About
About the Owner
Zi Chun Teas is owned and managed by well-known tea connoisseur and international tea trader Peter Wescombe – an Australian born entrepreneur who lived in Asia for over 25 years. A lot of this time was spent understanding and enjoying the Chinese tea culture in Taiwan and China and other Asian countries. Peter had the privilege of learning from several highly regarded Chinese tea masters and tea connoisseurs and, as a result has developed a rich understanding, appreciation and depth of experience with high quality, authentic teas and herbals which has now become the hallmark of Zi Chun Teas.
Peter presently lives in the Tasmania, Australia and, when he is not travelling, he enjoys a beautiful rural lifestyle at home with his wife, as well as spending time with his 4 daughters and grandchildren living in Sydney, most of whom know how to brew up and enjoy a good cup of tea.
Why Zi Chun and the Logo
After deciding to start a tea business, one of his tea master friends came up with a good Chinese name for a tea brand. Her suggestion of Zi Chun evoked many positive reactions from other Chinese tea connoisseurs with comments like “…a very elegant and classy name for a tea company” “…a name suited to a fine wine or cognac or gourmet food business" So the name stuck and has since become our famous Zi Chun Teas brand.
The 2 Chinese characters literally mean:
滋 Zi = vibrant, nourishing - referring to a taste, flavor or a feeling
醇 Chun = rich, pure, full bodied, genuine, pristine – sometimes used to describe a fine gourmet wine or cognac
The logo was designed by a famous Taiwanese calligraphy artist. If you look closely you will see it is a calligraphic style, creation of the 2 Chinese characters with a little outline of a tea leaf added on the top of the black character. Although we realize it may not have much significance in Western countries - except that it is quite original and novel, we are always happy to see how much Chinese people and calligraphy artists rave about how cool the logo is.
Our Mission
We love tea. We believe tea is nature’s gift for everyone to enjoy. In the midst of our busy lives it feels good to "savor the moment" and enjoy a touch of the calm and peace and pleasantness that tea brings. There is health and wellness and a vibrant quality of life to be lived. There are fascinating tastes and flavors to savor. There are exciting new conversations and enriching social encounters yet to be experienced. Bringing a little of this to your life and to the lives of those around you, through our wonderful teas, is our mission.
How our Teas are Sourced
We are privileged to have a dedicated “on the ground” team in each of the 5 countries where we source our teas. They each own tea gardens and harvest and process most of their teas. In addition to this we collaborate with other local tea farmers in the region to supply us with a full range of teas. Almost all the tea farmers we work with are small family owned and operated tea gardens and have been supplying us hand-harvested, authentic teas for years. They all operate under wholesome ethical standards and morals and practice fair trade conditions. Most of the tea gardens are organic - using only natural fertilizers and organic pesticides. Some have organic certification, while others have opted to not go to the trouble and expense of getting certified.
We can provide full transparency and traceability for our teas including names of tea gardens, locations, elevation and types of tea plants used for our single estate teas.
Our teas are air freighted in small batches direct from each of the 5 countries and as a result, we always have the latest, freshest harvests of our teas available. Compared to conventional tea companies our “leaf to cup” time is minimal.