About us

What we offer

At Elysium Tea, we pride ourselves on offering the epitome of tea excellence sourced directly from tea masters and families, meticulously selected from native origins. Our commitment to quality is unwavering; we never settle for anything less than exceptional, ensuring that each tea we offer surpasses our exacting standards. Unlike mass-market suppliers, we eschew the temptation to stock up on famous teas opting instead for a curated collection that represents the pinnacle of tea craftsmanship.

Central to our mission is the cultivation of meaningful relationships with revered tea masters, whose expertise and dedication are infused into every leaf. With each sip, our customers are transported to the lush landscapes and rich heritage of the regions where our teas are lovingly cultivated. The families and artisans behind our teas share a profound connection to their land, a bond that is palpable in every nuanced flavor and aroma.

At Elysium Tea, only the finest teas earn a place in our collection, representing the pinnacle of excellence in every cup. Discover the best of the best as you embark on a journey of unparalleled taste and tradition with us.

About Me

My parents bought me my first decent tea, it was a sencha, also a Kyusu and a cup, a perfect little setup. I still have those items today, kept as a memory. Now I know after retasting it that the tea was in reality not the greatest quality. However, this was not about the quality of the tea, it was the first time I concentrated on brewing tea, I gave it my full attention. I have a Persian background so we've always loved drinking black tea, It was always a bitter strong tea, so normally it's drunk with sugar, plain or with saffron. We also eat sweets with the tea to balance the bitterness. Although these are wonderful moments and I still enjoy a cup of CTC (crush tear roll) tea with accompaniments, this is not really about the tea, it’s about sipping on something bitter while eating sweets and conversing with family and friends.

So the little tea setup I was gifted was the catalyst of me starting to put my attention into brewing the tea and observing the tea's taste and aroma. I later realized that this style of brewing is consistent with gongfu cha, (kung fu tea) brewing tea with concentration and skill. I used a variety of sources to learn more about the basics of making tea, where I learned this style, gongfu cha. I was so interested in the calming peaceful serene beauty of the process of making tea, I decided to buy more of this "true tea”. I was so intrigued by the aroma and flavor of the tea, I can still taste it in my mouth to this day. Smelling the aromas of any teas that remind me of those first true teas, brings me back to that time, how my life was like, I even remember what I was doing the exact moment I was drinking the tea, crazy how aromas can bring you back.

Fast forward 3 years later, I became more and more interested in the art of brewing tea. I was quite busy at that time with school, but any time I had went into cultivating my knowledge on gongfu tea, learning of the teas' origins how each tea is made and by tasting and trial and error I slowly learned the perfect brewing parameters for each tea. My tea collection has grown to a ridiculous quantity by this time, my collection grew until I had dozens of kilos in the house. I decided to try to sell much of my tea collection but then I got a better idea, my school was near its end, so I decided to go on a month-long expedition to China. The visa took many attempts to get but when I received it I was finally on my way to the far east, I was extremely excited, but what I found there far surpassed my expectations.

I went to the villages in which my favorite teas are produced. The first place I went to was Suzhou. I wanted to get my hands on some good biluochun so from Suzhou, I took a cab to Dongshan where my hotel was, a beautiful village with the friendliest most generous people I've ever met in my life. Dongshan literally means east mountain, where biluochun is native to. I walked up the mountains, I didn't exactly know what I was looking for but I thought that I should see the tea plants. For the first time in my life, the magical plant that I've become so obsessed with was within my sight, I immediately picked off the bud and one leaf of the plant and ate it, it was bitter, not much of a surprise, but beside these tea plants was a house, on the house was the character 茶 (tea) so I knocked on the door, they welcomed me with a warm smile.

I asked them if they have their own tea land to which they replied "of course we do”. I asked them if I could try their biluochun, to which they happily invited me in, poured me a glass of boiling water and topped it with the tea. They also brought me Ginko nuts from their trees and had their youngest daughter translate for me from Suzhouhua to Putonghua, as many of the elders in the village didn't speak Mandarin. This wasn't much help though as my Chinese is not great, but I was able to understand and communicate with them. A little while after they said they were gonna go eat, they invited me to join them.

I went in their only car, everyone else used motorcycles, down the mountain to an incredible restaurant serving traditional Suzhou food for 200 years. When we got there the food was already on the table, everything was delicious. We ended up saying goodbye then and there. I took a rest in my hotel then went back up the mountain where I had similar experiences, but the reason I came was to find the best biluochun, so I kept knocking on doors and drinking teas until I got really sick from drinking too much biluochun.

At my last day there, I had identified three locations for being the best of all, one had a strange tasting biluochun, the taste was too fresh and too bitter but I thought it is a tea that many would like back home so I purchased one jun (500g). The other place had a great biluochun, sweet and dewy, this person drove me up to the mountains where his tea was at the very top. I picked off a bud and a leaf, and his tea tasted sweeter and more complex than the other tea plant I tasted. Also, from there was a perfect view of Taihu Lake, the water source for the biluochun plants.

The third place was the best of all, it was a tea master so well known that just because he rolls the tea or fries it, the tea becomes double the price. A humble man, we compared the three teas together in the method that professional tasters use to compare teas. The three teas were put in separate vessels where boiling water was poured on them, steeped for three minutes, then poured out and tasted with a spoon. The taste, color, aroma, sweetness, bitterness, astringency, color of tea leaves after infusion, and their aroma all had to be analyzed to decide the best tea. What was incredible was that both his tea and that of the man who drove me up the mountains had no astringency after an infusion of three minutes at 100-degree water. It was close, but at the end, we decided that his tea was the best. The tea leaves were less broken, more consistent, and the aroma was slightly more intriguing. To me, it had a slight watermelon freshness which I loved. I learned a lot from this man. I bought some of his tea, double the price of any other teas I found but well worth it. He also offered me some of his red tea (biluohongcha) which I loved. He also gave me the WeChat of another tea master in Hangzhou, which I later realized was a huge asset.

