Our Sourcing
From a specific mountain. Made by specific people. For a specific reason.
Most tea brands tell you where their tea is “inspired by.”
We tell you who made it, how, and why it matters.
Every tea in the ZORB collection comes from Xinhua County, Hunan Province — one of China’s oldest and most significant dark tea regions, home to Daxiong Mountain and a tea-making tradition that stretches back over a thousand years. We work with three producers. We know their names. We know their stories. And we think you should too.
The Producers
Chen Jianmin
Former Director, Xinhua Tea Factory
Council Member, Hunan Tea Association
Chen Jianmin has spent his entire life making tea in Xinhua. As the former director of the Xinhua Tea Factory and a council member of the Hunan Tea Association, he carries institutional knowledge that cannot be taught in a classroom — only accumulated over decades of practice.
His life’s work includes the restoration of Qujiang Thin Slice dark tea, a compressed black tea with origins dating back over 1,000 years to the Tang Dynasty. This tea was once a tribute tea — made for emperors, not for markets. Chen Jianmin brought it back not as a novelty, but as a living craft.
He produces our GROUNDED — 2018 Fu Brick Dark Tea.
Producer: Hunan Qujiang Thin Slice Tea Co., Ltd.
Certification: EU Organic Certified
Liu Xiupeng
Graduate, College of Tea Science and Tea Culture, Zhejiang A&F University
Multiple Gold Award Winner, China Gongfu Red Tea Competition
Liu Xiupeng trained formally in tea science before returning to Xinhua to do what he does best: make black tea from the wild ancient shrubs of Daxiong Mountain.
His Daxiong Mountain Ancient Tree Black Tea and Century Old Bush Tea have won gold multiple times at China’s Gongfu Red Tea Competition — one of the most rigorous evaluations of craft red tea in the country. These are not marketing awards. They are blind tastings judged by people who have spent their lives knowing exactly what good tea tastes like.
He produces our AWAKEN — Wild Ancient Tree Black Tea.
Producer: Hunan Xiangxiong Tea Co., Ltd.
Li Sheng
MBA, New Zealand
Researcher, Traditional Food-Medicine Synergy
Li Sheng’s path is the least expected of the three — and perhaps the most telling.
He earned his MBA in New Zealand and spent over a decade working abroad before choosing to return to his hometown of Xinhua. Not to scale something. Not to disrupt something. To learn what his family already knew.
His focus is the intersection of ancient botanical knowledge and traditional processing — specifically the nine-steam, nine-dry method applied to wild Polygonatum root (Huangjing) harvested from Daxiong Mountain. Each batch is steamed and sun-dried nine times by hand, a process that transforms the root from bitter to naturally sweet over days of patient work. He also produces ancient tree black tea from the same mountain.
He produces our RESTORE — Nine-Steamed Polygonatum Root Tea.
Producer: Hunan Xiongfeng Ecological Agricultural Products Development Co., Ltd.
The Mountain
All three producers work within the same ecosystem: Daxiong Mountain, rising above 1,000 meters in Xinhua County.
The tea shrubs that grow here are low to the ground, shaped by altitude and persistent mist. Their branches are covered in moss — not a flaw, but a marker. Moss grows only where the environment is stable, undisturbed, and clean over long periods of time. It is visible proof of a place that has not been rushed.
The soil is mineral-rich. The air is humid. The growing season is slow. These conditions cannot be replicated at lower altitude or in a controlled environment. They are the mountain’s contribution to every cup.
Our Commitment
We do not blend teas from multiple origins. We do not add flavoring, coloring, or preservatives. We do not make health claims we cannot verify.
GROUNDED (ZT-002) holds EU Organic Certification through its producer, Hunan Qujiang Thin Slice Tea Co., Ltd. AWAKEN (ZT-001) and RESTORE (ZT-003) are made from wild-harvested natural ingredients — no cultivation, no synthetic intervention, no shortcuts. Processed entirely through traditional methods passed down through generations.
Every tin includes a lot number traceable to its harvest batch and producer.
We chose Xinhua because it is where the best tea we have ever tasted comes from.
We chose these three producers because they are the people who made it.