Master Yu Hui Tseng is a Gongfu tea ceremony master, she is the only female master and among the ten most recognised today.
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She is the founder and owner of La Maison des Trois Thés, a world famous tea salon in Paris.
Early life
Born in a family descending from Zengzi, Yu Hui Tseng started studying the piano aged four, and later took up the clarinet at a professional level, earning a first prize of Taiwan at 17. In parallel, she studied the Gongfu tea ceremony with Master Zhang Tian Fu, who is revered by many as the greatest tea sage in Asia.
La Maison des Trois Thés
In 1995, she opened La Maison des Trois Thés in Paris (1 rue Saint-Médard), where she keeps one of the largest tea cellars in the world, with over 1000 selections of tea, some of them older than a 100 years, and sometimes costing significantly more than even the most prized and grand French wines, like Château Pétrus, Romanée-Conti, or anything from the cellars of Dom Pérignon. In her tea salon, she stores and ages tea varieties in specially designed chambers, for optimal temperature and humidity control.
Master Tseng is known to be a perfectionist when it comes to tea conditions and conservation, but also when it comes to tea appreciation, going as far as demanding from customers not to wear strong fragrances when they come for tea tastings.
Tea Expertise and Gastronomy
Master Tseng is consulted by many Michelin-starred chefs in Paris like Alain Senderens, Guy Savoy, Joël Robuchon, Olivier Roellinger and Pierre Gagnaire. She provides them with the best tea varieties for their restaurants and also helps them find the right flavours and scents to accompany their dishes. She also often collaborates with acclaimed pastry chefs and chocolatiers, such as Jacques Génin and Pierre Hermé, world famous sommeliers like Andreas Larrson and Patrick Borras, as well as master cheese makers, spice masters, whiskey-makers and even perfumers - who all find her rare expertise most valuable. Likewise, her unique skills are precious for companies like Nestlé Waters (Perrier, San Pellegrino, Vittel, etc.) that - like the world-famous wine experts they routinely use, trust her taste and "nose" for their products.
Tea Culture
Like other major tea protagonists, Master Tseng uses her knowledge and experience to try to change the image tea has for many people in France and other western countries. She elevates tea as a true culture for connoisseurs, keen amateurs and new-comers alike, and enriches western gastronomy by giving tea its rightful place as one of the finest, most versatile and highly refined beverages that exists. Master Tseng is well-known for her informed exchange of ideas with top wine experts like Philippe Faure-Brac, Richard Geoffroy (Dom Pérignon) or Jean-Claude Berrouet (winemaker at "Château Pétrus" for 40 years).