Spring Tea Tasting with Kocoon Spa To reserve your spot today for this fun and informative tea tasting event at Kocoon Spa, please email kocooninfo@kocoonspalounge.com. __________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Spring Tea Tasting with Kocoon Spa

To reserve your spot today for this fun and informative tea tasting event at Kocoon Spa, please email kocooninfo@kocoonspalounge.com.

__________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to

  • Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware
  • Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China
  • Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique

Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!

Basic Tips for Buying Tea in China Know what you are looking for The most important thing when buying tea is to know as specifically as possible what you are looking for.  If you know what you want, you can keep the seller focused on finding you what you are looking for instead of what they want to sell you (based on what they think foreigners like or whatever they can make the most profit from either because the tea is low quality, overpriced, or a combination of both). Do you want a floral green tea, a lightly sweet white tea, a pu’er tea cake, or a black tea similar to teas drunk in Europe and America? Being as specific as possible will help.  For example, I want a “qimen black tea” is better than “black tea” and of course even better than “normal tea.” (I have heard that before!) Knowing how much you want to spend up front is also helpful.  In most Chinese tea stores, they will have different grades of the same tea. So if you said you were looking for a “qimen black tea”, they can probably show you “qimen black teas” from at least three different price points. Learn to recognize some basics of tea quality You want to look for whole leaves that are as intact and fresh as possible.  Lots of broken pieces, stems, and twigs are a sign of low quality tea.  You also want to smell the batch to see if you detect any “off” smells. In general, you want to find un-scented teas because usually Chinese tea producers reserve the lowest quality teas to scent and mask the low quality.   Also, tea blends are not in China’s tea tradition. Understand how prices work In most Chinese tea shops, teas are stored in canisters with prices on the canisters listed per 500g and you buy tea in quantities of 50g (a liang).  So whatever the price on the canister, just divide by 10 and you have the basic price.  50g is plenty of tea for a gift or for yourself to drink. Teas in the 800-1000RMB/500g range should be really good, which means you should be able to buy some GREAT tea for 80-100 RMB. Know what questions to ask The three most important aspects that distinguish different types of teas from each other are: terroir, cultivar, and processing method.  You should be able to ask the tea seller questions regarding these three aspects and if they can’t answer them, that is a big red flag! Another key question is to ask when a tea was harvested.  Some teas are better in the spring harvest and others during the fall harvest. Knowing when a tea was harvested also tells you about the freshness of a tea.   Except for teas prized for their aged qualities, ideally you would drink a tea within a year of its harvest date. Other illuminating questions are the sellers relationship with the tea producers, suggestions for how to brew the tea, why the seller likes or suggests this tea, and what the difference is among the various grades of the same tea. Find a tea seller you trust In the end, the most important thing for all the elements above is buying from a tea seller you trust.  Obviously, there is no point in asking questions to someone you don’t trust anyways. Tea in China is a vast, deep, and complex subject that can at times be overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be!  A trusted tea seller should be like a great guide navigating you through all the complexities with ease. In China, you have access to some of the world’s best and freshest teas that are prized for their natural flavors.  In Beijing in particular, you have access to most of China’s wide varieties of teas from all over the country and working with a tea seller you trust, you should be able to find whatever tea you are looking for. You can spend a lifetime learning about tea and still just scratch the surface.  In the end, the best way to learn about tea is to drink a lot, explore, try new things and experiment with brewing and what you like.  Finding a tea seller you can partner with and trust is crucial for your exciting journey of tea discovery, taste, and learning! __________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Basic Tips for Buying Tea in China

Know what you are looking for

The most important thing when buying tea is to know as specifically as possible what you are looking for.  If you know what you want, you can keep the seller focused on finding you what you are looking for instead of what they want to sell you (based on what they think foreigners like or whatever they can make the most profit from either because the tea is low quality, overpriced, or a combination of both).

Do you want a floral green tea, a lightly sweet white tea, a pu’er tea cake, or a black tea similar to teas drunk in Europe and America? Being as specific as possible will help.  For example, I want a “qimen black tea” is better than “black tea” and of course even better than “normal tea.” (I have heard that before!)

Knowing how much you want to spend up front is also helpful.  In most Chinese tea stores, they will have different grades of the same tea. So if you said you were looking for a “qimen black tea”, they can probably show you “qimen black teas” from at least three different price points.

Learn to recognize some basics of tea quality

You want to look for whole leaves that are as intact and fresh as possible.  Lots of broken pieces, stems, and twigs are a sign of low quality tea.  You also want to smell the batch to see if you detect any “off” smells.

In general, you want to find un-scented teas because usually Chinese tea producers reserve the lowest quality teas to scent and mask the low quality.   Also, tea blends are not in China’s tea tradition.

Understand how prices work

In most Chinese tea shops, teas are stored in canisters with prices on the canisters listed per 500g and you buy tea in quantities of 50g (a liang).  So whatever the price on the canister, just divide by 10 and you have the basic price.  50g is plenty of tea for a gift or for yourself to drink.

Teas in the 800-1000RMB/500g range should be really good, which means you should be able to buy some GREAT tea for 80-100 RMB.

Know what questions to ask

The three most important aspects that distinguish different types of teas from each other are: terroir, cultivar, and processing method.  You should be able to ask the tea seller questions regarding these three aspects and if they can’t answer them, that is a big red flag!

Another key question is to ask when a tea was harvested.  Some teas are better in the spring harvest and others during the fall harvest. Knowing when a tea was harvested also tells you about the freshness of a tea.   Except for teas prized for their aged qualities, ideally you would drink a tea within a year of its harvest date.

Other illuminating questions are the sellers relationship with the tea producers, suggestions for how to brew the tea, why the seller likes or suggests this tea, and what the difference is among the various grades of the same tea.

Find a tea seller you trust

In the end, the most important thing for all the elements above is buying from a tea seller you trust.  Obviously, there is no point in asking questions to someone you don’t trust anyways.

Tea in China is a vast, deep, and complex subject that can at times be overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be!  A trusted tea seller should be like a great guide navigating you through all the complexities with ease.

In China, you have access to some of the world’s best and freshest teas that are prized for their natural flavors.  In Beijing in particular, you have access to most of China’s wide varieties of teas from all over the country and working with a tea seller you trust, you should be able to find whatever tea you are looking for.

You can spend a lifetime learning about tea and still just scratch the surface.  In the end, the best way to learn about tea is to drink a lot, explore, try new things and experiment with brewing and what you like.  Finding a tea seller you can partner with and trust is crucial for your exciting journey of tea discovery, taste, and learning!

__________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to

  • Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware
  • Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China
  • Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique

Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!

