There it was in How to Spend It, the luxury lifestyle magazine distributed globally with the Financial Times. “Tea’s New Finesse”. An article sourced by Alice Lascelles , August 18, 2016. “Tea is now being sourced, served and appreciated with as much connoisseurship as fine wine”, reported Alice. My husband’s excitement grew as he read through the article and did a fast rewind back to a Monocle Magazine “Retail Special:Tea Emporiums - Film” from July 9, 2015.

Now, my husband and myself had been drinking great tea since 2004, when we met Dr. Ming Wu, third generation Traditional Chinese Medical Doctor and Herbalist. He was raised in the tea culture of Chaozhou, China. And his good fortune to come upon China’s highest quality, rare, wild and pure, limited production teas, was shared with us.

So my husband researched some of the tea shops featured in the How to Spend it article and Monocle’s review. One proprietor touted they were the first tea company to provide the information from where the tea came. He was also noted in the article as saying that when buying Chinese teas you have to have a lot of information or you may not be buying the real thing. We found this tea company to be very credible. Another proprietor touted that Rene Redzepi, two Michelin starred chef, loved one of her teas as his favorite tea.

And of course. My husband had to taste their teas. He had to find out how good our tea, the tea we knew to be good and had been accustomed to drinking, was in comparison to these teas gaining notoriety and endorsement.

So he did what any true tea drinking connoisseur would do. He bought tea from each of the tea companies. Matching the same tea to ours by their category and cultivar, spending over $900 for tea tastings. And over eight hours of tea tasting time.

One afternoon, we had Dr Wu clear his calendar and join us for a tea tasting comparison. From 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon that day till 9:00 p.m. at night . We drank and compared the taste and quality of each tea. And that propelled us into formally offering tea via our SonWu brand. A collaboration between Vinson and Wu, surnames of the partnership.

What we discovered from our tea tastings, blew our minds. These competitor teas were for the most part commercial grade, for the mass market, and sprayed with chemicals. And only one tea companies’ tea was found to be true and acceptable as advertised ….non chemical and high mountain tea.

We continue to taste others’ teas. Searching through NYC, LA and China. We know that not everyone may be able to drink true, pure, high grade, wild grown, limited production, Tea Master rare teas. But it has been our good fortune that we can.

So now we offer it to you. If your path crosses our path, then the Universe has granted you an encounter that you can choose to embrace or ignore. But the intersection of goodness, health, well being and gratitude, can be yours. Try SonWu Tea and see what a difference good tea can make in your life.

Why We Started Selling Tea