Seven Cups Presents to China International Tea Culture Institute

Austin speaking at 2008’s International Tea Culture Seminar

Seven Cups has been honored by the China International Tea Culture Institute for our efforts to source and promote authentic Chinese tea worldwide. Tea experts at the Institute are the thought leaders on tea and tea culture in China, and oversee the development of the tea industry.

On May 30, Austin traveled to Changxing, eastern China to deliver a paper at the Institute’s 10th International Tea Culture Seminar. He was one of three Westerners, and the only American, to address the hundreds of people in attendance.

In his address, Austin urged the Chinese tea industry to go against the grain of the current tea industry. He emphasized the need to focus on high-quality, handcrafted teas, where smaller Chinese farmers have a distinct advantage over large, commodity-driven tea plantations in places like India, Sri Lanka, South America, and Africa. He argued that producing tea as a commodity, where cost is more important than quality, is not sustainable in the long term. Consumers around the world, he said, are evolving in their tastes and demanding better tea, not cheaper tea, as well as more complete information about how that tea is produced.

Austin encouraged the Chinese to turn the established commodity model on its head, and take their place as leaders in the international market by focusing on smaller scale production, quality, and traditional tea- making techniques. Traditional tea-making embodies the values of personal health, community, quality and more sustainable agriculture that resonate with a growing number of consumers.

“Addressing the Tea Culture Institute and becoming perhaps the first American company to publish an article in its journal, ‘Cha Bo Lan,’ is truly an honor for us,” said Austin. “It represents a meeting of Eastern and Western approaches to one of China’s great cultural treasures, and demonstrates our shared desire to promote authentic Chinese tea and tea culture around the world.”

Austin’s address at the 10th International Tea Culture Seminar in Changxing is the latest in a string of news for Seven Cups’ Chinese operations. In March, we became one of very few, if not the first, wholly-owned American tea companies to secure a Chinese trading license, putting us in complete control of our supply chain and allowing us to ship tea directly to our customers without having to go through middlemen.

And this summer, we will use our sourcing relationships to supply Tribute Tea to the Lu Yu Tea Museum in Changxing. Still under construction, the Museum will be a replica of a tea factory from 8th Century China. Covering an area larger than two football fields, the Museum will be a true monument to tea culture in the place where Lu Yu wrote the first book about tea, the Cha Jing.

-Mikel