Local entrepreneur and CEED graduate, Stella Xue recently launched Mateasse, an online loose leaf tea company with a focus on high quality, freshness. 本地创业者、CEED项目毕业生Stella Xue近期成立网络散装茶叶公司Mateasse，为客户提供高品质、新鲜的茶产品。
文/Cyndi Sweeney
译/Christine Qin Yang
当地企业家Stella Xue对中国茶文化极有研究。她的努力也将中国茶和茶文化带到加拿大大西洋地区。近日，Stella的网络散装茶销售公司Mateasse成立了。她的公司专注为客户提供高品质、新鲜的散装茶。
Stella介绍道：“饮茶对健康益处多多，即使这个因素并非人们饮茶的初衷。” 绿茶有着很好的抗氧化功效，同时还有补水的效果。Mateasse网站上有20余种茶叶供消费者选择。
Stella和她的女儿从浙江杭州移民哈利法克斯已有八年。她说：“我们的家乡被山湖环绕，但离海遥远。” Stella的女儿大学毕业后决定定居在渥太华，而Stella却决定留在哈利法克斯，因为她非常热爱这个沿海城市。
Stella介绍，Mateasse的客户遍布加拿大、美国以及欧洲各国。同时，她的供货商也遍布全球。她说：“我们尤其支持小种植者，因为他们制作的产品品质优良、新鲜，而且性价比高。” Mateasse所销售的印度香料茶的供应商来自印度。
Stella仅热爱茶文化，而且对绘画也很感兴趣。她给公司命名Mateasse源于画家Henri Matisse的名字。他们产品包装的设计灵感同时也来自于Matisse的著名壁画《舞蹈》，包装中清晰可见的茶叶像舞者般在水蓝色的背景中卷曲着身躯。
然而，Stella更注重的是茶叶本身的品质。她在对哈利法克斯市面销售的茶叶做调研的时候发现很难找到正宗的、高品质的散装茶，多数茶叶都已经不再新鲜。作为茶道行家，Stella说：“我在很多店都试过他们所销售的中国茶，它们喝起来都像是已经存放很久了。” 而Stella表示，她的店绝不会销售不新鲜的茶叶。
她的公司现销售红茶、白茶、乌龙茶、绿茶以及其他种类的茶叶，同时也销售茶具。Stella介绍，陶壶是最优的选择，因为它的密度高，能让茶的香味表现的更为清扬。“一只茶壶，如果保养得当，它会越存越好。陶壶的最佳搭配是绿茶。”
接着，Stella介绍说：“在中国，多数人不着急把茶叶从茶汤中拿出。通常而言，一副茶可以用来冲泡三次。”
生意场上，Stella有在中国进出口电器的前车之鉴。她告诉我们，她最近一次是四月份回国进货，途中，她到访了中国东部的许多知名茶叶生产地，其中包括以龙井茶而闻名的她的家乡。
Stella近期从CEED（创业者教育与发展中心）项目顺利毕业。她现在主要经营网络销售，但以后也会考虑开实体店。“我们考察过很多地点，但当务之急还是找个仓库。”
CEED的顾问Cindy James女士评价道：“Stella凭借个人的优势将异域茶引进新市场。她目前为止最成功的是能很好地找到自己的客户所在，并将自己的产品很好地呈现给顾客。”James女士还说，CEED针对学员的产品提供不同的创意以及创业的构思，并且这些想法都是立即可行的。“从最早的构思到具体实施，再到提升和扩张，都在CEED为客户们提供的服务范围内。”
为了探索创业的可行性，当地咖啡酒馆Lion & Bright Café Wine Bar的店主Sean Gallagher与Stella合作举办了一次品茶会。James女士告诉我们，店主Gallagher花了很多时间采购他店内的茶叶。
James女士回忆道：“在参观Lion& Bright的时候，Sean针对Stella的产品给了一些建议，例如她的茶可以作为与鸡尾酒混合的风味元素。”
作为电商，Stella希望自己能立足于网络。她觉得网络购物越来越受欢迎，与此同时，消费者也能通过色香味觉来享受茶的美。 “我喜欢放松下来，静静观察茶叶。在几泡茶后，茶的味道是截然不同的，有时候新味道另人惊艳。”
更多关于Stella网络茶馆的详情，请访问www.mateasse.com。(完）
Local entrepreneur Stella Xue brings a taste of China and her knowledge of high quality teas to the Maritimes. She recently launched Mateasse, a loose leaf online tea company, specializing in high quality, fresh products.
“There are many health benefits to drinking tea, even though it’s not designed to be that way,” says Xue, like the quality antioxidant properties found in green tea, and teas hydrating benefits to the body. Mateasse sells more than 20 varieties of teas on her website.
Xue and her daughter immigrated to Halifax eight years ago from Hangzhou, a southeastern city in Zhejiang province of China. “Where we are from, we were surrounded by mountains and lakes and far from the sea,” says Xue. Her daughter graduated high school and university and has since settled in Ottawa. Xue says she’s made Halifax her home and loves being near the sea.
She says demand for her teas stretch beyond Canada to the United States and Europe. And her locally operated business supports global suppliers. “We especially want to support small growers,” says Xue, like her Chai tea supplier from India. “It’s premium quality, fresh and a good price.”
Combining her passion for tea and her joy for painting, Xue says the company name, Mateasse, is a play on the artist Henri Matisse. Their packaging is inspired from a Matisse painting, The Dance (La Danse), with lucid tea leaves swirling like dancers against a watery blue background.
But she says it’s what inside that counts and while she had tested leaf teas around Halifax, she found it difficult to find a simple, high quality whole leaf tea that was fresh. “Many Chinese teas I tried in stores tasted old,” says the connoisseur. If the product is not fresh, she says she won’t import it.
Her company sells black, white, oolong and green teas, to name only a few. She also sells tea pots and says clay pots are the best, being more porous and distributing better flavour. “A teapot, if cared for will only get better with age and clay pots are the best for green teas.”
“In China, most people don’t strain their tea leaves and we often will use the same leaves for up to three infusions,” says Xue.
Xue draws on past experience from importing and exporting electronics in China. She says on a recent sourcing trip to China in April, she toured many tea producers in eastern China, including her hometown, a famous producer of Dragonwell tea.
A recent graduate of CEED, Centre for Entrepreneurship, Education and Development, Xue says she’s focusing her business online but may one day look at a storefront option. “We looked at many locations, but for now a warehouse makes more sense.”
“Stella is using her strengths to position exotic teas in a new market. The most essential ingredient to her success is finding ways to expose buyers to her tea,” says CEED advisor Cindy James. James says CEED offers people different ideas and encourages thinking out-of-the-box for original avenues for their products. “CEED works with our clients from the very early idea stages through to implementation and often growth and expansion assistance.”
To explore some of these options, Local Source owner Sean Gallagher arranged a tea tasting for Xue and James at his newest business, a cafe and wine bar. James says Gallagher has devoted many hours to sourcing his own teas.
“On a visit to Lion & Bright, Sean provided Stella feedback on her product and even suggested her teas would be an interesting cocktail infusion,” says James.
For now, Xue says she’s happy to start small and see the online awareness grow as customers enjoy the beauty of tasting, smelling and sampling different varieties. “I love to take a break and look at a leaf … after a few infusions, the leaves taste different … the new tastes can surprise,” says Xue enthusiastically.
For more information see www.mateasse.com. (End)
