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Hong Kong / Gourmet & Pantry

Kee Heung Chun (KHC t-house)

Hong Kong

100-plus teas including aged pu-erh and Phoenix oolong

Why it belongs in ORBIS

Founded in 1938 by a Mr. Lam from Chaozhou, Kee Heung Chun is now run by the third generation from Kennedy Town. It stocks 100+ loose-leaf teas, including aged pu-erh and Phoenix oolong, and supplies Hong Kong's five-star hotels.

Kee Heung Chun has run as a Chaozhou-style tea house since 1938, founded by a Mr. Lam from Chaozhou and now in its third generation of family management from a small shopfront at 30A Belcher's Street in Kennedy Town. The retail side carries more than 100 varieties of loose-leaf tea, including aged pu-erh, Wuyi and Phoenix oolong, jasmine green tea and rarer vintage lots, with tastings offered before purchase and portions sold as small as 50 grams for anyone wanting to sample rather than commit to a full tin. Wholesale is a substantial part of the business alongside the counter trade: the shop supplies five-star hotels, fine-dining restaurants, private clubs and catering operations across Hong Kong, putting its tea on menus well beyond Kennedy Town. Gift sets and festive hampers round out the retail side for customers buying to give rather than to drink themselves. What stands out most in visitor accounts is the owner's own role at the counter - generous with tasting pours and with explaining what separates one grade or vintage from another, running the shop as an education in Chaozhou gongfu tea culture as much as a retail transaction. For a business now well into its ninth decade, that direct, unhurried counter experience has stayed intact even as the wholesale side has grown around it.

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