When Joanna first brushed her fingertips against the dewy tea buds in her grandfather’s tea garden in Wuyi Mountain, Fujian Province, she had no idea that this ancient plant—with roots dating back to the Tang Dynasty—would become a lifelong passion, let alone a bridge connecting China’s millennia-old tea culture to tea lovers across Europe and America.
It was the spring of 2008, and Joanna had just returned from studying in the UK. Back then, she was used to the rich lattes in London’s cafes, but it was a cup of Wuyi Rock Tea at her grandfather’s tea table that completely reshaped her understanding of “tea.” Her grandfather took a purple clay teapot—passed down through three generations—and slowly warmed the cup, added tea leaves, and poured boiling water. As the water steeped, the aroma of tea wafted up like mist, carrying the mellow richness of rocks and the freshness of mountain forests. “This tea is grown by the rules of our ancestors,” her grandfather said. Those words, paired with the sweet aftertaste of the tea, etched themselves into Joanna’s heart.
Her grandfather told her that this tea garden had been documented as early as the Song Dynasty. Even then, tea farmers in Wuyi Mountain understood the principle of “following the seasons and adapting to the land”: no chemical fertilizers, only nourishing the soil with fallen leaves from the mountains; no pesticides, relying on natural predators and manual weeding; even the harvesting adhered to the age-old rule of “one bud with two leaves,” taking only the tenderest, most nutrient-rich parts of the tea plant. This wisdom of growing in harmony with nature felt particularly precious in the fast-paced modern world. Yet at the time, her grandfather’s garden was facing a crisis: many nearby tea gardens, chasing higher yields, were overusing chemicals. This not only stripped the tea of its authentic flavor but also damaged the mountain ecosystem. Looking into her grandfather’s helpless eyes, Joanna suddenly had an idea: she wanted to bring truly good Chinese tea to a wider world, to let more people know that Chinese tea carries not just the weight of a thousand years of history, but also trustworthy purity.
To make this vision a reality, Joanna spent five years traveling across China’s four major tea-producing regions: from Lion Peak Mountain in Longjing Village, Hangzhou, to the ancient tea tree groves of Pu’er in Yunnan; from the Maofeng tea-producing areas of Huangshan in Anhui, to the millennium-old tea gardens of Mengding Mountain in Sichuan. Everywhere she went, she learned traditional techniques from veteran tea farmers. In Longjing Village, she mastered the ten-step stir-frying method for Longjing tea—dou (shaking), da (spreading), na (pressing), tuo (stretching), shuai (shaking off), kou (pinching), ting (holding straight), zhua (grabbing), ya (pressing down), mo (grinding)—all to lock in the tea’s fresh aroma. In the Pu’er region, she stayed by ancient tea trees, observing how farmers protected the roots during the rainy season, ensuring every leaf retained the vitality of high-mountain mist. At the same time, Joanna knew that to win the trust of European and American consumers, she needed to prove the tea’s purity with scientific standards. So she led the effort to obtain EU Organic Certification and USDA Organic Certification for the tea gardens. This meant every step—from soil to finished product—underwent strict testing: soil heavy metal levels had to be below international standards, no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides were allowed during cultivation, and no artificial flavors or colors were added during processing.
In 2015, the Prctea brand was officially launched, along with its first website, prctea.com. Joanna set the brand’s philosophy as “Upholding Ancient Craftsmanship, Guarding Purity”: every type of tea comes from cooperative organic-certified gardens; every tea set revives traditional Chinese craftsmanship. Take, for example, the best-selling “Celadon Gaiwan” (lidded cup)—inspired by the Ru Kiln of the Song Dynasty, it is hand-thrown and glazed by master craftsmen in Jingdezhen, creating a soft hue described in ancient Chinese as “the blue of a sky clearing after rain.” This allows Western tea lovers to experience the “harmony between man and nature” essence of Chinese tea ceremony as they brew.
Once, a customer from Germany emailed Joanna, saying that after drinking Prctea’s Biluochun tea, he was reminded of the fresh grass scent in his grandfather’s garden as a child. “I’ve bought many ‘Chinese teas’ before, but never one with this kind of ‘liveliness,’” he wrote. His words strengthened Joanna’s resolve. She knew she was passing on more than just a cup of tea—she was sharing a culture: the natural philosophy from Lu Yu’s The Classic of Tea (Tang Dynasty) that “tea grows where mountains and waters meet”; the elegant lifestyle of Song Dynasty scholars who “brewed tea and discussed philosophy”; and the dedication and perseverance passed down through generations of Chinese tea farmers.
Today, Prctea’s teas have found their way onto thousands of tea tables in European and American homes. From afternoon tea in London to morning wake-ups in New York, from study nooks in Paris to weekend gatherings in Berlin, more and more people are discovering the true value of Chinese tea through Prctea: it is not just a beverage, but a cultural symbol shaped by a thousand years of history, a crystallization of wisdom from living in harmony with nature, and a trustworthy source of pure enjoyment.
Joanna still returns to her grandfather’s tea garden regularly. Every spring, she picks the first batch of spring tea with her own hands—just like she did all those years ago. She knows that Prctea’s story will always begin with those dewy buds, and with that pure love for Chinese tea.