I got to do an interview with my friend in Singapore for his blog, "
Travelling Teapot." I thought this article might give you a little insight into Norbu Tea.
I want to thank Wilson for the chance to introduce myself to his readers!!!
The text of the article follows, or is available at
http://teapotnews.blogspot.com/2009/09/norbu-tea.html:
Norbu Tea is an online Chinese tea company operating out from Dallas, Texas in USA. The proprietor of this company is Gregory Glancy (yes, he is the one in the pix). He
sells chinese tea and tea accessories like teapots, gaiwans and tea
sets.Gregory tells me that he personally source for all the tea he
sells in his store.
I am privileged to have an interview with him (via email). I posed some questions to him and his answers shown below are unedited for your information and reading pleasure.
Question - tell me about yourself.
Answer: “I
was born and raised in Dallas, TX. Split most of my childhood between
our cattle ranch in East Texas and our home in Dallas. I attended a
small University in Texas called Southwestern University, where I
graduated with a Bachelors degree in Religious Studies and Economics.
My religious studies coursework was primarily focused on Hinduism,
Buddhism and Islam, and I studied how the roots of these traditions
have shaped some aspects of modern culture. Interestingly (and I am
still amazed that I was able to pull this off) I ended up writing my
senior thesis on food concepts (raw vs. cooked, pure vs. polluting,
etc) in the Hindu worldview. My economics coursework was focused on
international economics and learning about the developing world. Random
facts about me: I play the Bass guitar and the saxophone. I have
worked as a line cook and a cooking teacher/demonstrator to feed my
passion for learning about and sharing cooking techniques and food
culture. I am most passionate about my tea and my cooking interests.”
Question
: why enter into a tea business? Why chinese tea?
Answer : “Ever since
I was a kid, I have always been a tea drinker, but in Texas we always
drink black tea (usually not Chinese) over ice with some lemon and
sweetener if you want it (I still don't use any sweeteners in any of my
teas). I started seriously learning about tea a few years ago when I
tasted some decent quality Taiwan oolong for the first time...it was
like a lightbulb went on in my head and I realized how much of a
sensory experience there can be in good quality tea. From there, I was
on a quest to learn as much as I could about tea, so I started going to
local tea shops, shopping online, etc just so I could taste as much as
I could and build a frame of reference in my head for what different
types and styles of tea can actually taste like. I tried my first
Pu-Erh (a loose leaf ripe Pu-Erh with dried tea flowers mixed in that
wasn't very good at all in hindsight) at some point in my tea
exploration, was intrigued with it, and decided to try to learn as much
as I could about Pu-Erh tea. There was virtually nothing written about
Pu-Erh in English, so I had to dig pretty hard to find any good
information at all. Eventually, I ended up traveling to Yunnan for a
vacation. I spent a few days in the Kunming tea market, and fell
completely in love with all the teas I drank there. When I got home
from that trip, I looked around in Asian grocery stores and online, but
couldn't find any of the teas I loved so much. That's when the idea
for Norbu Tea was born...I basically wanted these awesome teas to be
available, saw an opportunity in the marketplace, cashed in my savings,
and started the company.”
Question: where
do you see yourself and Chinese tea in 5 years time? Answer : “In 5
years time, I hope to be focusing all of my professional efforts on
promoting great tea. Chinese tea has won my heart completely, and I
can't imagine not working in this field in some capacity or another.
At this point Norbu Tea has only been online for about one year, so I
don't really have a way of predicting whether the company will be a
success or not. I just plan to continue to focus on a very high
standard of quality and/or freshness of the products I work with while
keeping prices as fair as possible. I think that if I keep these two
aspects of the business firmly in my focus that Norbu Tea has a good
chance of being successful. (I'm not happy with the next part of this
answer at all, but I can't seem to come up with a better way to
communicate my thoughts on the future of tea in China yet...this part
is a work in progress) Over the next few years, I hope that small
scale Chinese tea farmers and producers are able to make a good
living. As it is now, a lot of the big commercial farms produce some
pretty good quality teas but keep the prices low with a huge supply of
inexpensive products for domestic consumption. The problem is that the
small producers of more artisan type products aren't able to offer
their products for a price as low as the big factories can, so the
world is in danger of losing some of the lesser known but great Chinese
teas and tea styles. If overseas demand for higher quality tea
continues to grow over the next few years, my guess is that traditional
producers will be able to support themselves by producing traditional
artisanal teas. We'll have to wait and see if the market trends in
China will continue to allow more and more domestic consumers to pay a
premium for high quality tea as opposed to high quantity tea.”
Norbu tea’s website provides good information on tea and the brewing aspects of different teas. You can also sign up for a e-news letter. Payment for your orders is done through paypal.
I
would like to thank Gregory Glancy for sharing his information,
pictures and thoughts with us and I wish him the very best in his tea
endeavors. Check out the website:
http://www.norbutea.com/