My Tea Love Story This is my own personal story with tea and is a story many customers and supporters ask me. Today, I’m happy to share with you this love story! First of all, I would say (as most of my family and good friends will tell you), I’m total beverage enthusiast.  My enthusiasm for fresh lemonades, ginger ales, fresh fruit juice, horchata, and sarsaparilla (in addition to tea) are pretty intense and borderline obsessive. So that’s the larger context of my beverage enthusiasm for discovering new and exciting tastes, and horizons of flavor, and innovative ways to quench thirst. I would pinpoint the beginning of my tea relationship to the third grade, however, when I first encountered Anne of Green Gables and become totally enamored with the Victorian era.  I was so enthralled with a different more ceremonial and artful approach to life and of course the British high-tea.    I wanted to absorb and learn everything I could about the refined Victorian life.  So I did what every other 10 year old does, started subscribing to Victoria Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for 40 year old women interested in romantic high-end living inspired by the Victorian era.  (I wish I had a photo of me from this era on hand to share…once I find it I will add it) Aside: the current incarnation of the magazine under a different publisher is a quite a bit different from its original form when it was a Hearst publication.   Growing up in a Chinese-American household whenever our family went out to Chinese restaurants there would be some Chinese tea as part of the meal, but nobody was really ever focused on it, so cheap watery restaurant table tea was the norm.   My family are total food enthusiasts but nobody was that particular about tea (recently my grandmother who lives in New York City offered me some Lipton Black tea bags. seriously).  My mom did really like drinking mint herbal tisane though. So my own personal passion for tea was something I developed trying and discovering as many teas I could and carrying around my own teas in my purse so I would never have to settle for bad tea. I remember when I went to college and was setting up my dorm room,  my teapot, tea cups, and tea were some of the first things I put out. I also recall during those crazy weeks of college finals sitting in a computer lab ordering online samples of loose leaf tea from a specialty tea purveyor. When I started working in the Foreign Service after college, I  had the resources and opportunities to travel to lots of new countries and places—so I took this as a chance to discover more about tea!   For various fun personal vacations with friends, I visited tea gardens in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.   A Revelatory Cup of Tea in Beijing When I was working at the US Embassy in Beijing, I had to go to many Chinese government offices for meetings.  The upside to this, was I soon discovered they often serve REALLY GOOD tea at these meetings!  Sometimes colleagues and I would plan meetings around which offices we knew had good tea (some of the photos above). I remember one meeting in particular at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—the tea was so good it was distracting.  I don’t remember anything that meeting was about, but I can remember with total clarity how smooth, soft, and delicious the green tea was.  All I could think was “What is this tea? Why is it so good?” And I knew I needed to know more. So I plunged into learning more about Chinese teas while in Beijing and traveling around China.  The tea tradition I discovered in China was so different than the British high tea that first enthralled me in third grade, even though it was the same beverage.  As I tried to learn more about it and dive deeper into the tradition, I discovered how rich and deep Chinese tea is.   I also learned how little people outside of China know about the wonders and delights of high quality Chinese tea—even many self-proclaimed tea enthusiasts.  That’s why Tranquil Tuesdays is committed to showcasing Chinese tea to new audiences outside of China. I really hope everyone who tries one of our teas will have the same distractingly good, revelatory tea experience with Chinese tea that I had during that one meeting.  __________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info
My Tea Love Story This is my own personal story with tea and is a story many customers and supporters ask me. Today, I’m happy to share with you this love story! First of all, I would say (as most of my family and good friends will tell you), I’m total beverage enthusiast.  My enthusiasm for fresh lemonades, ginger ales, fresh fruit juice, horchata, and sarsaparilla (in addition to tea) are pretty intense and borderline obsessive. So that’s the larger context of my beverage enthusiasm for discovering new and exciting tastes, and horizons of flavor, and innovative ways to quench thirst. I would pinpoint the beginning of my tea relationship to the third grade, however, when I first encountered Anne of Green Gables and become totally enamored with the Victorian era.  I was so enthralled with a different more ceremonial and artful approach to life and of course the British high-tea.    I wanted to absorb and learn everything I could about the refined Victorian life.  So I did what every other 10 year old does, started subscribing to Victoria Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for 40 year old women interested in romantic high-end living inspired by the Victorian era.  (I wish I had a photo of me from this era on hand to share…once I find it I will add it) Aside: the current incarnation of the magazine under a different publisher is a quite a bit different from its original form when it was a Hearst publication.   Growing up in a Chinese-American household whenever our family went out to Chinese restaurants there would be some Chinese tea as part of the meal, but nobody was really ever focused on it, so cheap watery restaurant table tea was the norm.   My family are total food enthusiasts but nobody was that particular about tea (recently my grandmother who lives in New York City offered me some Lipton Black tea bags. seriously).  My mom did really like drinking mint herbal tisane though. So my own personal passion for tea was something I developed trying and discovering as many teas I could and carrying around my own teas in my purse so I would never have to settle for bad tea. I remember when I went to college and was setting up my dorm room,  my teapot, tea cups, and tea were some of the first things I put out. I also recall during those crazy weeks of college finals sitting in a computer lab ordering online samples of loose leaf tea from a specialty tea purveyor. When I started working in the Foreign Service after college, I  had the resources and opportunities to travel to lots of new countries and places—so I took this as a chance to discover more about tea!   For various fun personal vacations with friends, I visited tea gardens in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.   A Revelatory Cup of Tea in Beijing When I was working at the US Embassy in Beijing, I had to go to many Chinese government offices for meetings.  The upside to this, was I soon discovered they often serve REALLY GOOD tea at these meetings!  Sometimes colleagues and I would plan meetings around which offices we knew had good tea (some of the photos above). I remember one meeting in particular at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—the tea was so good it was distracting.  I don’t remember anything that meeting was about, but I can remember with total clarity how smooth, soft, and delicious the green tea was.  All I could think was “What is this tea? Why is it so good?” And I knew I needed to know more. So I plunged into learning more about Chinese teas while in Beijing and traveling around China.  The tea tradition I discovered in China was so different than the British high tea that first enthralled me in third grade, even though it was the same beverage.  As I tried to learn more about it and dive deeper into the tradition, I discovered how rich and deep Chinese tea is.   I also learned how little people outside of China know about the wonders and delights of high quality Chinese tea—even many self-proclaimed tea enthusiasts.  That’s why Tranquil Tuesdays is committed to showcasing Chinese tea to new audiences outside of China. I really hope everyone who tries one of our teas will have the same distractingly good, revelatory tea experience with Chinese tea that I had during that one meeting.  __________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info
My Tea Love Story This is my own personal story with tea and is a story many customers and supporters ask me. Today, I’m happy to share with you this love story! First of all, I would say (as most of my family and good friends will tell you), I’m total beverage enthusiast.  My enthusiasm for fresh lemonades, ginger ales, fresh fruit juice, horchata, and sarsaparilla (in addition to tea) are pretty intense and borderline obsessive. So that’s the larger context of my beverage enthusiasm for discovering new and exciting tastes, and horizons of flavor, and innovative ways to quench thirst. I would pinpoint the beginning of my tea relationship to the third grade, however, when I first encountered Anne of Green Gables and become totally enamored with the Victorian era.  I was so enthralled with a different more ceremonial and artful approach to life and of course the British high-tea.    I wanted to absorb and learn everything I could about the refined Victorian life.  So I did what every other 10 year old does, started subscribing to Victoria Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for 40 year old women interested in romantic high-end living inspired by the Victorian era.  (I wish I had a photo of me from this era on hand to share…once I find it I will add it) Aside: the current incarnation of the magazine under a different publisher is a quite a bit different from its original form when it was a Hearst publication.   Growing up in a Chinese-American household whenever our family went out to Chinese restaurants there would be some Chinese tea as part of the meal, but nobody was really ever focused on it, so cheap watery restaurant table tea was the norm.   My family are total food enthusiasts but nobody was that particular about tea (recently my grandmother who lives in New York City offered me some Lipton Black tea bags. seriously).  My mom did really like drinking mint herbal tisane though. So my own personal passion for tea was something I developed trying and discovering as many teas I could and carrying around my own teas in my purse so I would never have to settle for bad tea. I remember when I went to college and was setting up my dorm room,  my teapot, tea cups, and tea were some of the first things I put out. I also recall during those crazy weeks of college finals sitting in a computer lab ordering online samples of loose leaf tea from a specialty tea purveyor. When I started working in the Foreign Service after college, I  had the resources and opportunities to travel to lots of new countries and places—so I took this as a chance to discover more about tea!   For various fun personal vacations with friends, I visited tea gardens in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.   A Revelatory Cup of Tea in Beijing When I was working at the US Embassy in Beijing, I had to go to many Chinese government offices for meetings.  The upside to this, was I soon discovered they often serve REALLY GOOD tea at these meetings!  Sometimes colleagues and I would plan meetings around which offices we knew had good tea (some of the photos above). I remember one meeting in particular at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—the tea was so good it was distracting.  I don’t remember anything that meeting was about, but I can remember with total clarity how smooth, soft, and delicious the green tea was.  All I could think was “What is this tea? Why is it so good?” And I knew I needed to know more. So I plunged into learning more about Chinese teas while in Beijing and traveling around China.  The tea tradition I discovered in China was so different than the British high tea that first enthralled me in third grade, even though it was the same beverage.  As I tried to learn more about it and dive deeper into the tradition, I discovered how rich and deep Chinese tea is.   I also learned how little people outside of China know about the wonders and delights of high quality Chinese tea—even many self-proclaimed tea enthusiasts.  That’s why Tranquil Tuesdays is committed to showcasing Chinese tea to new audiences outside of China. I really hope everyone who tries one of our teas will have the same distractingly good, revelatory tea experience with Chinese tea that I had during that one meeting.  __________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info
My Tea Love Story This is my own personal story with tea and is a story many customers and supporters ask me. Today, I’m happy to share with you this love story! First of all, I would say (as most of my family and good friends will tell you), I’m total beverage enthusiast.  My enthusiasm for fresh lemonades, ginger ales, fresh fruit juice, horchata, and sarsaparilla (in addition to tea) are pretty intense and borderline obsessive. So that’s the larger context of my beverage enthusiasm for discovering new and exciting tastes, and horizons of flavor, and innovative ways to quench thirst. I would pinpoint the beginning of my tea relationship to the third grade, however, when I first encountered Anne of Green Gables and become totally enamored with the Victorian era.  I was so enthralled with a different more ceremonial and artful approach to life and of course the British high-tea.    I wanted to absorb and learn everything I could about the refined Victorian life.  So I did what every other 10 year old does, started subscribing to Victoria Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for 40 year old women interested in romantic high-end living inspired by the Victorian era.  (I wish I had a photo of me from this era on hand to share…once I find it I will add it) Aside: the current incarnation of the magazine under a different publisher is a quite a bit different from its original form when it was a Hearst publication.   Growing up in a Chinese-American household whenever our family went out to Chinese restaurants there would be some Chinese tea as part of the meal, but nobody was really ever focused on it, so cheap watery restaurant table tea was the norm.   My family are total food enthusiasts but nobody was that particular about tea (recently my grandmother who lives in New York City offered me some Lipton Black tea bags. seriously).  My mom did really like drinking mint herbal tisane though. So my own personal passion for tea was something I developed trying and discovering as many teas I could and carrying around my own teas in my purse so I would never have to settle for bad tea. I remember when I went to college and was setting up my dorm room,  my teapot, tea cups, and tea were some of the first things I put out. I also recall during those crazy weeks of college finals sitting in a computer lab ordering online samples of loose leaf tea from a specialty tea purveyor. When I started working in the Foreign Service after college, I  had the resources and opportunities to travel to lots of new countries and places—so I took this as a chance to discover more about tea!   For various fun personal vacations with friends, I visited tea gardens in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.   A Revelatory Cup of Tea in Beijing When I was working at the US Embassy in Beijing, I had to go to many Chinese government offices for meetings.  The upside to this, was I soon discovered they often serve REALLY GOOD tea at these meetings!  Sometimes colleagues and I would plan meetings around which offices we knew had good tea (some of the photos above). I remember one meeting in particular at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—the tea was so good it was distracting.  I don’t remember anything that meeting was about, but I can remember with total clarity how smooth, soft, and delicious the green tea was.  All I could think was “What is this tea? Why is it so good?” And I knew I needed to know more. So I plunged into learning more about Chinese teas while in Beijing and traveling around China.  The tea tradition I discovered in China was so different than the British high tea that first enthralled me in third grade, even though it was the same beverage.  As I tried to learn more about it and dive deeper into the tradition, I discovered how rich and deep Chinese tea is.   I also learned how little people outside of China know about the wonders and delights of high quality Chinese tea—even many self-proclaimed tea enthusiasts.  That’s why Tranquil Tuesdays is committed to showcasing Chinese tea to new audiences outside of China. I really hope everyone who tries one of our teas will have the same distractingly good, revelatory tea experience with Chinese tea that I had during that one meeting.  __________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info
My Tea Love Story This is my own personal story with tea and is a story many customers and supporters ask me. Today, I’m happy to share with you this love story! First of all, I would say (as most of my family and good friends will tell you), I’m total beverage enthusiast.  My enthusiasm for fresh lemonades, ginger ales, fresh fruit juice, horchata, and sarsaparilla (in addition to tea) are pretty intense and borderline obsessive. So that’s the larger context of my beverage enthusiasm for discovering new and exciting tastes, and horizons of flavor, and innovative ways to quench thirst. I would pinpoint the beginning of my tea relationship to the third grade, however, when I first encountered Anne of Green Gables and become totally enamored with the Victorian era.  I was so enthralled with a different more ceremonial and artful approach to life and of course the British high-tea.    I wanted to absorb and learn everything I could about the refined Victorian life.  So I did what every other 10 year old does, started subscribing to Victoria Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for 40 year old women interested in romantic high-end living inspired by the Victorian era.  (I wish I had a photo of me from this era on hand to share…once I find it I will add it) Aside: the current incarnation of the magazine under a different publisher is a quite a bit different from its original form when it was a Hearst publication.   Growing up in a Chinese-American household whenever our family went out to Chinese restaurants there would be some Chinese tea as part of the meal, but nobody was really ever focused on it, so cheap watery restaurant table tea was the norm.   My family are total food enthusiasts but nobody was that particular about tea (recently my grandmother who lives in New York City offered me some Lipton Black tea bags. seriously).  My mom did really like drinking mint herbal tisane though. So my own personal passion for tea was something I developed trying and discovering as many teas I could and carrying around my own teas in my purse so I would never have to settle for bad tea. I remember when I went to college and was setting up my dorm room,  my teapot, tea cups, and tea were some of the first things I put out. I also recall during those crazy weeks of college finals sitting in a computer lab ordering online samples of loose leaf tea from a specialty tea purveyor. When I started working in the Foreign Service after college, I  had the resources and opportunities to travel to lots of new countries and places—so I took this as a chance to discover more about tea!   For various fun personal vacations with friends, I visited tea gardens in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.   A Revelatory Cup of Tea in Beijing When I was working at the US Embassy in Beijing, I had to go to many Chinese government offices for meetings.  The upside to this, was I soon discovered they often serve REALLY GOOD tea at these meetings!  Sometimes colleagues and I would plan meetings around which offices we knew had good tea (some of the photos above). I remember one meeting in particular at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—the tea was so good it was distracting.  I don’t remember anything that meeting was about, but I can remember with total clarity how smooth, soft, and delicious the green tea was.  All I could think was “What is this tea? Why is it so good?” And I knew I needed to know more. So I plunged into learning more about Chinese teas while in Beijing and traveling around China.  The tea tradition I discovered in China was so different than the British high tea that first enthralled me in third grade, even though it was the same beverage.  As I tried to learn more about it and dive deeper into the tradition, I discovered how rich and deep Chinese tea is.   I also learned how little people outside of China know about the wonders and delights of high quality Chinese tea—even many self-proclaimed tea enthusiasts.  That’s why Tranquil Tuesdays is committed to showcasing Chinese tea to new audiences outside of China. I really hope everyone who tries one of our teas will have the same distractingly good, revelatory tea experience with Chinese tea that I had during that one meeting.  __________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info

