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Always Top Terroir
All of our teas are from historic tea mountains and villages across China that were hailed by generations of connoisseurs.
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World Class Artisanship
Tea Drunk teas are commissioned in adherence to the rigorous standards set by a long heritage. From harvest, to process, to distribution, we touch ever piece of the supply chain.
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Hand-Picked and Hand-Made
Every bud and leaf is hand-picked and hand-crafted meticulously by heritage farmers. The teas are made in ultra-small batches in iron woks, on bamboo trays, and with sunlight.
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Heirloom Trees
Heirloom tea trees are born from seeds planted by generations before us. Every single tea tree is different from each other and offer the most complexity. Nature favors diversity.
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Expertise
We have exclusive rights to some of the rarest teas. We uphold the most conservative approaches to ensure authenticity in terroir, cultivar, and processing. We do not offer in-style teas or teas from plantations.
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Natural Budding, No GMO
Our teas are harvested for only 10- to 15 days a year, respecting tea tree's natural growing cycle. Commercial teas are modified to enable unnatural harvesting 9 out of 12 months a year.
We produce the world's most prized teas from China's best terroir.
It is our passion to bring the truly finest teas to the world. Every Spring, we head to the most profound mountains in China to eat, sleep and work alongside the heritage farmers to produce the world's most prized teas. Each tea in our selection is harvested for only 10 to 15 days a year, and every bud and leaf is handpicked and handcrafted meticulously with time perfected artisanship. Each batch cannot be recreated, just as nature cannot be duplicated.
Tea Drunk's unparalleled expertise allows us to commission and source teas that adhere to the rigorous standards set by a long heritage. We aim to introduce the pinnacle of tea to tea lovers, nurturing those interested from their very first cup to lifelong connoisseurs through education and access. We strive to sustain the height of tea that humans have achieved thus far in history. Tea Drunk is a Certified Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise in New York City.
Our teas are all terroir-specific; cultivar-specific; and vintage-specific.
We have exclusive rights to some of the rarest teas and carry teas from all six categories – Green, Yellow, White, Wu Long, Red, and Black – and the sub-categories that include Yan Cha, Dan Cong, and Pu Er.
The Three Pillars
Top terroir, ancient heirloom tea trees, and masterful tea-making by heritage farmers is the trinity of Tea Drunk’s loose-leaf teas.
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Terroir-Specific: Soil + Climate
Tea is a product of location. Since no two places are the same, authentic tea must be grown in the region historically known for producing a specific variety of tea.
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Cultivar-Specific: Plant + Provenance
Indigenous or heirloom varietals are required to produce authentic tea. The age of the tea tree matters a lot.
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Vintage-Specific: Harvesting + Processing
Tea harvesting and processing techniques are the results of centuries of refinement. Authentic tea must be harvested at the appropriate time and handcrafted with utmost care.
Our Name
In Chinese culture, the term "drunk" doesn't have a negative connotation. Instead, it is a romantic expression used to describe one's indulgence in true passion. For example, a poet would describe himself as being drunk by starlight, the gaze of a lover, or the intense beauty of the sun setting over a mountain range.
Tea Drunk walks an untrodden path to preserve a 2000-year old art epic romance between man and nature.
Historic Teas
To uphold the highest tea standard, we currently only commission historically famous and historic teas that meet all three criteria for authenticity: terroir, varietal, and craft. We do not offer "in-style" teas or teas from secondary terroir or plantations. For example, our Shi Feng Long Jing is THE Shi Feng Long Jing, not a tea in Long Jing style. We do not have teas such as An Ji Bai Cha, Moonlight White, or Jin Jun Mei.
Authentic tea is complex. A tea sourced from a historic region does not mean the specific batch is processed traditionally or picked within the desired window or from the desired varietal. Similarly, a tea processed using traditional methods but lacking the correct varietal and terroir does not qualify as authentic tea.
What We Stand For
Unparalleled quality.
Traditional loose leaf Chinese tea holds incredible value on the international market. Buying from Tea Drunk ensures you're supporting the most authentic and sustainable supply chain. These are the grand cru wine equivalents of tea. In-style and mass-produced loose leaf teas may be cheaper, but we offer the best value of tea at the highest caliber. We either commission the entire batch or work alongside our heritage farmers to produce the tea.
Dedication to tradition.
The best tea leaves to buy are those that come from China's top terroir because of the level of artisanship developed over centuries and the very high accountability for holistic farming to preserve this ancient history. Our teas are produced entirely naturally, without pesticides or fertilizers.
Rich, yet accessible, tea education.
We aim to introduce the pinnacle of tea to tea lovers, nurturing those interested from their very first cup to lifelong connoisseurs through education and access. We strive to sustain the height of tea that humans have achieved thus far in history.
Thank you for being part of this mission; we hope you share cups of tea and the knowledge you learn with those that you love.
Our Promise To You
We Promise You Unparalleled Quality and Transparency: Our teas are truly "true origin" teas hailing from mountains with generations of history, harvested from ancient varietals of tea trees, and crafted by heritage farmers in the utmost conservative fashion. We have exclusive rights to rare batches that are the grand cru wine equivalents of tea. These teas have very transparent pricing, dictated mainly by the terroir and fresh-leaf prices each year. We offer some of the best prices in the industry for teas of this caliber as we either commission the entire batch of tea or are the tea's actual producer.
Why Not Organic?: Although our loose leaf teas are not "USDA Certified," they are cared for more naturally than Certified Organic tea's requirements. We work exclusively with heritage tea farmers from the most prestigious top terroir in China. They do not use anything synthetic in their processing because they will negatively affect the environment, the tea itself, and the livelihood of the farm families who live in the region. The use of chemicals is regionally forbidden in these top terroir regions because of the land protections and history. The age of the tea tree plays a valuable part in tea's taste; most of our teas are harvested from tea trees planted by generations before us, before machinery and modern agriculture, in deep mountains among diverse vegetation. Biodiversity, elevation, and harvest time all play a role in sustainability. Long surviving tea trees in China's historic tea mountains prove that we once had a sustainable cultivation method.
Our Tea is Just Tea: The only ingredient in our tea is pure 100% natural loose leaf tea. We do not have any artificial ingredients or additives in our tea. Nor do we blend our tea with herbs, roots, peels, or anything else. The dynamic flavor profile in our teas is through age-perfected crafting utilizing heat and moisture to work with tea's natural enzymes and rich compounds.