Upon arrival in Hangzhou, I realized the sad truth about this city. There was so much deceit, in every corner, there is someone selling "xihu longjing”. They draw people into their store who spend ridiculous amounts of money on what they believe is xihu longjing. I was an easy target because I was a foreigner, so I was pulled into stores left and right. But unlike the others, I had an asset, the tea master in Hangzhou. I could evade all these lies, I wasn't compelled to taste all the longjing in the city to pick out the reals from the fakes. I took a cab to manjuelong village, one of the 5 recognized villages for producing the highest quality xihu longjing where I met him, an incredible man, always a smile on his face and appears to be high at all times on his own wonderful tea. He had me taste all the tea he produces from least to most expensive, five teas in total, all incredible. He brews the tea with boiling water which surprised me. I asked why, and he said "this brings out the full aroma of the tea." The tea is so good that it doesn't get astringent with boiling water. I learned at this time that real xihu longjing has a certain aroma to it, also should have no astringency. Furthermore the soup should be light and sweet and refreshing. I asked the master at the end the price of his tea, and he gave me a number I couldn't have ever imagined. I asked why so expensive, and he said "Because the cost of bringing farmers from Anhui province and residing them here for a month is high." The masters have to provide housing on top of paying a wage; all these factors along with just the recognition of the longjing being from xihu skyrocket the price.

The man was so generous he gifted me some of my favorites that he had me taste.

After this experience I went to a famous market area of Hangzhou where as walking down the streets half the stalls were selling "xihu longjing”. However, upon tasting, I recognized none of them as being legitimate. I decided to leave the street and go home, but upon leaving, I decided to go to one more store on the outskirts of the street. A kind man opens the door and welcomes me in. He sat me down and brewed for me a real xihu longjing, which I recognized as real and was interested. Immediately after, he had me taste some yancha, his favorite tea, and I was shocked by the aroma of what was the 12th infusions of the tea. This made me really intrigued to his store. He sat me down at a larger tea table and had me taste his xihu longjing, he showed me a book of the masters he purchases them from. I recognized one of them as the friend of the tea master I met before.

This man had me taste three of his longjings, one of them was from a harvest two years back but tasted incredibly sweet with a fruity aroma that lasted through many infusions. Another had the aroma of pears and butter, while the third was simply elegant and sweet. The man taught me many things; we talked in his store for hours, with him offering me more and more cups of tea, even some more yanchas. Before I left, he generously gifted me 100g of his last 2022 Xihu Longjing from Manjuelong, along with much of his good yanchas.

The next day, I decided to head up the mountains to see the tea plants and visit Longjing Village. The journey was more exhausting than Dongshan, with higher, larger, and steeper mountains. Nonetheless, I managed to reach one of the peaks of the mountain range, where I encountered some hikers. They were appreciating the view of xihu lake hidden in the mists and longjing village covered by silky clouds. They directed me to "shifu" (master) who pointed me in the right direction. As I descended, I saw tea plants and flowers everywhere, tasting sweeter and more aromatic higher up the mountains. Finally, I arrived at the entrance of Longjing Village. I expected to find genuine Xihu Longjing with ease here, but that couldn't have been further from the reality.

I asked a man close by where I could find xihu longjing, he brought me to a household a few steps away where a woman told me to come inside, at first thinking I will simply buy her tea, I informed her that I want to taste it before buying, she reluctantly brews me a cup. upon tasting I'm disappointed, it did not display the characteristics of genuine xihu longjing. I continued my search but despite visiting many houses and sampling teas from 30 different families, I couldn't find the real deal. Exhausted, I decided to call a taxi home. While waiting, I noticed another house, a woman was sweeping the floor, getting ready to go to sleep, there was a different vibe about her, I decided to give it a try. I asked her if she had xihu longjing, somehow she seemed more trustworthy from the tone of her voice she said "don't worry this is genuine” and upon smelling the aroma of the warm leaves I knew she was right, she said "we don't call this xihu longjing, it's shifeng longjing”, shifeng being the highest mountain peak in Hangzhou, the most revered area for longjing tea. the taste of her tea was incredible, aromas of fruits filling up the house. I bought 9g of the tea to taste it with the two tea masters I met, both enjoyed it, the one in manjuelong recognised it as shifeng longjing and told me to buy as much as I can carry, so I did.

Next I went to Shaoxing, originally going there for the famous Shaoxing Jiu (wine), I was shocked by the discovery of numerous tea shops in the old streets. I looked through the window of one of them, there I saw a woman whose character led me to believe her shop was one worth visiting.

She showed me her tea collection, including some that she made herself from her tea land in Xinchang, Upon tasting her teas I knew immediately that her tea land is good, healthy soil and deeply rooted tea plants. The aroma of her teas linger in the mouth, the connection to the land is evident. I purchased 200g of her Anji Baicha and Huang Ya. She also gifted me 100g of her Longjing Hongcha. Unfortunately, I fell ill shortly after and had to cut my trip short, returning to Shanghai then back home with a considerable batch of tea and newfound knowledge.