My Tea Love Story

This is my own personal story with tea and is a story many customers and supporters ask me. Today, I’m happy to share with you this love story!

First of all, I would say (as most of my family and good friends will tell you), I’m total beverage enthusiast.  My enthusiasm for fresh lemonades, ginger ales, fresh fruit juice, horchata, and sarsaparilla (in addition to tea) are pretty intense and borderline obsessive.

So that’s the larger context of my beverage enthusiasm for discovering new and exciting tastes, and horizons of flavor, and innovative ways to quench thirst.

I would pinpoint the beginning of my tea relationship to the third grade, however, when I first encountered Anne of Green Gables and become totally enamored with the Victorian era.  I was so enthralled with a different more ceremonial and artful approach to life and of course the British high-tea.   

I wanted to absorb and learn everything I could about the refined Victorian life.  So I did what every other 10 year old does, started subscribing to Victoria Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for 40 year old women interested in romantic high-end living inspired by the Victorian era.  (I wish I had a photo of me from this era on hand to share…once I find it I will add it)

Aside: the current incarnation of the magazine under a different publisher is a quite a bit different from its original form when it was a Hearst publication.  

Growing up in a Chinese-American household whenever our family went out to Chinese restaurants there would be some Chinese tea as part of the meal, but nobody was really ever focused on it, so cheap watery restaurant table tea was the norm.  

My family are total food enthusiasts but nobody was that particular about tea (recently my grandmother who lives in New York City offered me some Lipton Black tea bags. seriously).  My mom did really like drinking mint herbal tisane though.

So my own personal passion for tea was something I developed trying and discovering as many teas I could and carrying around my own teas in my purse so I would never have to settle for bad tea.

I remember when I went to college and was setting up my dorm room,  my teapot, tea cups, and tea were some of the first things I put out. I also recall during those crazy weeks of college finals sitting in a computer lab ordering online samples of loose leaf tea from a specialty tea purveyor.

When I started working in the Foreign Service after college, I  had the resources and opportunities to travel to lots of new countries and places—so I took this as a chance to discover more about tea!   For various fun personal vacations with friends, I visited tea gardens in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.  

A Revelatory Cup of Tea in Beijing

When I was working at the US Embassy in Beijing, I had to go to many Chinese government offices for meetings.  The upside to this, was I soon discovered they often serve REALLY GOOD tea at these meetings!  Sometimes colleagues and I would plan meetings around which offices we knew had good tea (some of the photos above).

I remember one meeting in particular at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—the tea was so good it was distracting.  I don’t remember anything that meeting was about, but I can remember with total clarity how smooth, soft, and delicious the green tea was.  All I could think was “What is this tea? Why is it so good?” And I knew I needed to know more.

So I plunged into learning more about Chinese teas while in Beijing and traveling around China.  The tea tradition I discovered in China was so different than the British high tea that first enthralled me in third grade, even though it was the same beverage.  As I tried to learn more about it and dive deeper into the tradition, I discovered how rich and deep Chinese tea is.  

I also learned how little people outside of China know about the wonders and delights of high quality Chinese tea—even many self-proclaimed tea enthusiasts.  That’s why Tranquil Tuesdays is committed to showcasing Chinese tea to new audiences outside of China.

I really hope everyone who tries one of our teas will have the same distractingly good, revelatory tea experience with Chinese tea that I had during that one meeting. 

__________________________________________________________

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Our Showroom on Fangjia Hutong! I finally launched my stencil graffiti career and spray painted our name on our outside door on Fangjia Hutong so that when you pass by our office/showroom when we’re not around you won’t miss us. We love our home in one of Beijing’s hippest and hottest hutong neighborhoods.  If you want to make a day of it, check out the recommendations of fun and cool things to do in walking distance of us I shared earlier. Please come visit us at our Fangjia Hutong showroom for a cup of tea! Just email to make an appointment and we are happy to welcome you! ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Our Showroom on Fangjia Hutong! I finally launched my stencil graffiti career and spray painted our name on our outside door on Fangjia Hutong so that when you pass by our office/showroom when we’re not around you won’t miss us. We love our home in one of Beijing’s hippest and hottest hutong neighborhoods.  If you want to make a day of it, check out the recommendations of fun and cool things to do in walking distance of us I shared earlier. Please come visit us at our Fangjia Hutong showroom for a cup of tea! Just email to make an appointment and we are happy to welcome you! ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Our Showroom on Fangjia Hutong! I finally launched my stencil graffiti career and spray painted our name on our outside door on Fangjia Hutong so that when you pass by our office/showroom when we’re not around you won’t miss us. We love our home in one of Beijing’s hippest and hottest hutong neighborhoods.  If you want to make a day of it, check out the recommendations of fun and cool things to do in walking distance of us I shared earlier. Please come visit us at our Fangjia Hutong showroom for a cup of tea! Just email to make an appointment and we are happy to welcome you! ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Our Showroom on Fangjia Hutong! I finally launched my stencil graffiti career and spray painted our name on our outside door on Fangjia Hutong so that when you pass by our office/showroom when we’re not around you won’t miss us. We love our home in one of Beijing’s hippest and hottest hutong neighborhoods.  If you want to make a day of it, check out the recommendations of fun and cool things to do in walking distance of us I shared earlier. Please come visit us at our Fangjia Hutong showroom for a cup of tea! Just email to make an appointment and we are happy to welcome you! ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Our Showroom on Fangjia Hutong! I finally launched my stencil graffiti career and spray painted our name on our outside door on Fangjia Hutong so that when you pass by our office/showroom when we’re not around you won’t miss us. We love our home in one of Beijing’s hippest and hottest hutong neighborhoods.  If you want to make a day of it, check out the recommendations of fun and cool things to do in walking distance of us I shared earlier. Please come visit us at our Fangjia Hutong showroom for a cup of tea! Just email to make an appointment and we are happy to welcome you! ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Our Showroom on Fangjia Hutong!

I finally launched my stencil graffiti career and spray painted our name on our outside door on Fangjia Hutong so that when you pass by our office/showroom when we’re not around you won’t miss us.

We love our home in one of Beijing’s hippest and hottest hutong neighborhoods.  If you want to make a day of it, check out the recommendations of fun and cool things to do in walking distance of us I shared earlier.

Please come visit us at our Fangjia Hutong showroom for a cup of tea! Just email to make an appointment and we are happy to welcome you!

________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to

  • Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware
  • Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China
  • Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique

Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!

