It has been more than a year since our launch, 1.5 years if you count our soft launch. This post also marks post number 301, not an insignificant number if I say so myself.
For those who have been around since our launch- thank you very much- or at least the infancy stages, you might have noticed we have changed our approach.
Initially, our motto was “Celebrating the Contemporary Art of Tea”.
This business was first birthed to answer a nagging question we always had- “Why aren’t more people in love with Chinese tea?”
We were suitably besotted with Chinese tea: the eclectic range of taste profiles, the relaxation it afforded and how an epicurean delight need not be harmful to us (quite the opposite in fact).
Yet why wasn’t it taking the world by storm?
In the beginning
Our initial belief was that it simply needed a bit of marketing, repacking of sorts. Chinese tea- like much of Chinese culture- is heavily steeped in tradition. Some of which may sound archaic to our contemporary sensibilities.
For instance, I never did get why so many traditional tea houses insist on their staff wearing traditional cheongsams or mandarin getups. It is fine in Beijing but in humid Singapore where perspiration patches are readily ostensible on silk, it doesn’t make sense.
Hence we started with the mantra:
“Celebrating the contemporary art of tea”
We wanted to keep things simple with a modern feel. Our website had a rather contemporary feel and we even eschewed the “Chinese” in tea.
“You sell Chinese teas?”
“Yes, we sell teas from China and Taiwan.”
Overtime though, we embraced our identity- if nothing else because of common perception.
Tea- at least in this part of the world- can mean anything from iced tea to bizarrely uniquely flavored teas (cheesecake anyone?).
We are not about that, not that there is anything wrong with it, but we just prefer otherwise.
Focus
In fact, if truth be told, our focus is going to be more specific than Chinese and Taiwanese teas.
Our Chinese friends often ask us “what tea do you sell?” When we answer, they are somewhat taken aback, finding our range too broad.
We often explain that our market is smaller, while we would like to sell just oolong tea, for example, the market is not big enough for us to do so, unlike China.’
Studying about the unique characteristics of particular types of cultivars in Wuyishan is massive, how can we hope to give Sichuan its due.
While we acknowledge that it is not commercially viable just to be purveyors of Tieguanyin for example, we will focus primarily first on oolong tea, then on green tea.
We will continue to offer our range of other teas since they do serve certain purposes and we have found reliable sources.
But an expansion of our range is first going to be for oolong and green teas. It is pretty massive as it is.
Take for example- Tieguanyin.
A Xiping one and a Xianghua one have their unique characteristics, as does the firing and the production technique.
Not to mention at the back of our mind we are thinking “is this made from a genuine Tieguanyin cultivar or is it Benshan”?
Things like that require focus.
Lately we did a couple of tea tastings- one repeated response we had that I felt particularly heartwarming was this “I never knew Tieguanyin could taste this good!”
And this is coming from Singapore, one of Tieguanyin’s traditional main markets.
Some vendors like to bring new varieties on board- we like to search for authentic, quality versions of famous ones that deserve their name.
And we start with oolongs first, green tea next.
Back to Basics
We felt there is no point reinventing the wheel, there is so much wisdom in traditional methods. That is not to say we accept it wholesale- certainly there is much in there that is more dogma and fluff than pragmatism- but before we are so quick to assume the old fogeys don’t know what they are doing, let us study it closer.
It may surprise many that in China there are more than 50 tea research institutions, ready to teach tea farmers and producers scientific ways to improve their crops.
Innovation is welcome but let’s not be so quick to dismiss tradition.
Going Forward
To better encapsulate our focus, we are now working on changing our website and collateral. Naturally with our limited budget we will not waste existing material such as printed labels and packages but the difference will eventually be evident.
As will our new mantra:
“Demystifying Chinese Tea”
Taking out the dogma and fluff but bringing the values and essence of traditional Chinese tea wisdom to a new generation.
Join us on our journey together.