Naivetea: Turning Naive Tea Drinkers into Aficionados

"My wife and I are both from Taiwan and we both love tea - especially oolong. That's what Taiwan is known for," said Lawrence Lai, half of the founding duo behind Naivetea, a Burlingame-based tea company. 

That is where the story of Lai and his wife Ann Lee starts and ends - as two expatriates enthusiastically sharing their connection to the tradition of tea with whomever will give it a try. 

A brick and mortar retail location is a goal yet to be realized, but Naivetea is still accessible for a taste. 

Award-winning varietals from Lychee Oolong to Dong Ding Oolong are available to retail customers online and, most recently, through an exclusive tea sitting in San Francisco called Kettle Whistle.

Judging from the response at the no-table-left-unseated premiere event this month, Kettle Whistle may not be the last guest appearance of Naivetea around the Bay Area (That is, not counting the upcoming August, September and October dates in the series). 

In fact, it was by a chance meeting that Naivetea partnered with San Francisco-based Tell Tale Preserve Company to put on these tea parties in the Crescent Hotel of San Francisco.  

Lai met the owner of Tell Tale, William Werner, through a friend and described him as "a tea aficionado, as well." 

The two spoke tea, and shortly after curious foodies who had $55 to part with were enjoying a four-part sweet and savory menu provided by Werner paired with Naivetea's Taiwanese oolongs.

What role did the other half of Naivetea play in putting together Kettle Whistle?

"My wife handles the financial planning" of the business partnership Lai said with a laugh. "I like to spend money and she likes to rein me in."

Aside from managing finances, Ann Lee knows a thing or two about tea production. Lee moved to California from Taipei, Taiwan at 13 but later learned that her family came from a tea farming tradition.

Members of her father’s family are tea farmers near Taipei who produce Bao Zhong oolong teas, a lightly oxidized tea that has characteristics of both green and oolong teas.

Together, Lee and Lai aim to introduce this tradition of quality tea to California. 

In reference to quality, Lai compares batches of tea to wine. It is through the origin of plant that is grown and the manner in which it is processed that can make all the difference in taste, aroma and even appearance. 

Terrior is a term which often comes up on the topic of wine. It will be used to describe where a wine grape was sourced from, what nutrients were in that particular patch of earth and the flavors (minerality, maybe?) those factors have imparted on the wine.

Interestingly enough, this term can also be used in the context of tea.

Writes Mary Lou and Robert J. Heiss in The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide, "... the effects of terrior are most easily understood and tasted in examples such as coffee ... water, wine and tea. Viewed in concert with these other food products, tea seems to be the most simple of the group - a humble green leaf that is plucked from a bush, then dried and brewed."  

Essentially, most commercial tea is harvested from the same "humble green leaf," then fermentation will decide whether the tea will be of a green (unfermented) or black (fermented) variety, or an oolong which is, according to Lai, "somewhere in-between."

Lai's comparison then seems a matter of fact, not personal taste.  

Naivetea perpetuates the process of making a fine tea, and preserving the terrior of a Taiwanese oolong. 

The tea doesn't simply come from a source farm. It comes from "friends who are tea farmers and produce competition tea," says Lai. 

The teas from these small-production farms have won awards in Taiwan, as well as first place in the 2011 North American Tea Championship under the Naivetea brand Dong Ding Oolong (for the aged/baked oolong category).

Naivetea's Lychee Oolong has also won first place in the 2009 World Tea Expo flavored oolong category.

And from experience, this writer can tell you the Lychee Oolong has a lingering floral fragrance and flavor as light and earthy as its muted, golden appearance. 

This infused oolong uses a cultivar called the golden lily. While most teas use a flavoring agent, Naivetea "uses a good quality tea base to pair with the essence. Aroma and flavor profile taste natural and will remain after many steepings," says Lai. 

Taking this selling point to task, Lai's assertion held true. Three steepings into the tea, I could still smell the first blooms of spring on a foggy San Francisco summer's day. 

Yet, for two business partners who can proudly stand behind their product, selling tea isn't the end game.

"Although we are a tea company, we are also promoting tea as a way of life," says Lai. "Its about appreciating what it takes to finally get one cup into your hands."

Patience during grow season, toiling at harvest, tedious fermentation, a journey over land and sea and finally one carefully poured steeping. Then, maybe another.