Terroirs and Chinese Tea Just as I promised last week, I am going to start explaining the two other factors (besides oxidation level) that distinguish a certain type of tea from each other: terroir and cultivar.  Woot-woo-ivar! Remember the analogy I introduced last week?  If you forgot, I compared the relationship between continents and countries to tea categories and specific teas within the same category. We said that tea categories (like white, green, or black for example) are like the main continents, distinguished by oxidation level.    So while countries within the same continent may vary linguistically, culturally, and historically, the main features that distinguish teas within the same category from each other are terroir and plant cultivar.  Today we are going to discuss terroir. What is a terroir? Terroir is a French word (from the root terre meaning “land”) used to describe a specific growing area including the land, climate, altitude, and the combination of factors that comprise the land.  Or as Wikipedia defines it: “a set of special characteristics that the geography, geology, and climate of a certain place express in agricultural products”. As you know, China is a pretty big country.  The climate and geology of arid Bejing in northeast China is nothing like that of humid tropical Yunnan in southwest China 1700 miles (2575 km) away.  As a result, a tea plant grown in Guangdong province (like our Phoenix Honey Orchid Oolong) is interacting with a different set of factors that will influence this plant than a plant grown more north in Fujian province (like our Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong). One of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong’s most distinctive terroir elements is the red soil in Anxi, Fujian where the plants are grown (see photo above).  The mineral deposits from this unique red soil contribute to the distinctive flavor of Iron Goddess of Mercy’s tea leaves.   For purists and people who really appreciate fine tea, terroir is a really important factor for enjoying the authentic flavor of a certain tea.   Why Tranquil Tuesdays? Tranquil Tuesdays prides itself in honoring this principle when choosing and sourcing our teas: we only select teas that are from historical points of origin.  We believe staying true to each tea’s historical terroir is a key part in telling the story of China’s amazing tea diversity and rich history. ______________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Terroirs and Chinese Tea Just as I promised last week, I am going to start explaining the two other factors (besides oxidation level) that distinguish a certain type of tea from each other: terroir and cultivar.  Woot-woo-ivar! Remember the analogy I introduced last week?  If you forgot, I compared the relationship between continents and countries to tea categories and specific teas within the same category. We said that tea categories (like white, green, or black for example) are like the main continents, distinguished by oxidation level.    So while countries within the same continent may vary linguistically, culturally, and historically, the main features that distinguish teas within the same category from each other are terroir and plant cultivar.  Today we are going to discuss terroir. What is a terroir? Terroir is a French word (from the root terre meaning “land”) used to describe a specific growing area including the land, climate, altitude, and the combination of factors that comprise the land.  Or as Wikipedia defines it: “a set of special characteristics that the geography, geology, and climate of a certain place express in agricultural products”. As you know, China is a pretty big country.  The climate and geology of arid Bejing in northeast China is nothing like that of humid tropical Yunnan in southwest China 1700 miles (2575 km) away.  As a result, a tea plant grown in Guangdong province (like our Phoenix Honey Orchid Oolong) is interacting with a different set of factors that will influence this plant than a plant grown more north in Fujian province (like our Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong). One of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong’s most distinctive terroir elements is the red soil in Anxi, Fujian where the plants are grown (see photo above).  The mineral deposits from this unique red soil contribute to the distinctive flavor of Iron Goddess of Mercy’s tea leaves.   For purists and people who really appreciate fine tea, terroir is a really important factor for enjoying the authentic flavor of a certain tea.   Why Tranquil Tuesdays? Tranquil Tuesdays prides itself in honoring this principle when choosing and sourcing our teas: we only select teas that are from historical points of origin.  We believe staying true to each tea’s historical terroir is a key part in telling the story of China’s amazing tea diversity and rich history. ______________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Terroirs and Chinese Tea Just as I promised last week, I am going to start explaining the two other factors (besides oxidation level) that distinguish a certain type of tea from each other: terroir and cultivar.  Woot-woo-ivar! Remember the analogy I introduced last week?  If you forgot, I compared the relationship between continents and countries to tea categories and specific teas within the same category. We said that tea categories (like white, green, or black for example) are like the main continents, distinguished by oxidation level.    So while countries within the same continent may vary linguistically, culturally, and historically, the main features that distinguish teas within the same category from each other are terroir and plant cultivar.  Today we are going to discuss terroir. What is a terroir? Terroir is a French word (from the root terre meaning “land”) used to describe a specific growing area including the land, climate, altitude, and the combination of factors that comprise the land.  Or as Wikipedia defines it: “a set of special characteristics that the geography, geology, and climate of a certain place express in agricultural products”. As you know, China is a pretty big country.  The climate and geology of arid Bejing in northeast China is nothing like that of humid tropical Yunnan in southwest China 1700 miles (2575 km) away.  As a result, a tea plant grown in Guangdong province (like our Phoenix Honey Orchid Oolong) is interacting with a different set of factors that will influence this plant than a plant grown more north in Fujian province (like our Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong). One of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong’s most distinctive terroir elements is the red soil in Anxi, Fujian where the plants are grown (see photo above).  The mineral deposits from this unique red soil contribute to the distinctive flavor of Iron Goddess of Mercy’s tea leaves.   For purists and people who really appreciate fine tea, terroir is a really important factor for enjoying the authentic flavor of a certain tea.   Why Tranquil Tuesdays? Tranquil Tuesdays prides itself in honoring this principle when choosing and sourcing our teas: we only select teas that are from historical points of origin.  We believe staying true to each tea’s historical terroir is a key part in telling the story of China’s amazing tea diversity and rich history. ______________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Terroirs and Chinese Tea Just as I promised last week, I am going to start explaining the two other factors (besides oxidation level) that distinguish a certain type of tea from each other: terroir and cultivar.  Woot-woo-ivar! Remember the analogy I introduced last week?  If you forgot, I compared the relationship between continents and countries to tea categories and specific teas within the same category. We said that tea categories (like white, green, or black for example) are like the main continents, distinguished by oxidation level.    So while countries within the same continent may vary linguistically, culturally, and historically, the main features that distinguish teas within the same category from each other are terroir and plant cultivar.  Today we are going to discuss terroir. What is a terroir? Terroir is a French word (from the root terre meaning “land”) used to describe a specific growing area including the land, climate, altitude, and the combination of factors that comprise the land.  Or as Wikipedia defines it: “a set of special characteristics that the geography, geology, and climate of a certain place express in agricultural products”. As you know, China is a pretty big country.  The climate and geology of arid Bejing in northeast China is nothing like that of humid tropical Yunnan in southwest China 1700 miles (2575 km) away.  As a result, a tea plant grown in Guangdong province (like our Phoenix Honey Orchid Oolong) is interacting with a different set of factors that will influence this plant than a plant grown more north in Fujian province (like our Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong). One of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong’s most distinctive terroir elements is the red soil in Anxi, Fujian where the plants are grown (see photo above).  The mineral deposits from this unique red soil contribute to the distinctive flavor of Iron Goddess of Mercy’s tea leaves.   For purists and people who really appreciate fine tea, terroir is a really important factor for enjoying the authentic flavor of a certain tea.   Why Tranquil Tuesdays? Tranquil Tuesdays prides itself in honoring this principle when choosing and sourcing our teas: we only select teas that are from historical points of origin.  We believe staying true to each tea’s historical terroir is a key part in telling the story of China’s amazing tea diversity and rich history. ______________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Terroirs and Chinese Tea Just as I promised last week, I am going to start explaining the two other factors (besides oxidation level) that distinguish a certain type of tea from each other: terroir and cultivar.  Woot-woo-ivar! Remember the analogy I introduced last week?  If you forgot, I compared the relationship between continents and countries to tea categories and specific teas within the same category. We said that tea categories (like white, green, or black for example) are like the main continents, distinguished by oxidation level.    So while countries within the same continent may vary linguistically, culturally, and historically, the main features that distinguish teas within the same category from each other are terroir and plant cultivar.  Today we are going to discuss terroir. What is a terroir? Terroir is a French word (from the root terre meaning “land”) used to describe a specific growing area including the land, climate, altitude, and the combination of factors that comprise the land.  Or as Wikipedia defines it: “a set of special characteristics that the geography, geology, and climate of a certain place express in agricultural products”. As you know, China is a pretty big country.  The climate and geology of arid Bejing in northeast China is nothing like that of humid tropical Yunnan in southwest China 1700 miles (2575 km) away.  As a result, a tea plant grown in Guangdong province (like our Phoenix Honey Orchid Oolong) is interacting with a different set of factors that will influence this plant than a plant grown more north in Fujian province (like our Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong). One of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong’s most distinctive terroir elements is the red soil in Anxi, Fujian where the plants are grown (see photo above).  The mineral deposits from this unique red soil contribute to the distinctive flavor of Iron Goddess of Mercy’s tea leaves.   For purists and people who really appreciate fine tea, terroir is a really important factor for enjoying the authentic flavor of a certain tea.   Why Tranquil Tuesdays? Tranquil Tuesdays prides itself in honoring this principle when choosing and sourcing our teas: we only select teas that are from historical points of origin.  We believe staying true to each tea’s historical terroir is a key part in telling the story of China’s amazing tea diversity and rich history. ______________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info

Terroirs and Chinese Tea

Just as I promised last week, I am going to start explaining the two other factors (besides oxidation level) that distinguish a certain type of tea from each other: terroir and cultivar.  Woot-woo-ivar!

Remember the analogy I introduced last week?  If you forgot, I compared the relationship between continents and countries to tea categories and specific teas within the same category. We said that tea categories (like white, green, or black for example) are like the main continents, distinguished by oxidation level.   

So while countries within the same continent may vary linguistically, culturally, and historically, the main features that distinguish teas within the same category from each other are terroir and plant cultivar.  Today we are going to discuss terroir.

What is a terroir?

Terroir is a French word (from the root terre meaning “land”) used to describe a specific growing area including the land, climate, altitude, and the combination of factors that comprise the land.  Or as Wikipedia defines it: “a set of special characteristics that the geography, geology, and climate of a certain place express in agricultural products”.

As you know, China is a pretty big country.  The climate and geology of arid Bejing in northeast China is nothing like that of humid tropical Yunnan in southwest China 1700 miles (2575 km) away. 

As a result, a tea plant grown in Guangdong province (like our Phoenix Honey Orchid Oolong) is interacting with a different set of factors that will influence this plant than a plant grown more north in Fujian province (like our Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong).

One of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong’s most distinctive terroir elements is the red soil in Anxi, Fujian where the plants are grown (see photo above).  The mineral deposits from this unique red soil contribute to the distinctive flavor of Iron Goddess of Mercy’s tea leaves.  

For purists and people who really appreciate fine tea, terroir is a really important factor for enjoying the authentic flavor of a certain tea.  

Why Tranquil Tuesdays?

Tranquil Tuesdays prides itself in honoring this principle when choosing and sourcing our teas: we only select teas that are from historical points of origin.  We believe staying true to each tea’s historical terroir is a key part in telling the story of China’s amazing tea diversity and rich history.

______________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to

  • Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware
  • Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China
  • Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique

Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!

