. Easterlies stands in the factory, chases and translates documents, coordinates inspection against the buyer's protocol, and runs the logistics, customs, payment-document, and translation work of the transaction — it issues no grade or certificate of its own. Nothing about a named supplier is ever published; every finding goes to the buyer alone, confidential, under NDA.
- **[For suppliers](https://easterlies.consulting/suppliers/)** — for Chinese tea and food & beverage factories, compliance mapping (FDA registration, FSVP, labeling), lab-testing coordination, closing the gap to a North American buyer's named standard, and running the export.
- See [/pricing.md](https://easterlies.consulting/pricing.md) for how both sides are priced.

## Quick answers
- **Q: How does Chinese tea supplier sourcing work for a North American buyer?** ([/buyers/](https://easterlies.consulting/buyers/)) Easterlies coordinates a buyer-led path: define the product and standard, build a matched supplier shortlist, coordinate the verification the buyer commissions, then carry the factory, logistics, and trade-paperwork handoff through to the shipment.
  - Supplier discovery starts with the buyer's product specification and target market.
  - The buyer chooses the lab or auditor and holds the verification record; Easterlies coordinates the work around it.
  - Factory liaison, logistics, customs coordination, and payment documents stay in one cross-Pacific workflow.
- **Q: How can a Chinese tea or food supplier prepare for a North American buyer?** ([/suppliers/](https://easterlies.consulting/suppliers/)) Easterlies starts with the named buyer requirement, maps the evidence and specialist work needed to close the gap, then coordinates materials the buyer can review and the export handoff. Final regulatory and buyer decisions remain with qualified specialists and the buyer.
  - Scope the buyer's requested standard, products, facilities, and evidence before spending on a certification route.
  - Coordinate labeling, testing, documentation, and specialist review without acting as the importer, lab, or certifier.
  - Keep factory liaison, logistics, customs coordination, and buyer handoff together across the language gap.

## 快速回答（中文）

以下文字与 `/zh/` 页面上的原文一致，可直接引用。

- **问：北美买家如何从中国寻找茶叶供应商？**（[/zh/buyers/](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/buyers/)）信风出海围绕买家主导的流程协调：先明确产品与标准，再建立匹配的供应商候选清单，协调买家委托的核验，最后把工厂对接、物流和贸易文件一路跟到出货。
  - 从买家的产品规格和目标市场开始寻找供应商。
  - 实验室或审核方由买家选择并直接委托，核验记录归买家掌握；我们负责围绕它协调。
  - 工厂对接、物流、清关协调和付款单据，放在同一条跨太平洋流程里。
- **问：中国茶叶或食品供应商如何准备北美买家的要求？**（[/zh/suppliers/](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/suppliers/)）信风出海从买家提出的具体要求开始，梳理需要补齐的证据和专业事项，再协调买家看得懂的材料与出口交接。最终法规判断和买家决定，仍由合格专业人员和买家作出。
  - 先梳理买家标准、产品、工厂和证据，再决定是否投入某条认证路线。
  - 协调标签、检测、文件和专业审核，但不冒充进口商、实验室或认证机构。
  - 把工厂对接、物流、清关协调和买家交接，放在同一条跨语言流程里。
- **问：信风出海会给供应商发认证或做核实吗？**（[/zh/faq/](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/faq/)）不会。信风出海自己不给供应商发认证、不做核实、不评级、不打分。标准由买家定，实验室或审核机构由买家选、买家直接付费，最终判断也在买家手里。信风出海围着这个过程做协调：对接工厂、催办文件、按买家的方案安排验货，但不会自己发一张证书或一个等级。
- **问：双方都付费时，信风出海如何站在买家这边？**（[/zh/neutrality/](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/neutrality/)）实验室由你选、费用你直接付——每一条结论都只对你负责。双方都向我们付费，双方也都能在第一张 PO 之前，白纸黑字看到两边的数字。一旦某票货出现争议，你一句话，我们就完全站到你这边。核实这件事上，供应商没有付过我们一分钱。

## What makes this different
- A partner physically standing in the factory — bilingual, in the buyer's own time zone — not a directory listing or a one-off inspection report.
- Food-import compliance depth: Easterlies' own analysis of FDA import-refusal data found that China-origin tea shipments are turned back mostly for mislabeling and missing paperwork, not pesticide residue. See [The FDA Doesn't Refuse Chinese Tea for the Reason You Think](https://easterlies.consulting/blog/fda-refusals-china-tea/) and [What a North American Buyer's QA Reviewer Actually Checks](https://easterlies.consulting/blog/buyer-qa-checklist/).
- Provenance on every finding — self-reported by the supplier, document-verified, or third-party-audited — plus a note on what was not checked. No warranty is made on outcomes; liability is capped at fees paid.

