Interview with Mr. Wong Kam Chi

Interview with Mr. Wong Kam Chi

Wu Yue Youzhai – Published 2018-09-21

Wong Kam Chi was born in 1941 in Huian, Quanzhou, which is known as the birthplace of several famous Tea Masters including Zhuang Wanfang, Chen Rafter, Lin Fuquan, and Luo Shaojun. He is a Malaysian overseas Chinese and the Founder of Hong Kong Hip Woo Tea Company Limited. With over 40 years of experience in the tea trade of Nanyang overseas Chinese, he has become a senior tea production and evaluation expert in the Chinese tea industry, as well as an important witness of the 40 years history of China’s tea industry during the period of reform and opening up. Mr. Kou Dan, a renowned tea culture celebrity, praised Wong Kam Chi and described his contributions to the tea industry as a model for all tea experts.

In the early to mid-1980s, Wong Kam Chi traveled north to Wuyi Mountain to learn from Mr. Yao Yueming, a rock tea master, and Chen Shusheng, an old tea master known as the “living fossil of Wuyi rock tea”. After returning to Hong Kong, he founded Hong Kong Hip Woo Tea Company Limited to echo the Hip Shing Tea House founded by Wong’s father in Malaysia.
For over 40 years, Wong Kam Chi has achieved outstanding results in overseas trade, production, and acquisition of various teas including Wuyi rock tea, Tie Guanyin, Fujian white tea, Wuyi black tea, Sri Lankan black tea, Pu’er tea, and Chinese black tea. He has established friendly cooperation with well-known trade names and tea brands in Southeast Asian countries and regions such as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan.

In recent years, after defeating cancer, Mr. Wong has tirelessly worked for the establishment of the Xiehe Nanyang Tea Culture Museum. He has also been invited to serve as a judge of the Grand Tea Competition in the domestic tea industry for several years, and has become a lifelong advocate for the betterment of the tea industry.

Wong Kam Chi has created two unique proverbs on tea’s evaluation and production: “Beautiful shape of tea leaf, Clear tea soup color, long lasting of Aroma, and Taste mellow” and “integration, differentiation, Aroma enhancement and Mellow enhancemnet”. These proverbs summarize the four characteristics of good tea and the four main points of baking. The evaluation elements of tea are closely linked with the production methodology, which encompasses the perfect historical knowledge passed down through the ages and the high refinement of Chen Shusheng’s tea evaluation and Yao Yueming’s rock tea production “Yao’s Roasting Method”. This ingenious “Wong’s craft” that Wong Kam Chi and his son, Mr. Ben, produce for Sri Lanka also produces national black tea. They have further amazed clients with a special “Ceylon No. 8 Black Tea” that has the flavor of rock tea and the charm of black tea.

Tea is a national drink and is for all humans. Wong Kam Chi’s undying love for tea has led him to advocate for more tea education and tea culture dissemination so that more people can drink “good tea” that suits them and is good for them. With over 80 radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, he has not lost his sense of taste and smell, and he continues to share a laugh and some tea with his friends.

In conclusion, Wong Kam Chi’s life-long devotion to tea has made him a renowned tea expert with a wealth of experience and knowledge. He believes that five key points are necessary to produce great tea: a superior natural environment, excellent tea varieties, timely and reasonable picking, delicate processing, and an exquisite brewing process. Skilled manual labor is indispensable to the process, which is true for all famous tea.

（2018.9.21）