Beijing Subway’s Cool Color Palette Today I was riding the subway, absentmindedly staring at the subway map inside as the car zoomed along underground and then I noticed something: how beautiful and inspired the color palette of the subway map is. It isn’t so often you come across unexpected design that delights you on Chinese public works signage.  Too often they are marred with unfortunate font choices, disconcerting cartoons, or color combinations that don’t make sense. Usually the default color is red because Chinese culture loves it some red. From ancient tradition to revolutionary reasons, red is considered the most auspicious color—the color of life. Red is also the color of choice used to celebrate most festivals and life events, and 9 times out of 10 if you ask a Chinese person what color they would choose for a car, sweater, or bookshelf they will say red. This could explain why Beijing’s first subway line, Line 1 (finished in 1981), is colored Red. Now, Beijing’s subway has grown to 16 lines and the colors representing each of these lines comes together in a cheerful, modern, and upbeat color combination. For about two decades, the subway consisted of merely two lines in standard primary hues: red and blue.  But the construction of the other lines starting in the 2000’s also brought a contemporary flash of chic modern colors like the plum of Line 5 or the teal of Line 4.  And I’m totally digging the lavender of the airport express. Most importantly I really enjoy how all the colors work together in a cheerful color palette well-balanced throughout the map. If you want to come visit us in our hutong showroom the closest subway stops are Andingmen on Line 2 or Yonghegong Lama Temple on Line 5. ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Beijing Subway’s Cool Color Palette Today I was riding the subway, absentmindedly staring at the subway map inside as the car zoomed along underground and then I noticed something: how beautiful and inspired the color palette of the subway map is. It isn’t so often you come across unexpected design that delights you on Chinese public works signage.  Too often they are marred with unfortunate font choices, disconcerting cartoons, or color combinations that don’t make sense. Usually the default color is red because Chinese culture loves it some red. From ancient tradition to revolutionary reasons, red is considered the most auspicious color—the color of life. Red is also the color of choice used to celebrate most festivals and life events, and 9 times out of 10 if you ask a Chinese person what color they would choose for a car, sweater, or bookshelf they will say red. This could explain why Beijing’s first subway line, Line 1 (finished in 1981), is colored Red. Now, Beijing’s subway has grown to 16 lines and the colors representing each of these lines comes together in a cheerful, modern, and upbeat color combination. For about two decades, the subway consisted of merely two lines in standard primary hues: red and blue.  But the construction of the other lines starting in the 2000’s also brought a contemporary flash of chic modern colors like the plum of Line 5 or the teal of Line 4.  And I’m totally digging the lavender of the airport express. Most importantly I really enjoy how all the colors work together in a cheerful color palette well-balanced throughout the map. If you want to come visit us in our hutong showroom the closest subway stops are Andingmen on Line 2 or Yonghegong Lama Temple on Line 5. ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info
Beijing Subway’s Cool Color Palette Today I was riding the subway, absentmindedly staring at the subway map inside as the car zoomed along underground and then I noticed something: how beautiful and inspired the color palette of the subway map is. It isn’t so often you come across unexpected design that delights you on Chinese public works signage.  Too often they are marred with unfortunate font choices, disconcerting cartoons, or color combinations that don’t make sense. Usually the default color is red because Chinese culture loves it some red. From ancient tradition to revolutionary reasons, red is considered the most auspicious color—the color of life. Red is also the color of choice used to celebrate most festivals and life events, and 9 times out of 10 if you ask a Chinese person what color they would choose for a car, sweater, or bookshelf they will say red. This could explain why Beijing’s first subway line, Line 1 (finished in 1981), is colored Red. Now, Beijing’s subway has grown to 16 lines and the colors representing each of these lines comes together in a cheerful, modern, and upbeat color combination. For about two decades, the subway consisted of merely two lines in standard primary hues: red and blue.  But the construction of the other lines starting in the 2000’s also brought a contemporary flash of chic modern colors like the plum of Line 5 or the teal of Line 4.  And I’m totally digging the lavender of the airport express. Most importantly I really enjoy how all the colors work together in a cheerful color palette well-balanced throughout the map. If you want to come visit us in our hutong showroom the closest subway stops are Andingmen on Line 2 or Yonghegong Lama Temple on Line 5. ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info

Beijing Subway’s Cool Color Palette

Today I was riding the subway, absentmindedly staring at the subway map inside as the car zoomed along underground and then I noticed something: how beautiful and inspired the color palette of the subway map is.

It isn’t so often you come across unexpected design that delights you on Chinese public works signage.  Too often they are marred with unfortunate font choices, disconcerting cartoons, or color combinations that don’t make sense.

Usually the default color is red because Chinese culture loves it some red. From ancient tradition to revolutionary reasons, red is considered the most auspicious color—the color of life.

Red is also the color of choice used to celebrate most festivals and life events, and 9 times out of 10 if you ask a Chinese person what color they would choose for a car, sweater, or bookshelf they will say red.

This could explain why Beijing’s first subway line, Line 1 (finished in 1981), is colored Red. Now, Beijing’s subway has grown to 16 lines and the colors representing each of these lines comes together in a cheerful, modern, and upbeat color combination.

For about two decades, the subway consisted of merely two lines in standard primary hues: red and blue.  But the construction of the other lines starting in the 2000’s also brought a contemporary flash of chic modern colors like the plum of Line 5 or the teal of Line 4.  And I’m totally digging the lavender of the airport express.

Most importantly I really enjoy how all the colors work together in a cheerful color palette well-balanced throughout the map.

If you want to come visit us in our hutong showroom the closest subway stops are Andingmen on Line 2 or Yonghegong Lama Temple on Line 5.

________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to

  • Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware
  • Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China
  • Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique

Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!

