Tea Drunk’s Educational Club Offers a One-of-a-Kind Tea Tasting Experience

Tea Drunk Educational Club brings people together for tastings to learn about Chinese harvested teas. [Photo by Ying Li (Instagram: @echoo_lee_)]

Feeling cold this winter? Feeling isolated because of the pandemic? Warm up with a cup of tea while meeting others with Tea Drunk’s Educational Club. 

“I wanted to be closer to the actual products and I also wanted to do something that is more meaningful than what I was doing before, and also be able to call myself an entrepreneur,” says Shunan Teng, founder of Tea Drunk. “So of all of these things together, I thought, what do I know more than anybody else?”

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Teng, who originally worked in corporate finance, decided to put her business expertise to use and open Tea Drunk in New York City. She couldn’t find any other places in the city that were dedicated to serving Chinese teas. Along with selling these teas, Teng developed Tea Drunk’s Educational Club to bring people together for tastings to learn about Chinese harvested teas.

Tea Drunk’s Educational Club provides the opportunity to try some of the most rare and expensive teas in the world. [Photo by Yuxi Liu (Instagram: @oyuxi)]

Tea Drunk’s Educational Club provides the opportunity to try some of the most rare and expensive teas in the world. The Club offers two kinds of classes: the Sampler and the Reserve.

The Sampler is best for those trying different kinds of tea for the first time, whereas the Reserve is for those who have been drinking teas for a while and want to discover new types. Both of the clubs provide you with two teas to taste each month along with live tastings with Teng. Tastings are also recorded in the event that you can’t tune in for the live event.

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Tea Drunk has partnered with the Mexican company Soy Te to run the Educational Club and classes are now offered in both English and Spanish. The collaboration with Soy Te brought most of Tea Drunk’s new members from Mexico. 

“By the end of the month, we're actually going to collaborate even further, and they are now officially Tea Drunk’s distributor in Mexico as well,” Teng says. 

In order to provide the best quality teas and educate others, Tea Drunk founder Shunan Teng visits China every year during tea season. [Image courtesy of Tea Drunk]

In order to provide the best quality teas and educate others, Teng visits China every year during tea season. Even though the pandemic prevented her from traveling, Teng was still able to virtually collaborate with people she’s worked with in China, trusting that their taste buds would yield to the right selection of teas. Along with Teng’s own expertise on studying tea, she works with people who have studied tea and are professionally trained.

Tea Drunk’s Education Club diversifies its tea selection each time. Teas are selected with the season, as well as the diversity of selection. During the winter season, Tea Drunk serves a variety of older and darker teas with a fuller body and higher roast. Both clubs had the Wu Yi Yan Cha (Cliff or Rock Teas), though the Reserve Club had a rare albino cultivar of the tea. Yan Cha comes from the UNESCO world heritage site Wu Yi Shan, located in the northern Fujian Province of China, famous for making Oolong tea.

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Next month, Reserve club members will be introduced to a new green tea. Teng said that this floral tea takes over 12 hours to make and it has to be actively watched. The tea is bright but not perky, and a good introduction to spring.

“I think it's perfectly nice for this time where we're waiting for all the green things to wake up,” Teng says. 

All of the teas selected by Teng are from historical Chinese sites—none are ever made on a plantation. [Photo by Yuxi Liu (Instagram: @oyuxi)]

Teng selects teas from historical Chinese sites in valleys, slopes, and mountain valleys—none are ever made on a plantation. The teas also offer numerous health benefits such as boosting the immune system and calming nerves. 

Tea Drunk’s Educational Club has become popular worldwide. Aside from Mexico, viewers are tuning in from Canada and Qatar. With over 32.7k followers on Instagram and multiple partnerships, the Tea Drunk experience has made its mark. Some renowned partnerships include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Van Cleef & Arpels, Audi, and others.

“I had to give these partners greater credit because most of [the] time they found us, we didn't initiate,” Teng says. “I really thank them for recognizing us as something that suits their brand images and their needs.”

Membership for the Sampler Club costs $50 per month and the Reserve is $80 per month. You can join Tea Drunk’s Educational Club today by visiting here. Follow them on Instagram: @teadrunk

Holly is a college broadcast and print journalism major at DePaul University. She is originally from New York City, but has lived in Chicago and is now based in Los Angeles. Currently, Holly works as an Editorial Intern at The Argonaut, where she serves its communities by writing articles on business features, special events, health and wellness, food spotlights, amongst other topics. She’s also a Staff Writer at her university’s newspaper, The DePaulia, and served as a news director at their award-winning radio station, Radio DePaul. Holly has written on a plethora of topics but her favorites are global events, travel, and health & wellness. When she’s not writing, she enjoys swimming, hiking, exploring, and reading. She’s also fluent in French. Follow her on Instagram @holly_jenvey