About Mingtea
OUR LOVE FOR TEA BEGAN LONG BEFORE MINGTEA
For Shaojie, tea had been part of daily life in China since childhood. There was almost always tea on the table at home, but it is especially the tea moments with her grandfather that have stayed with her.
Her grandfather loved Chinese culture, opera and calligraphy and was happy to share those interests with her. Shaojie still remembers his old teacup, which she was often allowed to drink from as a child. It almost always contained green tea with jasmine.
Perhaps it is no coincidence, then, that jasmine tea remains her favorite tea to this day. Not only because of its floral aroma and flavor, but also because of the memories associated with it.
Tea was simply part of family life, too. When Shaojie drank from her father's cup, he would often tell her to leave a little tea behind because the next infusion would taste better as a result. A small habit she has kept to this day.
TWO DIFFERENT PATHS TO THE SAME PASSION
For Patrice, the story began quite differently. He was a coffee drinker and thought tea was mostly... rather bland.
That changed when he saw Shaojie drinking different kinds of tea every day. The leaves, aromas, flavors, and various preparation methods made him curious. He began tasting along, reading about tea, and discovering more and more varieties.
It gradually became clear that tea could be much more than the tea he knew from the supermarket. Green tea, white tea, oolong, black tea, Pu-Erh... every origin and processing method brought different aromas and flavors.
What had been second nature to Shaojie since childhood became a whole new world for Patrice to discover.
From that shared interest and passion, Mingtea was born in 2013.
A new piece of China every year
Every summer, we return to China. Our home base is Tianjin, where Shaojie's family lives. But China is vast, so every year we also try to discover a new city or region.
And wherever we travel, we naturally discover the local tea too.
In 2025, for example, we travelled to Xi'an, where we were introduced to Fu Cha. We enjoyed the tea so much that we continued researching its origins, producers and possibilities for adding it to our range while we were there.
In 2026, our journey took us to Chengdu. In the famous People's Park, we once again saw how naturally tea is part of everyday life in China. Families and friends spend hours there together, enjoying tea and small snacks.
We too spent several afternoons there tasting local jasmine tea and other teas that were new to us.
That is how part of our range grows: by continuing to discover, taste and stay curious ourselves.
How do we select our tea?
For most of our range, we have been working with the same suppliers for many years. Finding good suppliers is not necessarily difficult because there is a lack of choice, but because the quality must be consistently good.
When a supplier has an interesting new tea, we often ask them to include several samples. Sometimes we receive multiple quality grades of the same tea, allowing us to compare them side by side.
Among other things, we look at the quality and uniformity of the leaves, size, aroma and origin. The production area and, where relevant, the altitude at which the tea grows also play a role.
And ultimately, of course, comes the most important test: tasting.
Only when the overall picture convinces us does a tea become eligible for inclusion in the Mingtea range. We are not necessarily looking for the most expensive tea, but for a quality that we believe offers a good balance between flavour, quality and price.
Tea is meant to be discovered
You don’t have to be a tea expert to appreciate good tea. Patrice once thought that tea had very little flavor.
That’s why at Mingtea, we want not only to offer exceptional teas, but also to give people the opportunity to discover different flavors, origins, and tea traditions.
From an approachable green tea to a special Chinese oolong or Pu-Erh: every cup can have a completely different story behind it.
Welcome to Mingtea.
