China is recognized as the birthplace of tea in the world, and Yunnan, China is the center of the world’s tea sources.
Growing up in Yunnan, Chashan was a place where I could play when I was a child.
When I was a child, my understanding of tea was that “it costs two cents per catty and can be exchanged for snacks.”
It was my first real understanding of tea. It’s the vacuum packaging of “Tieguanyin” that my dad brought back. Well, it feels very high-end. If you tear it open, you’ll get beaten.
It’s strange that I majored in clinical medicine, but because of my rebellion, I gave up my job in the hospital. And because I didn’t know what industry to choose, I blindly chose the tea major, which I had no interest in.
Learning about tea was boring at first, until I felt the floral, fruity, and woody aroma in the tea soup for the first time…
I started to study why tea leaves have floral aroma, why they are bitter, why they are sweet…
Fortunately, after graduating from the tea major, my first job was as a tea art teacher in a tea house. Because I have always been curious about tea, I became a tea culture training instructor.
I did this job for a year. I think I have the ability to resign and go it alone. As a result, I forgot to leave the company’s platform. I may just be a person who knows a lot about tea. The failure of my first entrepreneurial venture made me realize that I really can’t finish learning tea culture. I started my journey of in-depth study.
Every year during the tea season starting in 2017, I began to travel to various tea birthplaces to study. After the tea season ended, I began to summarize the learning content and use it for more comprehensive tea culture teaching. The more curiosity I have, the more I learn, and the more comprehensive things I teach to students become.
The harder I work, the luckier I get. I have accumulated good work experience. From the beginning, I took courses for primary school students, and later started tea culture courses for teachers in various schools, and even for companies and units…
There is no end to learning. Due to my own experience and work, I began to devote myself to letting more people understand tea and tea culture. Then I opened a tea space of my own, focusing on tea culture training. During this period, I met many like-minded friends. What was even more surprising was that I got the opportunity to teach at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) Tea Art Club. This is a great platform and it also gives me greater confidence in tea.
In order to let everyone learn real tea knowledge in my courses, I studied everywhere and went to the origin of tea. Years of teaching and obsession with tea have allowed me to learn whether it is China’s six major teas or some famous teas. I also saved a lot for my classes. As time passed, some tea-learning classmates started asking me to buy tea on my behalf.
In addition to daily teaching, I spend one-third of my year on tea mountains. Fortunately, there are many tea mountains in China and there are many varieties of tea. My curiosity has been unlimitedly enriched. To understand, to study.
In 2020, many friends told me that the tea market was in chaos and they could not always buy the tea they really wanted. They wanted me to sell the standard tea samples for class to them. I began to try to incorporate tea in the teaching that I thought could represent A standard tea product of a certain type of tea. Share it with everyone.I will introduce its origin and craftsmanship to everyone. If you are interested, I will also take them to the Tea Mountain to learn together.
In 2023, I met a foreign professor in the school. He is from the United States but has great interest in and research on Chinese tea. We often drink tea and discuss together. Black tea, rock tea, green tea, white tea, Pu’er tea… We never give up tasting any kind of tea.
In 2024, we went to Yunnan Tea Mountain to learn about China’s intangible cultural heritage of tea making. His love and persistence for tea made me think deeply.
I want more people to know the charm of tea and the vastness of tea culture, not only in China, but also around the world, even if it’s just for everyone to meet him.