Why the Name Tranquil Tuesdays? One of the most common questions I receive from curious customers or people encountering us for the first time is “Why the name Tranquil Tuesdays?” so I’m excited to share the story with you!  It is a story with many layers—which might take a few minutes to read but in short it is a story about optimism, sanctuary, and love that inspired me to name my company “Tranquil Tuesdays”.  Optimism To start out with, I would say since middle-school my favorite day of the week was Tuesday.  It still is my favorite day of the week. At that time you start hearing everyone saying things like “TGIF” and how they are just looking forward to Fridays.  I couldn’t understand that.  Plus, I thought it was a disappointing way to view the week: something to get over with until you finally got to Friday. That wasn’t how I saw the week.  Tuesdays were my favorite day because Monday was over and you still had the whole week to look forward to.  Who knew what would happen during those upcoming days? What exciting discoveries or new adventures might unfold? It is sort of like how the happiest I ever am is at the beginning of a trip, at the airport ready to board the plane, or train station or in your car ready to drive off.  You are at the best point of your trip: when everything is unknown but you know that days and days of time and adventure are just waiting for you to discover and enjoy. Anyways, Tuesdays became my favorite day and I started treating them like a special day.  And then I started noticing that lots of good things began happening to me on Tuesdays—which is still the case.  Was it a coincidence or because I always treated Tuesdays with anticipation and appreciation? Sanctuary Fast forward 16 years or so and I’m doing some language training with the US State Department for my career as a diplomat.  One of my best friends from the State Department is my friend Phaedra.  Every time we were in Washington D.C. together for training we had such a blast you would never guess we were bureaucrats.  We also shared a common love for wellness and pursuing balanced and relaxed practices. Phaedra told me about a promotion at a nearby gym/spa, MINT that had a promotion on Tuesdays called “Tranquil Tuesdays.”  So we made a date to enjoy the promotion together which was use of the gym for the day. We took a yoga class, experienced a massage, and drank one of their delicious homemade smoothies.  It was lovely!  We so enjoyed our relaxation and wellness date that Tuesday that “Tranquil Tuesdays” became our code word for any relaxing activities or pursuits and sense of sanctuary like we shared that night. So two-years later when Phaedra visited me in Beijing where I was working at the U.S. Embassy, we decided to create our own “Tranquil Tuesdays” one Tuesday.  We went to get pedicures in one of Beijing’s most relaxing refuges, Kocoon Spa, had dinner at a small Japanese noodle bar hidden in a quiet spot by the Liangma River, and then had foot massages at Bodhi Therapeutic Retreat. It was the perfect relaxing evening in a loud crazy city. Love Phaedra also used the dinner at the small Japanese noodle bar as an opportunity to introduce me to my husband Tony.  While visiting me in Beijing (her first time in Asia), Phaedra went on two historical walking-tours with Tony’s company Stretch-a-leg Travel and during the course of those two days decided she needed to set Tony and me up. I was really reluctant and unwelcoming of the whole idea.  I was scheduled to leave Beijing in a couple of months, excited to start a job in the State Department’s UN Security Council office working on East Asian issues in DC.  Clearly, I was not ready to make any romantic attachments.  When Phaedra first floated the idea of setting me up with Tony, I quickly shot it down.  This was mainly because Tony and I both had pretty negative first impressions of each other when I brought Phaedra to meet him on the first day of her walking tour with him. Phaedra was undeterred.  She launched a steady and unrelenting campaign for the rest of the week and was insistent I at least meet up with Tony for a drink or to chat.  Finally, I capitulated and told Phaedra fine, maybe Tony can join us for dinner on Tuesday during our “Beijing Tranquil Tuesday” plans. Well, it turns out Phaedra was onto something, seeing as Tony and I are currently married!  Following the dinner we shared together and Phaedra returning to Colombia where she was working, Tony and I decided we should celebrate “Tranquil Tuesday” every Tuesday evening by doing something relaxing together.  Even today, we still save Tuesday nights for each other to do something special together. Choosing a Name that Inspires the Spirit of Tea When it came time to name the Chinese tea social enterprise of my dreams, the name “Tranquil Tuesdays” kept on coming back to me because I felt it embodied the feeling of tea: relaxing, calming, and quiet.  I wanted a name that was a little bit abstract and imparted the wonderful sensations and experience a moment with a cup of tea gives.  In the end, when I reflected upon how meeting Tony was the inspiring catalyst to finally pursue my dreams and launch a social enterprise tied to my lifelong passion for tea, the name was the perfect fit.  And Even Better in Chinese! So as you can see, the name was created in English first.  As a Chinese social enterprise based in Beijing, China, of course we needed a Chinese name too.  So when it came time to translate “Tranquil Tuesdays” into Chinese we found another cool reason it was the perfect name for the company: in Chinese “tranquil” translates into 宁静ning jing and my Chinese name has a 宁ning in it (commonly Chinese names are either two or three characters).  Many of our Chinese customers think I named the company after myself because of this coincidence—but as you now know, that is not how we came upon the name. Translating “Tuesdays” was a little bit more of a challenge.  The most common ways to translate “Tuesday” in Chinese is 星期二xing qi er or 周二zhou er.  星期二Xin qi er is three characters and I thought it would break the rhythm of a nice four-word Chinese name and 周二zhou er sounded to clinical and staid, not matching the abstract poetic quality of宁静ning jing.  So we became creative and translated Tuesday as 二天 er tian which literally means second day or two days. Together in Chinese however 宁静二天 accurately conveys the same feeling as Tranquil Tuesdays in English. So that’s the story (I know it is long!): the name Tranquil Tuesdays was born out of optimism, sanctuary, love, and my desire to share all those qualities with you through our tea and teaware collections.  It is also about my weekly celebration of my favorite day (I always try to keep my Tuesdays as stress free as possible and doing things I really enjoy) and the weekly ritual of time spent together I share exclusively with Tony. Do you have a favorite day of the week you always treat as special? Do you notice that good things happen to you on that day more than others?  I really hope when you take some time out of your day to make a cup of tea for yourself, or share some tea with friends, you enjoy the spirit of Tranquil Tuesdays.  Tuesday, Thursday or whatever day! ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info
Why the Name Tranquil Tuesdays? One of the most common questions I receive from curious customers or people encountering us for the first time is “Why the name Tranquil Tuesdays?” so I’m excited to share the story with you!  It is a story with many layers—which might take a few minutes to read but in short it is a story about optimism, sanctuary, and love that inspired me to name my company “Tranquil Tuesdays”.  Optimism To start out with, I would say since middle-school my favorite day of the week was Tuesday.  It still is my favorite day of the week. At that time you start hearing everyone saying things like “TGIF” and how they are just looking forward to Fridays.  I couldn’t understand that.  Plus, I thought it was a disappointing way to view the week: something to get over with until you finally got to Friday. That wasn’t how I saw the week.  Tuesdays were my favorite day because Monday was over and you still had the whole week to look forward to.  Who knew what would happen during those upcoming days? What exciting discoveries or new adventures might unfold? It is sort of like how the happiest I ever am is at the beginning of a trip, at the airport ready to board the plane, or train station or in your car ready to drive off.  You are at the best point of your trip: when everything is unknown but you know that days and days of time and adventure are just waiting for you to discover and enjoy. Anyways, Tuesdays became my favorite day and I started treating them like a special day.  And then I started noticing that lots of good things began happening to me on Tuesdays—which is still the case.  Was it a coincidence or because I always treated Tuesdays with anticipation and appreciation? Sanctuary Fast forward 16 years or so and I’m doing some language training with the US State Department for my career as a diplomat.  One of my best friends from the State Department is my friend Phaedra.  Every time we were in Washington D.C. together for training we had such a blast you would never guess we were bureaucrats.  We also shared a common love for wellness and pursuing balanced and relaxed practices. Phaedra told me about a promotion at a nearby gym/spa, MINT that had a promotion on Tuesdays called “Tranquil Tuesdays.”  So we made a date to enjoy the promotion together which was use of the gym for the day. We took a yoga class, experienced a massage, and drank one of their delicious homemade smoothies.  It was lovely!  We so enjoyed our relaxation and wellness date that Tuesday that “Tranquil Tuesdays” became our code word for any relaxing activities or pursuits and sense of sanctuary like we shared that night. So two-years later when Phaedra visited me in Beijing where I was working at the U.S. Embassy, we decided to create our own “Tranquil Tuesdays” one Tuesday.  We went to get pedicures in one of Beijing’s most relaxing refuges, Kocoon Spa, had dinner at a small Japanese noodle bar hidden in a quiet spot by the Liangma River, and then had foot massages at Bodhi Therapeutic Retreat. It was the perfect relaxing evening in a loud crazy city. Love Phaedra also used the dinner at the small Japanese noodle bar as an opportunity to introduce me to my husband Tony.  While visiting me in Beijing (her first time in Asia), Phaedra went on two historical walking-tours with Tony’s company Stretch-a-leg Travel and during the course of those two days decided she needed to set Tony and me up. I was really reluctant and unwelcoming of the whole idea.  I was scheduled to leave Beijing in a couple of months, excited to start a job in the State Department’s UN Security Council office working on East Asian issues in DC.  Clearly, I was not ready to make any romantic attachments.  When Phaedra first floated the idea of setting me up with Tony, I quickly shot it down.  This was mainly because Tony and I both had pretty negative first impressions of each other when I brought Phaedra to meet him on the first day of her walking tour with him. Phaedra was undeterred.  She launched a steady and unrelenting campaign for the rest of the week and was insistent I at least meet up with Tony for a drink or to chat.  Finally, I capitulated and told Phaedra fine, maybe Tony can join us for dinner on Tuesday during our “Beijing Tranquil Tuesday” plans. Well, it turns out Phaedra was onto something, seeing as Tony and I are currently married!  Following the dinner we shared together and Phaedra returning to Colombia where she was working, Tony and I decided we should celebrate “Tranquil Tuesday” every Tuesday evening by doing something relaxing together.  Even today, we still save Tuesday nights for each other to do something special together. Choosing a Name that Inspires the Spirit of Tea When it came time to name the Chinese tea social enterprise of my dreams, the name “Tranquil Tuesdays” kept on coming back to me because I felt it embodied the feeling of tea: relaxing, calming, and quiet.  I wanted a name that was a little bit abstract and imparted the wonderful sensations and experience a moment with a cup of tea gives.  In the end, when I reflected upon how meeting Tony was the inspiring catalyst to finally pursue my dreams and launch a social enterprise tied to my lifelong passion for tea, the name was the perfect fit.  And Even Better in Chinese! So as you can see, the name was created in English first.  As a Chinese social enterprise based in Beijing, China, of course we needed a Chinese name too.  So when it came time to translate “Tranquil Tuesdays” into Chinese we found another cool reason it was the perfect name for the company: in Chinese “tranquil” translates into 宁静ning jing and my Chinese name has a 宁ning in it (commonly Chinese names are either two or three characters).  Many of our Chinese customers think I named the company after myself because of this coincidence—but as you now know, that is not how we came upon the name. Translating “Tuesdays” was a little bit more of a challenge.  The most common ways to translate “Tuesday” in Chinese is 星期二xing qi er or 周二zhou er.  星期二Xin qi er is three characters and I thought it would break the rhythm of a nice four-word Chinese name and 周二zhou er sounded to clinical and staid, not matching the abstract poetic quality of宁静ning jing.  So we became creative and translated Tuesday as 二天 er tian which literally means second day or two days. Together in Chinese however 宁静二天 accurately conveys the same feeling as Tranquil Tuesdays in English. So that’s the story (I know it is long!): the name Tranquil Tuesdays was born out of optimism, sanctuary, love, and my desire to share all those qualities with you through our tea and teaware collections.  It is also about my weekly celebration of my favorite day (I always try to keep my Tuesdays as stress free as possible and doing things I really enjoy) and the weekly ritual of time spent together I share exclusively with Tony. Do you have a favorite day of the week you always treat as special? Do you notice that good things happen to you on that day more than others?  I really hope when you take some time out of your day to make a cup of tea for yourself, or share some tea with friends, you enjoy the spirit of Tranquil Tuesdays.  Tuesday, Thursday or whatever day! ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info
Why the Name Tranquil Tuesdays? One of the most common questions I receive from curious customers or people encountering us for the first time is “Why the name Tranquil Tuesdays?” so I’m excited to share the story with you!  It is a story with many layers—which might take a few minutes to read but in short it is a story about optimism, sanctuary, and love that inspired me to name my company “Tranquil Tuesdays”.  Optimism To start out with, I would say since middle-school my favorite day of the week was Tuesday.  It still is my favorite day of the week. At that time you start hearing everyone saying things like “TGIF” and how they are just looking forward to Fridays.  I couldn’t understand that.  Plus, I thought it was a disappointing way to view the week: something to get over with until you finally got to Friday. That wasn’t how I saw the week.  Tuesdays were my favorite day because Monday was over and you still had the whole week to look forward to.  Who knew what would happen during those upcoming days? What exciting discoveries or new adventures might unfold? It is sort of like how the happiest I ever am is at the beginning of a trip, at the airport ready to board the plane, or train station or in your car ready to drive off.  You are at the best point of your trip: when everything is unknown but you know that days and days of time and adventure are just waiting for you to discover and enjoy. Anyways, Tuesdays became my favorite day and I started treating them like a special day.  And then I started noticing that lots of good things began happening to me on Tuesdays—which is still the case.  Was it a coincidence or because I always treated Tuesdays with anticipation and appreciation? Sanctuary Fast forward 16 years or so and I’m doing some language training with the US State Department for my career as a diplomat.  One of my best friends from the State Department is my friend Phaedra.  Every time we were in Washington D.C. together for training we had such a blast you would never guess we were bureaucrats.  We also shared a common love for wellness and pursuing balanced and relaxed practices. Phaedra told me about a promotion at a nearby gym/spa, MINT that had a promotion on Tuesdays called “Tranquil Tuesdays.”  So we made a date to enjoy the promotion together which was use of the gym for the day. We took a yoga class, experienced a massage, and drank one of their delicious homemade smoothies.  It was lovely!  We so enjoyed our relaxation and wellness date that Tuesday that “Tranquil Tuesdays” became our code word for any relaxing activities or pursuits and sense of sanctuary like we shared that night. So two-years later when Phaedra visited me in Beijing where I was working at the U.S. Embassy, we decided to create our own “Tranquil Tuesdays” one Tuesday.  We went to get pedicures in one of Beijing’s most relaxing refuges, Kocoon Spa, had dinner at a small Japanese noodle bar hidden in a quiet spot by the Liangma River, and then had foot massages at Bodhi Therapeutic Retreat. It was the perfect relaxing evening in a loud crazy city. Love Phaedra also used the dinner at the small Japanese noodle bar as an opportunity to introduce me to my husband Tony.  While visiting me in Beijing (her first time in Asia), Phaedra went on two historical walking-tours with Tony’s company Stretch-a-leg Travel and during the course of those two days decided she needed to set Tony and me up. I was really reluctant and unwelcoming of the whole idea.  I was scheduled to leave Beijing in a couple of months, excited to start a job in the State Department’s UN Security Council office working on East Asian issues in DC.  Clearly, I was not ready to make any romantic attachments.  When Phaedra first floated the idea of setting me up with Tony, I quickly shot it down.  This was mainly because Tony and I both had pretty negative first impressions of each other when I brought Phaedra to meet him on the first day of her walking tour with him. Phaedra was undeterred.  She launched a steady and unrelenting campaign for the rest of the week and was insistent I at least meet up with Tony for a drink or to chat.  Finally, I capitulated and told Phaedra fine, maybe Tony can join us for dinner on Tuesday during our “Beijing Tranquil Tuesday” plans. Well, it turns out Phaedra was onto something, seeing as Tony and I are currently married!  Following the dinner we shared together and Phaedra returning to Colombia where she was working, Tony and I decided we should celebrate “Tranquil Tuesday” every Tuesday evening by doing something relaxing together.  Even today, we still save Tuesday nights for each other to do something special together. Choosing a Name that Inspires the Spirit of Tea When it came time to name the Chinese tea social enterprise of my dreams, the name “Tranquil Tuesdays” kept on coming back to me because I felt it embodied the feeling of tea: relaxing, calming, and quiet.  I wanted a name that was a little bit abstract and imparted the wonderful sensations and experience a moment with a cup of tea gives.  In the end, when I reflected upon how meeting Tony was the inspiring catalyst to finally pursue my dreams and launch a social enterprise tied to my lifelong passion for tea, the name was the perfect fit.  And Even Better in Chinese! So as you can see, the name was created in English first.  As a Chinese social enterprise based in Beijing, China, of course we needed a Chinese name too.  So when it came time to translate “Tranquil Tuesdays” into Chinese we found another cool reason it was the perfect name for the company: in Chinese “tranquil” translates into 宁静ning jing and my Chinese name has a 宁ning in it (commonly Chinese names are either two or three characters).  Many of our Chinese customers think I named the company after myself because of this coincidence—but as you now know, that is not how we came upon the name. Translating “Tuesdays” was a little bit more of a challenge.  The most common ways to translate “Tuesday” in Chinese is 星期二xing qi er or 周二zhou er.  星期二Xin qi er is three characters and I thought it would break the rhythm of a nice four-word Chinese name and 周二zhou er sounded to clinical and staid, not matching the abstract poetic quality of宁静ning jing.  So we became creative and translated Tuesday as 二天 er tian which literally means second day or two days. Together in Chinese however 宁静二天 accurately conveys the same feeling as Tranquil Tuesdays in English. So that’s the story (I know it is long!): the name Tranquil Tuesdays was born out of optimism, sanctuary, love, and my desire to share all those qualities with you through our tea and teaware collections.  It is also about my weekly celebration of my favorite day (I always try to keep my Tuesdays as stress free as possible and doing things I really enjoy) and the weekly ritual of time spent together I share exclusively with Tony. Do you have a favorite day of the week you always treat as special? Do you notice that good things happen to you on that day more than others?  I really hope when you take some time out of your day to make a cup of tea for yourself, or share some tea with friends, you enjoy the spirit of Tranquil Tuesdays.  Tuesday, Thursday or whatever day! ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info
Why the Name Tranquil Tuesdays? One of the most common questions I receive from curious customers or people encountering us for the first time is “Why the name Tranquil Tuesdays?” so I’m excited to share the story with you!  It is a story with many layers—which might take a few minutes to read but in short it is a story about optimism, sanctuary, and love that inspired me to name my company “Tranquil Tuesdays”.  Optimism To start out with, I would say since middle-school my favorite day of the week was Tuesday.  It still is my favorite day of the week. At that time you start hearing everyone saying things like “TGIF” and how they are just looking forward to Fridays.  I couldn’t understand that.  Plus, I thought it was a disappointing way to view the week: something to get over with until you finally got to Friday. That wasn’t how I saw the week.  Tuesdays were my favorite day because Monday was over and you still had the whole week to look forward to.  Who knew what would happen during those upcoming days? What exciting discoveries or new adventures might unfold? It is sort of like how the happiest I ever am is at the beginning of a trip, at the airport ready to board the plane, or train station or in your car ready to drive off.  You are at the best point of your trip: when everything is unknown but you know that days and days of time and adventure are just waiting for you to discover and enjoy. Anyways, Tuesdays became my favorite day and I started treating them like a special day.  And then I started noticing that lots of good things began happening to me on Tuesdays—which is still the case.  Was it a coincidence or because I always treated Tuesdays with anticipation and appreciation? Sanctuary Fast forward 16 years or so and I’m doing some language training with the US State Department for my career as a diplomat.  One of my best friends from the State Department is my friend Phaedra.  Every time we were in Washington D.C. together for training we had such a blast you would never guess we were bureaucrats.  We also shared a common love for wellness and pursuing balanced and relaxed practices. Phaedra told me about a promotion at a nearby gym/spa, MINT that had a promotion on Tuesdays called “Tranquil Tuesdays.”  So we made a date to enjoy the promotion together which was use of the gym for the day. We took a yoga class, experienced a massage, and drank one of their delicious homemade smoothies.  It was lovely!  We so enjoyed our relaxation and wellness date that Tuesday that “Tranquil Tuesdays” became our code word for any relaxing activities or pursuits and sense of sanctuary like we shared that night. So two-years later when Phaedra visited me in Beijing where I was working at the U.S. Embassy, we decided to create our own “Tranquil Tuesdays” one Tuesday.  We went to get pedicures in one of Beijing’s most relaxing refuges, Kocoon Spa, had dinner at a small Japanese noodle bar hidden in a quiet spot by the Liangma River, and then had foot massages at Bodhi Therapeutic Retreat. It was the perfect relaxing evening in a loud crazy city. Love Phaedra also used the dinner at the small Japanese noodle bar as an opportunity to introduce me to my husband Tony.  While visiting me in Beijing (her first time in Asia), Phaedra went on two historical walking-tours with Tony’s company Stretch-a-leg Travel and during the course of those two days decided she needed to set Tony and me up. I was really reluctant and unwelcoming of the whole idea.  I was scheduled to leave Beijing in a couple of months, excited to start a job in the State Department’s UN Security Council office working on East Asian issues in DC.  Clearly, I was not ready to make any romantic attachments.  When Phaedra first floated the idea of setting me up with Tony, I quickly shot it down.  This was mainly because Tony and I both had pretty negative first impressions of each other when I brought Phaedra to meet him on the first day of her walking tour with him. Phaedra was undeterred.  She launched a steady and unrelenting campaign for the rest of the week and was insistent I at least meet up with Tony for a drink or to chat.  Finally, I capitulated and told Phaedra fine, maybe Tony can join us for dinner on Tuesday during our “Beijing Tranquil Tuesday” plans. Well, it turns out Phaedra was onto something, seeing as Tony and I are currently married!  Following the dinner we shared together and Phaedra returning to Colombia where she was working, Tony and I decided we should celebrate “Tranquil Tuesday” every Tuesday evening by doing something relaxing together.  Even today, we still save Tuesday nights for each other to do something special together. Choosing a Name that Inspires the Spirit of Tea When it came time to name the Chinese tea social enterprise of my dreams, the name “Tranquil Tuesdays” kept on coming back to me because I felt it embodied the feeling of tea: relaxing, calming, and quiet.  I wanted a name that was a little bit abstract and imparted the wonderful sensations and experience a moment with a cup of tea gives.  In the end, when I reflected upon how meeting Tony was the inspiring catalyst to finally pursue my dreams and launch a social enterprise tied to my lifelong passion for tea, the name was the perfect fit.  And Even Better in Chinese! So as you can see, the name was created in English first.  As a Chinese social enterprise based in Beijing, China, of course we needed a Chinese name too.  So when it came time to translate “Tranquil Tuesdays” into Chinese we found another cool reason it was the perfect name for the company: in Chinese “tranquil” translates into 宁静ning jing and my Chinese name has a 宁ning in it (commonly Chinese names are either two or three characters).  Many of our Chinese customers think I named the company after myself because of this coincidence—but as you now know, that is not how we came upon the name. Translating “Tuesdays” was a little bit more of a challenge.  The most common ways to translate “Tuesday” in Chinese is 星期二xing qi er or 周二zhou er.  星期二Xin qi er is three characters and I thought it would break the rhythm of a nice four-word Chinese name and 周二zhou er sounded to clinical and staid, not matching the abstract poetic quality of宁静ning jing.  So we became creative and translated Tuesday as 二天 er tian which literally means second day or two days. Together in Chinese however 宁静二天 accurately conveys the same feeling as Tranquil Tuesdays in English. So that’s the story (I know it is long!): the name Tranquil Tuesdays was born out of optimism, sanctuary, love, and my desire to share all those qualities with you through our tea and teaware collections.  It is also about my weekly celebration of my favorite day (I always try to keep my Tuesdays as stress free as possible and doing things I really enjoy) and the weekly ritual of time spent together I share exclusively with Tony. Do you have a favorite day of the week you always treat as special? Do you notice that good things happen to you on that day more than others?  I really hope when you take some time out of your day to make a cup of tea for yourself, or share some tea with friends, you enjoy the spirit of Tranquil Tuesdays.  Tuesday, Thursday or whatever day! ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
Zoom Info

