Local tea shop owner, Andy Buckman, shares Chinese tea culture with tea enthusiasts.
Andy Buckman, 38, pours water into oolong tealeaves to steep in the store he owns in Fairhaven, Great Horse Teas. Buckman developed his passion for tea through studying abroad in his high school and college years. His first time abroad was his junior and senior year of high school when he traveled to Tasmania, Australia where families often enjoy afternoon tea. This is where he learned about the social element of tea. He liked the simplicity of tea and that people could sit at the table and enjoy it over some conversation. “In the U.S., it’s either going to a bar for drinks or getting coffee,” he says. In Australia, Buckman says coffee is not very common. He also traveled in West Africa and Asia and London, where he experienced different ways of tea through each culture, all revolving around the social aspect.
Jared Knapp, 33, smells a jar of one of the teas
that Buckman blended at Great Horse Teas. Knapp learned of Great Horse Teas
from his brother and is quickly becoming a tea enthusiast says Buckman. He
often helps out around the shop when Buckman goes on sourcing trips to China.
Buckman sources most of his tea from China, where he travels twice a year to
pick which teas he wants for his store. Currently, Great Horse Teas carries
about 50 types of tea. Buckman also blends his own teas, adding just a touch of
flowers, spices and herbs to the tea that he sources. His favorite type is Pu’er
tea (pronounced “Poo-ar”), which is one of the first teas traded from China.
The leaves from this Pu’er tea are picked from trees that are over
100-years-old, Buckman says.
Buckman, drinks tea with Maximillian Muhammad, 45,
and Tracy Valvona, 53 in his shop. Valvona grew up in England drinking what her
parents drank, English tea, Earl Grey and the occasional herbal tea. She bought
it from the grocery store, mostly in teabags, and drank it with milk and sugar.
In England, people enjoy and afternoon cup of tea with their families explains
Buckman. Valvona moved to Washington in 2012 when she met Muhammad and got
married. They stumbled upon Great Horse Teas about a year ago and have been
coming in once a week since then to chat with Buckman while tasting new types
of tea. Great Horse Teas is where Valvona began to expand her knowledge with
tea. Valvona now blogs about tea and says she no longer touches milk and sugar
when she drinks it. Her tastes have now changed to mostly the white and green
teas that Buckman sells in his shop. “Once you’ve had the good stuff, there’s
really no going back,” she says.
Buckman and Knapp prepare Chinese noodles
outside Great Horse Teas in Fairhaven Sycamore Square for friends and family
during a Chinese New Year celebration. The shop is in a shared building where other
restaurants and shops exist. Outside Great Horse Teas, Buckman has a table set
up for tea demonstrations and used it for the Chinese New Year celebration. For
the celebration, his family, friends and regular customers joined in to enjoy
traditional Chinese dishes and tea. Buckman has experienced tea in many
cultures but emphasizes Chinese tea culture in his daily life. Tea is about
generosity and “offering something” explains Buckman who deeply enjoys sharing
his passion with others.
Katrina Buckman, 35, feeds her daughter, Josie,
2, noodles that Katrina’s husband, Andy prepared at their Chinese New Year
celebration. Katrina and Andy lived in China together from 2006 to 2007. They came
back to the U.S. to get married and went back to China until 2010. They have
enjoyed tea together and with their family when they can. With his family, Andy
uses a larger teapot and teas with lower caffeine. He wants his kids to grow up
with tea and for it to be a part of their life as well. When he owned a teashop
in South Bend, Indiana, he would often bring Josie with him and she became
familiar with tea. He now brings his 6-month-old son, Arken, to his shop on
occasion.
Buckman and Knapp serve Chinese noodles to
Sophia Anderson, 20, at their Chinese New Year celebration. Anderson is a
Western student that teaches Katrina to speak Mandarin. Katrina hopes to go
back to China with her husband, but with their kids it is difficult. Katrina
works in the tutoring center at Western and almost always has tea with her, she
says. Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the United States, other than
water, according to the Tea Association of U.S.A. It is found in 80 percent of
American households. While 65 percent of tea purchased in the U.S. comes from
tea bags, the amount of loose-leaf tea being sold is increasing, according to
Tea Association of U.S.A.
Buckman and Knapp prepare a second dish of
Chinese noodles outside Great Horse Teas. Through his shop, he has been able to
bring friends together. He says it gives people energy, helps conversation and
“lightens people up.” When he goes to any one of his friends’ houses, they all
serve some type of tea. In China, tea is what people enjoy for nightlife, he
says. He wishes that there were more of an alternative to alcohol in the U.S.,
such as tearooms, so for now he’ll enjoy it with his friends. Buckman charges
about $4 to $7 an ounce for his tea, however some cost a little more. He also
has a 30 percent discount for bulk purchases.
Jake Knapp, 31, drinks tea with Buckman at the
Chinese New Year celebration, outside Great Horse Teas. Knapp is a tea
enthusiast that stumbled upon Buckman’s tea shop about three months into its
opening. He has done much to help with the teashop and accompanied Buckman on
his sourcing trip to China in November 2014, taking photos. The two became very
good friends on that trip and continue to share a love for tea. The next trip
to China will be in April and is the most important trip of the two he takes
each year, where he will select green, white and pu’er tea to bring back for
his shop. Over time, he has gotten better at sourcing more quality teas. He has
found the types that he likes and will continue to purchase, while also
continuing to discover new teas. If he were to source tea online instead of
travel to China, he would lose many connections and many elements to the tea
and the culture. Each type of tea is made in different regions, so he travels
to specific regions in different times of the year to get different types of
tea and each region’s culture around tea is a little different. “Tea is my line
back to China,” Buckman says. “If it weren’t for the tea, I don’t know that I
would have returned.”
