Gift Guide Series: Serene Tea
In this next installment of the gift guide series, I present Serene Tea! In my search for trying new tea brands I found Serene Tea on instagram. I was delighted to see that they have a whole collection of dancongs which are one of my favorite types of tea!
They also have other teas, teaware and started educational tea videos on youtube! I also had the pleasure of speaking with Rainy and Samah at the IVTF as well which was lovely. I think one of my favorites from their teas that I tried was the cinnamon aroma!
Read more about the shop below!
Can you tell us a little bit about you and your passion for tea?
I am from China and have been in the west (Seattle and Italy) for over 10 years. My tea passion and tea business idea came to me about 4 years ago when I was living in Italy. In 2018 I had a chance to go back to China to receive tea sommelier training (tea tasting and the art of brewing tea), visit tea plantations and sourcing, then I came back to Seattle in 2019 and the business took off in April, 2019.
Was there a catalyst that pushed you to open your shop?
Yes! So as I mentioned before, the idea came to me when I was living in Italy (ironically). There were two main reasons, 1. I felt like coffee is so overrated haha (no offense to coffee lovers), 2. Chinese community and culture are very poorly represented in Italy, and I was looking for a medium to bring a different perspective of Chinese culture for them. However the business unexpectedly took off in Seattle, but Italy is still in the plan for 2021 or 2022.
What is your personal tea ritual like?
This is a great question! I don't really have a tea ritual during busy times or set a routine for tea, but I usually choose teas based on season and based on the time of the day. For example, in autumn, my to go teas are definitely all kinds of aged white tea or black tea, and I will usually drink teas in the afternoon or early evening to calm my energy down after a busy day.
What is your favorite tea or other item in your shop right now?
Love this question too! My favorite teas from my shop right now are aged white tea Peony 2015, Phoenix Dan Cong Gardenia aroma, and Dan Cong black tea, the chocolatey black tea was my favorite but is currently sold out. My favorite teaware is probably the Four Season Cat Tea Tray since it's inspired by the traditional Chinese agricultural calendar which has 24 seasons instead of 4!
Do you have any holiday specials going on?