Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Strickland
Hi Hunter, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Because I’ve always been very interested in culture, history, and language, I had originally planned to teach English abroad as a way to see the world. When I discovered Chinese tea, I became fascinated with it due to how similar it is to western wine and Viticulture (another love and obsession of mine), as well as the potent health benefits that Chinese teas have. Long story short – Instead of teaching English abroad, I ended up working in a Chinese tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown called Vital Tea Leaf. It’s a family run business full of great people. If you’re ever in San Francisco, be sure to drop by and check it out. I worked there for several years before my mentor and owner of the shop, Ming, started encouraging me to open my own tea shop. So in 2019 I moved back to North Carolina and opened High Climate Tea Company in Asheville.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t know if business is every a smooth road, but we had a particularly rough start opening about just 6 months before the pandemic broke out in 2020 and things went into lockdown. It forced us to be relentlessly creative for a long time, but due to the great community in and around Asheville, as well as visitors to the area who appreciate the quality of our tea and the experience that we offer, we were able to make it through and continue to grow in various ways.
As you know, we’re big fans of High Climate Tea Company. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I (Hunter) travel to China every year and spend time sourcing a wide variety of teas and tea ware from different regions directly from farmers, artisans, and local tea markets. All the teas I source are naturally grown, using ancient farming techniques that mirror what we would describe as “biodiverse farming” today in the West.
Chinese teas not only have a rich complexity of tasting notes and characteristics, but offer a wide variety of health benefits as well. At our store, customers can not only shop for an enormous variety of high quality teas, but we also offer educational tea tastings at our tea bar. We also have a tea lounge and restaurant attached to our retail store where people can relax and enjoy classic Gongfu Cha tea service. We also have a variety of sweet and savory snacks and entrees people can enjoy. All of our food is made in house. We are particularly famous for our noodle bowls and our Mochi, which we roll by hand every morning.
Any big plans?
As we continue to expand our tea offerings and add events, I also plan to begin importing art pieces, and decorative shelving units, and furniture that we will have for sale as well. I am also looking for some land to begin growing some of our own herbs and produce.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://highclimatetea.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/high_climate_tea/
