Zhou Xiang

Zhou Xiang grew up among the tea gardens of Hunan’s Anhua county, where his family produced small-batch hóng chá (红茶) and huáng chá (黄茶). He studied under master Zhao Bao in Changsha, then completed an apprenticeship at the West Lake Lóngjǐng (龙井) institute in Hangzhou, deepening his palate for China’s finest green teas. Today he is the senior tea expert for green, black, and yellow varieties at tea.place, where he shapes the editorial voice of our community — from the pricing-models thread “Pricing tea by grams vs by session — what we recommend” to live events like the Shanghai French Concession Chinese-tea-room tour held through tea.events. His tasting library is built around Hunan’s layered treasure: the downy needles of Jūnshān Yínzhēn (君山银针) picked at dawn on Junshan Island; the honeyed finish of Mí Lán Xiāng (蜜兰香) from Guangdong’s Phoenix Mountain — outside his own three categories, but a dancong he champions for its cross-regional pull on Hunan drinkers; and the nutty warmth of a hand-twirled Lóngjǐng. Zhou teaches masterclass sessions at tea.school, where he walks students through water temperature curves and leaf-to-water ratios, and he contributes regularly to the community forum at tea.community, where his data-driven approach — grams per session, cost per steep — demystifies the market. At tea.place, Zhou curates the Hunan regional listings and also serves as the content editor for the European green-tea-house tradition, hand-picking venues from Saint Petersburg to Paris that honour the Russian tea ritual. His mapping work integrates directly with shop.thetea.app for direct purchasing, and his weekly “Green Tea Wednesdays” are a fixture for those seeking calm, considered brewing. He believes that every tea drinker should understand both the leaf’s geography and the maths behind its price, a philosophy that runs through his long-form editorial pieces and his one-on-one consultations.