Why the Name Tranquil Tuesdays?

One of the most common questions I receive from curious customers or people encountering us for the first time is “Why the name Tranquil Tuesdays?” so I’m excited to share the story with you! 

It is a story with many layers—which might take a few minutes to read but in short it is a story about optimism, sanctuary, and love that inspired me to name my company “Tranquil Tuesdays”. 

Optimism

To start out with, I would say since middle-school my favorite day of the week was Tuesday.  It still is my favorite day of the week. At that time you start hearing everyone saying things like “TGIF” and how they are just looking forward to Fridays.  I couldn’t understand that.  Plus, I thought it was a disappointing way to view the week: something to get over with until you finally got to Friday.

That wasn’t how I saw the week.  Tuesdays were my favorite day because Monday was over and you still had the whole week to look forward to.  Who knew what would happen during those upcoming days? What exciting discoveries or new adventures might unfold?

It is sort of like how the happiest I ever am is at the beginning of a trip, at the airport ready to board the plane, or train station or in your car ready to drive off.  You are at the best point of your trip: when everything is unknown but you know that days and days of time and adventure are just waiting for you to discover and enjoy.

Anyways, Tuesdays became my favorite day and I started treating them like a special day.  And then I started noticing that lots of good things began happening to me on Tuesdays—which is still the case.  Was it a coincidence or because I always treated Tuesdays with anticipation and appreciation?

Sanctuary

Fast forward 16 years or so and I’m doing some language training with the US State Department for my career as a diplomat.  One of my best friends from the State Department is my friend Phaedra.  Every time we were in Washington D.C. together for training we had such a blast you would never guess we were bureaucrats.  We also shared a common love for wellness and pursuing balanced and relaxed practices.

Phaedra told me about a promotion at a nearby gym/spa, MINT that had a promotion on Tuesdays called “Tranquil Tuesdays.”  So we made a date to enjoy the promotion together which was use of the gym for the day. We took a yoga class, experienced a massage, and drank one of their delicious homemade smoothies.  It was lovely!  We so enjoyed our relaxation and wellness date that Tuesday that “Tranquil Tuesdays” became our code word for any relaxing activities or pursuits and sense of sanctuary like we shared that night.

So two-years later when Phaedra visited me in Beijing where I was working at the U.S. Embassy, we decided to create our own “Tranquil Tuesdays” one Tuesday.  We went to get pedicures in one of Beijing’s most relaxing refuges, Kocoon Spa, had dinner at a small Japanese noodle bar hidden in a quiet spot by the Liangma River, and then had foot massages at Bodhi Therapeutic Retreat. It was the perfect relaxing evening in a loud crazy city.

Love

Phaedra also used the dinner at the small Japanese noodle bar as an opportunity to introduce me to my husband Tony.  While visiting me in Beijing (her first time in Asia), Phaedra went on two historical walking-tours with Tony’s company Stretch-a-leg Travel and during the course of those two days decided she needed to set Tony and me up.

I was really reluctant and unwelcoming of the whole idea.  I was scheduled to leave Beijing in a couple of months, excited to start a job in the State Department’s UN Security Council office working on East Asian issues in DC.  Clearly, I was not ready to make any romantic attachments.  When Phaedra first floated the idea of setting me up with Tony, I quickly shot it down.  This was mainly because Tony and I both had pretty negative first impressions of each other when I brought Phaedra to meet him on the first day of her walking tour with him.

