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Since the late Qing dynasty
Fuding · Chiang Mai
The tea gardens of Fuding beneath the mountains
The tea gardens of Fuding beneath the mountains
The tea gardens of Fuding beneath the mountains
The tea gardens of Fuding beneath the mountains

Fuding · Chiang Mai Ernan White Tea

The monk who came down the mountain to make tea. Four generations of Fuding white tea, poured in Chiang Mai.

Explore the teasThe craft & cultivation
Introduction
One leaf, picked by hand.
Withered for forty hours in mountain sun and wind. Never rolled, never forced.
Four generations in Fuding, since the late Qing.
And twenty years of Chan — the stillness that makes the tea.
Teas, paintings, treasures and stays — by personal enquiry
Ernan — from the mountain to the tea table
Ernan — from the mountain to the tea table
Ernan — from the mountain to the tea table
Ernan — from the mountain to the tea table
Ernan — from the mountain to the tea table
Chapter one

The man

Born Kong Nairong, 74th generation of Confucius. A monk at fifteen, an abbot by thirty, a father and tea maker since. His life is the brand.

Read the story →
A pressed white tea cake resting on a banana leaf
A pressed white tea cake resting on a banana leaf
A pressed white tea cake resting on a banana leaf
A pressed white tea cake resting on a banana leaf
Chapter two

The teas

Organic-certified Fuding white tea: over a hundred teas in the house, from a 1980 Tieguanyin to this spring’s needles. Every cake has a name, a season, and a story. For houses and distributors, allocations and white label; nothing is sold by the cart.

Enter the collection →
A picker in a bamboo hat moving through the tea rows under the mountain
A picker in a bamboo hat moving through the tea rows under the mountain
A picker in a bamboo hat moving through the tea rows under the mountain
A picker in a bamboo hat moving through the tea rows under the mountain
Chapter three

The craft

Early picking, tender picking, clean picking. Forty hours under sun and wind. A year sealed before pressing, then sealed again. The craft is in what is not done.

How white tea is made →
 Morning mist drifting over the terraced tea gardens of Fuding
Chapter four

Fuding

The home of white tea. West Kun village, the carved gate, gardens at 800 metres that vanish into cloud by morning and, some winters, into snow.

The mountain →
 The bamboo pavilion at the Chiang Mai tea house
Chapter five

Chiang Mai

Since 2019: a bamboo pavilion he designed himself in northern Thailand, where the aged cakes travel to be poured, and guests stay for days.

The tea house →
Oil painting of a seated Buddha by Ernan
Oil painting of a seated Buddha by Ernan
Oil painting of a seated Buddha by Ernan
Oil painting of a seated Buddha by Ernan
Chapter six

The brush

Oil paintings of Buddhas in weather, calligraphy in seal and cursive script, and thirty-three poems — from the same hand that presses the tea.

See the work →
A gilt Buddha head from the collection
A gilt Buddha head from the collection
A gilt Buddha head from the collection
A gilt Buddha head from the collection
Chapter seven

The collection

Bronzes, jades and Buddhas gathered over a lifetime; silver kettles and Jizhou cups made for the table. Some remain with the house. Some may be acquired.

Browse the collection →
For houses & distributors

A few houses, a few allocations a year

We work with a small number of houses, hotels and private collectors who want white tea with a provenance they can show their guests: the mountain, the maker, the year, the storehouse. Allocations are annual and documented lot by lot. Rare vintages are offered first to partners who visit.

Enquire as a house or collector
Clouds and Mist in a Cup of Tea — the cover
The book

Clouds and Mist in a Cup of Tea

Poems, calligraphy and painting from a life between tea and Chan, in one bilingual volume. The book is the key to the teas: every cake it names is in the collection here.

Open the book
一盏清茶映万象
半纸烟云渡平生
A cup of clear tea reflects the myriad forms of life; half a sheet of mist and clouds carries the journey of a lifetime.

Every enquiry is answered personally — a tea, a painting, a stay, a conversation.

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