Michael Zhan

Michael Zhan has spent more than a decade in the tea mountains of China, sourcing material for Teamotea’s collections. His work takes him from the ancient tree groves of Xīshuāngbǎnnà in Yunnan — where he selects single-batch Shēng Pǔ'ěr (生普洱) — to the rocky outcrops of Wǔyí Shān in Fujian, hand-picking lots of Dà Hóng Páo (大红袍) and other yán chá (岩茶). This depth of field experience grounds everything he does, but his true passion lies in the quiet conversation between leaf and clay.

While on sourcing trips, Michael began collecting Yíxīng (宜兴) teapots, drawn to the way a well-chosen zǐshā (紫砂) pot can transform an already fine tea. His curiosity grew into formal study of clay mineral composition, pot shape, and firing techniques, and by 2023 he was hosting his first Yixing pot evening for a small group in Vienna. The format was simple — six people, three pots, two teas — but the response was immediate. Participants discovered that the same Shēng Pǔ'ěr tasted entirely different when poured from a 1980s qīng shuǐ ní (清水泥) pot than from a modern zhū ní (朱泥) one.

Today the Vienna Yixing pot evening runs several times a year, often as part of tea.events’ curated calendar. Each gathering is deliberately small: a handful of guests, a quiet table, and a slow sequencing of teas that moves from light to dark, sometimes tracing a single tea through multiple clay types. Michael rarely speaks more than he needs to — the pots and the tea do most of the teaching — but his observations on mineral porosity, heat retention, and the way a hú (壶) remembers every session are the thread that holds the evening together.

Those who want to go deeper can explore the material science behind these pairings through tea.school, where Michael contributed to the clay-and-leaf module, while a selection of the pots he sources appear periodically at shop.thetea.app. For Michael, the goal is never to turn a Yixing pot into a commodity, but to help a few people at a time understand that a well-chosen pot is a life companion — one that grows richer with every infusion.