We are Yang and Chenlin, two friends born and raised in Shanghai, who moved to the Netherlands a few years ago to land jobs as traders in the financial markets. Our adventure as tea entrepreneurs all started with us travelling back from a holiday in China, our suitcases filled with quality tea from private family collections. As we shared the tea with our international friends here in the Netherlands, we noticed them repeatedly coming back to us, asking for more. One afternoon, the two of us were sipping the Longjing green tea from the first flush spring harvest. As we tasted the freshness, elegance and love, it dawned on us that we should start our venture to bring the rich tea-drinking culture of China with us to our second hometown – Amsterdam.

Finding quality teas from China at transparent prices can be a challenge, as the Chinese tea market is heavily network-based. We embarked on calling our connections with the tea farms across the country. By building our relationship with local tea farmers upon trust and mutual understanding, we can proudly introduce certified tea with transparency to the European market.

To truly appreciate the tea masters exquisite craftsmanships and decades of experience in tea cultivation, we started to create the concept of a ‘library of Chinese tea’ back in Amsterdam. Developed over the course of centuries, Chinese full leaf loose tea has a world to explore. And from there, Cha Moods was curated.