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The history dates back well over 4000 years, and many tea farms and tea trees have existed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years in the same mountains. The skills required to grow, harvest, and process tea, are passed down from generation to generation. Many of the farming communities today maintain the same format of existence found hundreds of years ago- extended families working and growing tea together. Often, the eldest village patriarch would also function as the most authoritative master, judging and grading teas, and the next oldest generation of uncles and brothers process the teas as tea masters. The women of the family harvest the teas as they have the best dexterity and ability to scan for the best sized leaves to pick. The children start training around the age of 8, and by the time they are almost 20, they can learn to process and judge teas with the tea masters. These families not only grow tea as their livelihoods, they consider it a matter of pride to continually refine their knowledge, respond to weather and soil conditions, and today, strive to win tea competitions to enhance the prestige of their teas. When the value of their teas are appreciated and sold for their proper prices, every single member of these extended families prosper. Small traditional family farms are the source of our teas, as we do not believe in supporting large corporate owned estates where the tea makers are removed from the profitability of the tea sales, and are merely paid labourers, sometimes underpaid, and often not respected for their crafts.
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