Tea is nought but this: first you heat the water, then you make the tea. Then you drink it properly. That is all you need to know. -Rikyu
Tea was just always there, and always shared.
Everywhere we've lived, explored, and traveled tea has simply always been around and available in abundance.
In Asia, because of my wife's family name and her extensive 'common-sense' wisdom around tea, it was nothing to buy directly from well-known tea masters.
Upon arrival back to the states after many years abroad, we found such a privilege less common. So we started leveraging our own connections in order to continue enjoying tea at the level that we'd grown accustomed to.
Besides Taiwanese teas being in a class of their own, we found that Master Fang's character was as pure as the teas he sold us.
And so, we offer him to you, to share in the convenience of buying from a true tea master, and to enjoy a cup in the spirit of coming together.
Tea as a Heritage
Back in China at mom and dad’s house, tea is as common as the indoor slippers we’re required to wear. There is never a time throughout the the day that tea is not readily available.
Residing on an overly-used tea tray is a bottomless tea pot that occupies the coffee table in the living room forever loaded with leaf. Alongside it, a 3.2L thermos with a cork plug that's filled with near-boiling water.
Dad has his own tea setup next to his computer in the office as he enjoys his tea stronger than most.
In this family, tea is not a hobby, or a ceremony, or a health-related decision. It is all of these and more; it is simply a way of life.
Through sheer volume of tea consumed daily over a 60+ year span, mom and dad are essentially tea experts by default. Mom’s favorite tea? Liu Bao was her answer without hesitation. Her strong ties to tradition and Chinese medicine showing through.
Our tea offering to you is both in honor of our love for them, and in reverence of the rich heritage they so willingly passed on to us.
We hope that it encourages others to make tea drinking a way of life, to be enjoyed with or without occasion and to leverage indirectly the many benefits steaming from the leaf - not as a means to an end, but rather as a happy consequence for indulging in one of nature’s greatest gifts.
And so, Here We Are
Hoping to share a more refined aspect of Asian culture directly influenced by the tea tradition.
A heritage of an honored family history - an ancestry that includes the creation of teaism as it is enjoyed today.
And a legacy of craftsmanship that shimmers in every cup, sculpting an artistic expression of refined complexity, and creating a pure confidence of centered calmness.
Yep, tea tends to have that effect ;)