About

The story of how Teance Fine Tea came to be.

The Teance Story

 

Teance began nearly two decades ago as a passion project amongst friends in Berkeley, California, with the goal of providing a context for our customers to experience the finest teas in the world. We wanted to create a space to bridge the gap between the ancient and long-refined tea culture of the East and the tastes of the West, through traditional tea service, education, and storytelling.    

We celebrate the time-honored craftsmanship of the artisanal tea farmers of China, Taiwan, India, and Japan. We have traveled to the finest tea growing regions of Asia to visit family-owned farms to select our handcrafted teas. Each tea in our collection is carefully curated for its complexity, exceptional taste, and spirit. We do this because we are committed to helping sustain these traditional communities and to sharing the treasures of the tea arts with you. And we truly believe that tea can change your life.

 

The Teance Commitment

 

Here at Teance, we source all of our tea from independent farms in remote mountain regions of China, Japan, and Taiwan. Our founder, Winnie Yu, had spent over two decades seeking out the best craftspeople in the tea industry. The cultural norms in their home countries dictate that these relationships cannot simply be bought or demanded, but must be earned. We buy our tea from artisans who have spent their lives perfecting their craft and who have deemed our buyer worthy of appreciating their art. 

Because we source all our teas – rare, high quality, handcrafted - from some of the most highly respected producers in their regions, we strive to pay fair prices for their products. It is our goal to always create sustainable relationships with our producers and ensure that they can continue to honor the traditions of their families through tea. Many of our teas are commissioned exclusively to ensure that the techniques used to make them are not lost with the passing of time. When you savor a cup of tea from Teance, you can be sure that your enjoyment was passed along to the producer with the utmost respect for their work.