Rob making tea in Yunnan

 

Jake relaxing with his brother in law

Although tea has always been an important part of our lives, neither of us grew up playing hide-and-go-seek among the rows of perfectly pruned tea bushes nor were our fathers revered among the great Yixing tea potters. Far less romanticized than we'd like to consider, Jake grew up in London raised on PG Tips and digestives and Rob, in New York, reveled for a many years by the way his mother could extract the very last drop of essence from her white, Lipton fiber teabag.

We consider ourselves two pretty fortunate guys. We live in Kunming, where the weather is almost always pleasant, we drink tea often (sometimes a bit too much) and we think Chinese food is good 6 out of 7 nights a week.

Jake is the son of documentary film maker, a no B.S. Sinologist (seen it with his own two eyes) and a designer by trade. Rob is an American, born and raised, loves language and likes to consider himself a closet artist.

After seven years in China, Jake is now happily married and has two beautiful little boys. His wife is from Lijiang; she's a Naxi girl. Jake spends most of his mornings practicing Taiqi in the park in front of his house. He often says that this was one of his lifelong dreams.

Rob came to China for the first time in 2001. After that first experience in Shanghai he swore he'd come back. He returned to China in 2004, found a girlfriend, bought a house, started a company and often finds himself suprised when he looks in the mirror and realizes how white his skin has become!