Phaedra was undeterred.  She launched a steady and unrelenting campaign for the rest of the week and was insistent I at least meet up with Tony for a drink or to chat.  Finally, I capitulated and told Phaedra fine, maybe Tony can join us for dinner on Tuesday during our “Beijing Tranquil Tuesday” plans.

Well, it turns out Phaedra was onto something, seeing as Tony and I are currently married!  Following the dinner we shared together and Phaedra returning to Colombia where she was working, Tony and I decided we should celebrate “Tranquil Tuesday” every Tuesday evening by doing something relaxing together.  Even today, we still save Tuesday nights for each other to do something special together.

Choosing a Name that Inspires the Spirit of Tea

When it came time to name the Chinese tea social enterprise of my dreams, the name “Tranquil Tuesdays” kept on coming back to me because I felt it embodied the feeling of tea: relaxing, calming, and quiet.  I wanted a name that was a little bit abstract and imparted the wonderful sensations and experience a moment with a cup of tea gives.  In the end, when I reflected upon how meeting Tony was the inspiring catalyst to finally pursue my dreams and launch a social enterprise tied to my lifelong passion for tea, the name was the perfect fit.  And Even Better in Chinese!

So as you can see, the name was created in English first.  As a Chinese social enterprise based in Beijing, China, of course we needed a Chinese name too.  So when it came time to translate “Tranquil Tuesdays” into Chinese we found another cool reason it was the perfect name for the company: in Chinese “tranquil” translates into 宁静ning jing and my Chinese name has a 宁ning in it (commonly Chinese names are either two or three characters).  Many of our Chinese customers think I named the company after myself because of this coincidence—but as you now know, that is not how we came upon the name.

Translating “Tuesdays” was a little bit more of a challenge.  The most common ways to translate “Tuesday” in Chinese is 星期二xing qi er or 周二zhou er.  星期二Xin qi er is three characters and I thought it would break the rhythm of a nice four-word Chinese name and 周二zhou er sounded to clinical and staid, not matching the abstract poetic quality of宁静ning jing.  So we became creative and translated Tuesday as 二天 er tian which literally means second day or two days. Together in Chinese however 宁静二天 accurately conveys the same feeling as Tranquil Tuesdays in English.

So that’s the story (I know it is long!): the name Tranquil Tuesdays was born out of optimism, sanctuary, love, and my desire to share all those qualities with you through our tea and teaware collections.  It is also about my weekly celebration of my favorite day (I always try to keep my Tuesdays as stress free as possible and doing things I really enjoy) and the weekly ritual of time spent together I share exclusively with Tony.

Do you have a favorite day of the week you always treat as special? Do you notice that good things happen to you on that day more than others?  I really hope when you take some time out of your day to make a cup of tea for yourself, or share some tea with friends, you enjoy the spirit of Tranquil Tuesdays.  Tuesday, Thursday or whatever day!

________________________________________________________

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Happy Year of the Snake! Chinese New Year/Spring Festival starts today in Beijing.  All of China is celebrating a new year, the year of the snake, with lots of red (for good luck), fireworks (to scare off evil spirits), great food, and the company of family and friends.   Festivities started last night (New Years Eve is the big night for family to gather together) and will continue for two weeks ending with the lantern festival.  Happy Year of the Snake from Tranquil Tuesdays—hope it is filled with great tea and many tranquil moments. ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Happy Year of the Snake! Chinese New Year/Spring Festival starts today in Beijing.  All of China is celebrating a new year, the year of the snake, with lots of red (for good luck), fireworks (to scare off evil spirits), great food, and the company of family and friends.   Festivities started last night (New Years Eve is the big night for family to gather together) and will continue for two weeks ending with the lantern festival.  Happy Year of the Snake from Tranquil Tuesdays—hope it is filled with great tea and many tranquil moments. ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Happy Year of the Snake! Chinese New Year/Spring Festival starts today in Beijing.  All of China is celebrating a new year, the year of the snake, with lots of red (for good luck), fireworks (to scare off evil spirits), great food, and the company of family and friends.   Festivities started last night (New Years Eve is the big night for family to gather together) and will continue for two weeks ending with the lantern festival.  Happy Year of the Snake from Tranquil Tuesdays—hope it is filled with great tea and many tranquil moments. ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Happy Year of the Snake! Chinese New Year/Spring Festival starts today in Beijing.  All of China is celebrating a new year, the year of the snake, with lots of red (for good luck), fireworks (to scare off evil spirits), great food, and the company of family and friends.   Festivities started last night (New Years Eve is the big night for family to gather together) and will continue for two weeks ending with the lantern festival.  Happy Year of the Snake from Tranquil Tuesdays—hope it is filled with great tea and many tranquil moments. ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Happy Year of the Snake! Chinese New Year/Spring Festival starts today in Beijing.  All of China is celebrating a new year, the year of the snake, with lots of red (for good luck), fireworks (to scare off evil spirits), great food, and the company of family and friends.   Festivities started last night (New Years Eve is the big night for family to gather together) and will continue for two weeks ending with the lantern festival.  Happy Year of the Snake from Tranquil Tuesdays—hope it is filled with great tea and many tranquil moments. ________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Happy Year of the Snake!

Chinese New Year/Spring Festival starts today in Beijing. 

All of China is celebrating a new year, the year of the snake, with lots of red (for good luck), fireworks (to scare off evil spirits), great food, and the company of family and friends.  

Festivities started last night (New Years Eve is the big night for family to gather together) and will continue for two weeks ending with the lantern festival. 

Happy Year of the Snake from Tranquil Tuesdays—hope it is filled with great tea and many tranquil moments.

________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to

  • Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware
  • Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China
  • Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique

Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!

view of Fangjia Hutong today in snowy Beijing.  Took this, starring my snowy bike, when I arrived to the Tranquil Tuesdays office and showroom this morning. Come visit us during our remaining extended holiday hours: Saturday Dec 15, 10:30am-2:30pm Sunday Dec 16, 12:00pm-3:00pm Tuesday Dec 18 10am-7:30 pm hope to see you soon in our cozy hutong showroom.  we have some delicious warm tea waiting for you!
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view of Fangjia Hutong today in snowy Beijing.  Took this, starring my snowy bike, when I arrived to the Tranquil Tuesdays office and showroom this morning.

Come visit us during our remaining extended holiday hours:

Saturday Dec 15, 10:30am-2:30pm
Sunday Dec 16, 12:00pm-3:00pm
Tuesday Dec 18 10am-7:30 pm

hope to see you soon in our cozy hutong showroom.  we have some delicious warm tea waiting for you!

Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient.  Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you! Starfish Project Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities. Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling. The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story! Tu Textiles A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life.  The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home. Ja Bru Rigs Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art. Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing. Scarlet Threads Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work. You can buy their super cute aprons online. brandnü brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent. The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes. Khunu Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter. Yellow Pummelo Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol. Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling. Paper Tiger Shanghai For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks! Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink. Tranquil Tuesdays A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware. Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world. Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Meaningful Unique Gifts with a Story

I know how hard it is to uncover really great gifts when you’re in Beijing to bring back home.  You want something beautiful, high-quality, and unique that also reflects something about China or Beijing.  And you would love to tell a little story about the gift when you give it to the recipient. 

Well, knowing how hard it is to find gifts that fulfill all those criteria, I did the hard work for you to find these elusive unicorns of a gift.  They DO exist!  I scoured the city, uncovered companies in underground markets, used my quest finding skillz and put together this list of the coolest and best just to share with you!

Starfish Project

Starfish Project is a social enterprise jewelry company dedicated to restoring hope to exploited women in Asia by providing them with a range of vocational and holistic care opportunities.
Starfish jewelry is handmade by women rescued from exploitation and proceeds from the jewelry sales provide for the women’s salaries, housing, health care, education, vocational training and counseling.

The featured necklace above is the “10 Strands of Hope” Necklace. Each strand of the necklace is handmade by a different woman, which means one necklace involves ten transformed lives.  What an amazing story!

Tu Textiles

A Beijing-based design company offering exquisite cushions and fabrics with modern expressions of traditional Chinese patterns, architectural details and cultural symbols that have existed for centuries and still surround us in our everyday life. 

The collection shows how timeless Chinese design elements, pared down to their essential patterns, can find a place in any modern home.

Ja Bru Rigs

Working together with designers and traditional craftsmen, Ja Bru Rigs serves their customers with products that combine modern design and traditional art.

Ja Bru Rigs makes traditional embroidery interesting and fashionable working with women workshops in rural Ningxia and migrant women communities in Beijing.

Scarlet Threads

Scarlet Threads specializes in unique products designed and produced by talented seamstresses and artisans in both rural Asia and Uganda.  When you purchase one of our beautiful hand-crafted and fairly traded products, you become part of our story by providing a woman with safe and rewarding work.

You can buy their super cute aprons online.
brandnü

brandnü believes in the beauty of sharing: 1+1>2. brandnü isbuilding a platform to pair talented Chinese designers and artists with rural women cooperatives in China to create beautiful handicrafts to help rural women become economically independent.

The product collection is all up-cycled fashion products from donated and selected vintage clothes.


Khunu was set up to empower nomadic communities by harnessing the great properties of yak wool. Softer and warmer than merino wool, yet more durable than cashmere, Khunu garments are perfect for staying warm and looking good this winter.
Yellowpummelo makes handmade bars of hard lotion. Typically lotion in liquid form requires the use of preservatives and chemicals, as well as contains alcohol.
Yellowpummelo lotion bars are made from pure beeswax, nut butters and cold pressed oils without any additives or chemicals. Soothing and moisturizing, they are perfect for protecting skin from Beijing’s dry weather, and convenient for traveling.

For the perfect finishing touch on all your gifts, Paper Tiger Shanghai makes any gift, whether bought or made, look like a million bucks!
Gift paper that is inspired by Chinese designs, both traditional and contemporary.  Add the finishing touch to your gift by wrapping it up in our originally designed paper, printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink.
A distinctly Chinese social enterprise devoted to distractingly good Chinese tea and beautifully authentic teaware.
Tranquil Tuesdays is dedicated to revealing and showcasing China’s revered tea tradition and inspired tea culture with the rest of the world.
Tranquil Tuesdays was founded to provide intensive job and life skills training, more promising employment opportunities, developed networks of support, and better access to resources for Chinese women.

_____________________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to

  • Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware
  • Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China
  • Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique

Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!