Expectations of Product Management

• Adding a New Product (The Full Pipeline)
• Product Identity Verification

Adding a New Product (The Full Pipeline)

Adding a New Product (The Full Pipeline)

Every new product the Tavern sells travels the same road, in this order. No images anywhere in this process — the Tavern Keeper adds those afterwards, by hand.

The Order of Operations

1. BookStack wiki page — the write-up (this becomes the website copy)
2. SKU assignment + Baserow row — the pricing and inventory record
3. WooCommerce product on tea-tavern.com — the storefront entry
4. Marketing handoff — the product's task in Plane gets the wiki link

Step 1 — BookStack Wiki Page

Product pages live in their category books: Oolong (4), Chinese Red / American Black (5), White (6), Yellow (7), Pu-erh & HeiCha (8), Green (9), Herbals / Tisane (11), Water (20), Combination-Products (21), Tea Hardware and Accessories (16, chapter "Tea Accessories" for teaware).

The write-up template: Overview paragraph, Key Features bullets (include capacity/size), Material, Functionality, How to Use (always defer to the manufacturer's instructions for setup/care), Why You'll Love It. The website description mirrors this copy one-to-one, so write it once here.

SKU-above-divider rule: the page opens with the SKU line, then a horizontal rule, then the write-up. Everything below the divider is what gets pasted into WordPress; the SKU stays out of the storefront copy. Pages selling several sizes list all SKUs on one line (e.g. T-00017-10 (10g) / T-00017-30 (30g) / ...).

Step 2 — SKU + Baserow Row

The SKU format spec lives in the Fulfillment book ("SKUs (Stock Keeping Units)"); the registry itself lives in Baserow, namespace "Tavern Finances", database "pricing", table Product Pricing — the single source of truth for product data (see "Product Info Storage" in Fulfillment).

Conventions that keep the books honest:

• Accessories pretend to be 1 gram. Baserow's base unit is grams; non-gram products book "Purchase quantity in grams" as the unit count (24 brewers = 24) and "Grams in Product" = 1. Those columns hold unit counts, never physical weights.
• "Price per Unit" holds the batch total for the purchase, delivery included. The formulas derive landed unit cost, Price of Product, and margins from it.
• Link "Non-tea Costs" to "None" (the standard packaging allowance) unless the product genuinely needs something else.
• Link "Base Marketing" to the standard set (ship-away photos, return shipping, photo costs, product description, website, stickers) plus the matching receive row: Receive Chinese product (9), Receive UK product (10, e.g. Mei Leaf), Receive American product (6), Receive Indian product (11).
• Read the row back after writing it. A saved row shows its computed cost, margin, and earnings — confirm they landed before moving on.

Step 3 — WooCommerce Product

Created in wp-admin (Products → Add New) or via the store's REST API:

• SKU — the same one Baserow holds
• Regular price — the Customer Price from Baserow
• Categories — teas go in their tea category; teaware goes in Tea Accessories + Teaware
• Inventory — manage stock on, quantity = the purchase quantity
• Short description — left empty (store convention)
• Long description — the wiki copy from below the divider, as HTML
• Images — none; added later by the Tavern Keeper

Step 4 — Marketing Handoff

Paste the BookStack page link into the product's task in the Marketing project on Plane. That closes the loop.

A Note on Automation

Much of this pipeline is automated by the Tavern's assistant (wiki page, Baserow row, and WooCommerce product can all be done in one pass; see also the newsletter pipeline documented in Marketing). Whatever tool does the work, the conventions on this page are the contract — if a step can't follow them, stop and ask the Tavern Keeper.

Product Identity Verification

Product Identity Verification

Before a product is created, renamed, or listed anywhere, its identity is verified against supplier correspondence — the actual order and invoice emails — not against listing names, older pages, or memory.

Why This Is Policy

The Da Dian Hao bing (2026): the wiki and the storefront both called it "2010 Da Dian Hao Yiwu '302 Collection' Sheng Pu-erh". The supplier thread in supplies@ (INBOX.Suppliers.TeaCurious, "Okay, back to wholesaling...!") told the real story: the order read "4 bings of 2011 Mangfei", the quote was "4 bings Mangfei = $85 / ea = $340", and the PayPal invoice was confirmed against it. The tea was the 2011 Da Dian Hao Mangfei "5 Year Anniversary" Old Tree bing all along — the "Yiwu" name leaked in because the same supplier also stocks a Da Dian Hao Yiwu offering, and sibling names travel well.

The identification flipped twice before the invoice settled it. Invoices don't flip.

The Rule

1. Order emails and invoices are ground truth for what a product is and what it cost. For supplier mail, check supplies@ first — vendors have their own folders under INBOX.Suppliers.<Vendor>.
2. Price anchors verify identity. A row's recorded batch price should match the invoiced price to the dollar (the Mangfei row's $85.00 matched "each 357g bing is $85" exactly). If it doesn't, stop and reconcile.
3. When two names disagree (wiki vs storefront vs registry), find the correspondence before picking a winner. Rename nothing on guesswork.
4. Sibling product names leak. Vendors carry product lines (Da Dian Hao makes Mangfei and Yiwu bings); a name from the same line is not the same tea.

Geography Notes Worth Keeping

• Yiwu (易武) is the famous pu'erh mountain region in Mengla, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan.
• Mangfei (忙肺) is a village in Yongde County, Lincang Prefecture, Yunnan — a different region entirely. Da Dian Hao presses bings from both.
• Yiwu Qiaomu refers to old-arbor (qiaomu) trees of Yiwu — as in the Tavern's 2001 "Qiao Keli" brick (T-00023).

When in doubt, ask the supplier and save the answer. The thread is the documentation.