Never have we found such a pure reflection of ourselves, in the words of someone else. We wish to thank the whole team of Magnifissance, and especially writer Jared Pearman, for this heartfelt portrait of our story. The elegance in the aesthetics of all their articles can only be surpassed by the beauty of their words, and we are thankful for having the possibility of being featured in their last issue.
Our love for tea and our land is vivid between each line, beginning from the introduction:
"Atop a mountain in southern China grows a wild tea forest stewarded by a husband and wife whose love for the land is only exceeded by their love for each other—and maybe their love of tea. This is the true story of Eastern Leaves, a company that harvests its tea from ancient trees untouched by modern agriculture".
We are constantly tied to our land, which determines the quality of our different harvests. Our core philosophy is based on positioning ourselves as guardians, rather than owners or farmers, of the precious ecosystem that gives live to our wild tea forest, and our ancient tea trees.
In the interview, Lorenzo says: "Every harvest is important. When we had our first experience with hail and frozen trees, we learned how harsh nature can be. This year we had our first drought. It was actually our lowest harvest to date. It turned out not to be such a bad thing because so few dealers were travelling this year. Plus, the quality of the tea turned out much higher. But that’s our connection with the seasons. We’re dependent. It makes us or breaks us."
The forest is not something we can exploit as absolute owners, but an entity we strive to respect, sharing its gifts with whoever decides to support us.
As Vivian says, “Our forest has been there for many centuries. We have maybe 50 years left in our lives, and the forest will still be there when we’re gone. We are just passengers of time, and we want to protect the land before passing it on.”
You can read the full text our interview from the original text, published on Magnifissance website, and on their last Issue n.103
