T Story Letter From Founder of Tdarks ——Xiangyu Zhou
I was born in Ya'an, a small city renowned as the homeland of the giant pandas and the birthplace of Tibetan tea — a mysterious type of dark tea. During my middle school years, I moved to the United States with my family. Adapting to a new environment, I struggled with bulimia and chronic constipation. It was my grandmother who reintroduced me to the wonders of Tibetan tea.
Living on the harsh Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with a diet scarce in fruits and vegetables, Tibetans have long relied on Tibetan tea as an essential supplement. This miraculous elixir from the highlands, known for its rich nutrition and digestive benefits, not only eased my physical discomfort but, more importantly, transformed my relationship with food.
Guided by a call from the heart, I journeyed to Tibet. There, I was deeply moved by the unique connection between the people and tea, nature, and animals. For Tibetans, drinking tea is more than a daily activity; it's a healing for the soul, a spiritual journey. Tea serves as a communal bond, a bridge for emotional exchange, and a means of physical and spiritual healing. This fresh perspective profoundly altered my views on life and purpose.
In this fast-paced world, I pondered how I could bring the purity and healing power I experienced in Tibet back to New York and share it with the world. This reflection led to the founding of Tdarks.
We are dedicated to developing healing and energizing dark teas and using the practice of mindful tea drinking to awaken people's consciousness to address food waste and even alleviate conditions like bulimia and digestive disorders. Our ultimate goal is to enable people worldwide to experience the healing power of tea and embrace tea-drinking as an art of valuing food, nature, and life. Our tea is a manifesto against food waste, a remedy for overindulgence and digestive issues, and a silent protest against unconscious living.
We are dedicated to developing healing and energizing dark teas and using the practice of mindful tea drinking to awaken people's consciousness to address food waste and even alleviate conditions like bulimia and digestive disorders. Our ultimate goal is to enable people worldwide to experience the healing power of tea and embrace tea-drinking as an art of valuing food, nature, and life. Our tea is a manifesto against food waste, a remedy for overindulgence and digestive issues, and a silent protest against unconscious living.
We warmly invite you to join our journey. Tdarks inspires personal growth and community well-being through each revelation steeped in tea. Upholding the principle of "healing the world with the spirit of tea and reshaping the inner self with mindfulness," we advocate for a state of "flow." With every cup of dark tea, we're not just re-energizing your inner self; we're inviting you into a moment of "flow." Let tranquility and meaningful existence become a shared experience.
We are grateful for your partnership on this path of transformation.
What is dark tea？
For its premiere product, Tdarks selected the mysterious and therapeutically potent dark tea – Tibetan Tea, with a profound history dating back over 1300 years, when Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty introduced it to Tibet. In the high-altitude terrains of Tibet, where people primarily rely on livestock farming, the diet is heavy in meat and dairy, with limited vegetable and fruit intake. Therefore, Tibetan Tea, rich in vitamins, emerged as a life-sustaining beverage for the Tibetan people, cherished for its unique ability to aid digestion and replenish nutrients.
The process of making dark tea bears a resemblance to wine production, involving a unique microbial fermentation process that can span several months to many years. This distinctive fermentation not only endows the tea with a unique flavor but also produces beneficial microbes and bioactive compounds advantageous to human health. Tibetan Tea assists not only with digestion but also with weight management and cholesterol reduction, with its rich content of tea polyphenols and flavonoids offering antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Navigating treacherous mountain paths blanketed with snow and ice, Tdarks discovered the optimal dark tea for crafting Tibetan Tea in Ya'an, where the tea plants thrive at elevations of 1,200 meters, often enveloped in mist. This tea, nurtured by the essence of both heaven and earth and cultivated with precision by tea merchants with a 180-year history, garnered the Gold Medal at the Milan International Fair in Italy in 2018. Through collaboration with these seasoned suppliers, Tdarks utilized the award-winning, eight-year-aged Tibetan Tea as the raw material for the first deep-fermented tea in the Tdarks classic series. To ensure the unparalleled taste of Tibetan Tea, Tdarks collaborated with the inheritor of the human heritage South Roadside Tea, Mrs. Zhang, and her team.
In this complex tea-making process, akin to the meticulousness of wine-making, the tea leaves are pile-fermented in a humid environment, maturing gradually through microbial action and time. Tdarks' teas undergo a strictly controlled fermentation process, ensuring each batch meets ideal fermentation levels and quality standards.