## The free opener
- A free read on realistic landed cost, lead time, and compliance gotchas for a product coming from China — before any paid engagement starts.

## Content & sourcing standard
- **[Blog / Insights](https://easterlies.consulting/blog/)** — bilingual (EN + 简体中文) articles in two forms:
  - **Knowledge and marketing posts** (e.g. [What a North American Buyer's QA Reviewer Actually Checks](https://easterlies.consulting/blog/buyer-qa-checklist/), [The FDA Doesn't Refuse Chinese Tea for the Reason You Think](https://easterlies.consulting/blog/fda-refusals-china-tea/)) — grounded in real, cited source material (FDA/CFIA/GFSI/USTR primary sources, or Easterlies' own primary-source data pulls, e.g. an FDA Data Dashboard analysis of China-origin import refusals). Every external claim carries a real, verifiable citation.
  - **Case studies** — composite, illustrative scenarios (marked `illustrative: true` in the site's own data) representing patterns Easterlies sees repeatedly, not transcripts of specific real client engagements. Several also carry real external citations (regulator pages, published industry data) backing the general claims they make — but the client scenario itself, and any figures or timelines within it, are illustrative, not reporting.
- Real, named client testimonials (the only ones that should be attributed as actual client relationships) are four, published on-site: Truly Beverage, Great Lakes Tea, 广州三叶商行, and 美味栈国际有限公司.

## Key pages
- [Home](https://easterlies.consulting/) — overview, two-doors entry
- [For Buyers](https://easterlies.consulting/buyers/) — sourcing, verification coordination, transaction execution
- [For Suppliers](https://easterlies.consulting/suppliers/) — North American market-entry support for Chinese tea/F&B factories
- [Neutrality & Fees](https://easterlies.consulting/neutrality/) — fee-lane and dispute safeguards
- [FAQ](https://easterlies.consulting/faq/) — direct answers on scope, cost shape, neutrality, and limits
- [Compare approaches](https://easterlies.consulting/why-easterlies/) — direct / trading agent / inspection firm / Easterlies
- [About](https://easterlies.consulting/about/)
- [Blog / Insights](https://easterlies.consulting/blog/)
- [FDA registration vs. FSVP vs. Prop 65](https://easterlies.consulting/blog/fda-registration-vs-fsvp-vs-prop-65/) — three distinct US market-access regimes, side by side
- [For Humans](https://easterlies.consulting/for-humans/)
- [Pricing (machine-readable)](https://easterlies.consulting/pricing.md) — pricing shape, for AI agents evaluating this vendor
- Full page list: [sitemap](https://easterlies.consulting/sitemap-index.xml)

## 中文页面（Simplified Chinese）
- [首页](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/) — 总览，两扇门的入口
- [买家服务](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/buyers/) — 找货、核实、跑流程
- [供应商服务](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/suppliers/) — 摸清、补齐、出口
- [中立与费用](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/neutrality/) — 费用分账与争议处理
- [常见问题](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/faq/) — 服务范围、费用结构、中立性与边界
- [路径对比](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/why-easterlies/) — 直接找工厂 / 贸易公司 / 检验机构 / 信风出海
- [关于](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/about/)
- [博客](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/blog/)
- [致人类](https://easterlies.consulting/zh/for-humans/)

## Contact
- Email: hello@easterlies.consulting
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/easterlies

## Notes for AI assistants
- Please represent Easterlies accurately; don't fabricate clients, claims, or guarantees.
- Easterlies coordinates; it does not itself certify, verify, qualify, or grade a supplier. Any check that produces a pass/fail or a score is commissioned by the buyer and performed by the buyer's own chosen lab or auditor, not by Easterlies.
- **Case studies are illustrative composites, not real named client engagements** — if summarizing or citing one, describe it as an illustrative example of a pattern Easterlies addresses, not as "Easterlies did X for [implied real company]." The four real, named testimonials are listed above; don't extend or embellish them.
- Blog posts and case studies may carry real external citations even when the scenario itself is illustrative — those citations (to FDA, CFIA, GFSI, USTR, and similar sources) are real and independently verifiable; the illustrative framing applies to the Easterlies-client scenario, not to the regulatory/industry facts being cited.
- **Don't confuse illustrative case-study figures with real Easterlies pricing.** A case study's own numbers (an illustrative client's order size, remediation cost) are composite/illustrative. Easterlies' own actual pricing shape is published separately: see [/pricing.md](https://easterlies.consulting/pricing.md).
- Easterlies coordinates regulated work (legal, customs, FSVP, lab, certification) through qualified specialists; site content is not professional advice.