It’s that time of the week again, and to kick things off I’m implementing a new topic. Once a month I will be blogging about an up and coming startup in Boulder.

For the first “Startup of the Month”, I will be focusing on a recent tea startup called Wu Mountain Tea.

Wu Mountain was co-founded by University of Colorado Student, Dylan Rothenberg. Dylan, President of Wu Mountain Tea, originally went to China as a Boren Scholar to study Chinese, and ended-up living and working in the famous Tea Markets of Gungzhou where he learned to source tea for a European premium tea distributor. After becoming fluent in Chinese and developing relationships with numerous suppliers, Dylan realized there was an opportunity to use these skills to bring premium Chinese tea to the US at a reasonable price, without compromising quality. With the help of Jeremy Leclerc (Chief Consultant and Business Strategist), Professor Zhang Lingyun (Modern Tea Production Expert), and Michal Butor (Rare Tea Specialist and Quality Control); Dylan has not only established a tea company that insists on bringing the highest quality of tea to US markets, but furthermore, change the American mindset around what good tea is supposed to taste like.

Wu Mountain Tea sources several premium and organic Oolong, Black, Green, and White teas, as well as premium organic Matcha powder. Quality is essential in tea because it is a product that can easily be sold in an inferior and unclean form. When large tea corporations source their product they are not concerned with purity or flavor quality. Since many American tea consumers know fairly little about tea, these inferior products go unchecked. This, however, is not the case with Wu Mountain Tea.

Selling products of premium purity and quality requires a lot of testing. Every product Wu Mountain sells is tested for purity on site in China, and then again when it enters the United States. When you want to be absolutely certain that a product is pure and safe for the consumer, extra precautions must be taken. “We triple check our products purity which takes considerable time and effort, but we are happy to do it and it’s what’s best for our customers.” – Dylan Rothenberg

In a recent interview, Dylan explained, “Wu in Chinese means to awaken, and Wu Mountain Tea was created to awaken American tea consumers to a premium but affordable product to which they have had no access until now”.

While the company is still in the early stages of growth, Dylan and his colleagues insist that the premium and organic products they bring to market will be consistent and of the same quality as the business expands.

“The reason Wu Mountain can offer a premium product at such an affordable price is because I personally handle the sourcing and packaging of the tea, shipping to the U.S., dealing with customs, the website design, and a majority of sales and marketing. While in China, I set up our supply chain, collaborated with all of our suppliers of premium tea and dealt with exportation of our products. Recently my job has been focused around launching the website and making Wu Mountain Tea a household name. In order to truly awaken the American tea consumer, as is my mission, I have to be here in the states with my finger on the pulse of the American tea market.” – Dylan Rothenberg

Dylan’s innate sense of responsibility to personally address each and every aspect of his business model is the driving force behind the quality that Wu Mountain Tea strives to uphold. With the support and knowledge of his many constituents, Wu Mountain will prove to be a force to be reckoned with in the premium tea industry.

Currently, Wu Mountain is offering free shipping on all orders placed within the United States. I strongly suggest heading over to their website and ordering some for yourself and fellow tea enthusiasts.  As I am an avid tea consumer I can personally guarantee that you will not be disappointed, in fact, your tastebuds will be jumping for joy. Wu Mountain Tea is unmatched in the quality of their products and customer service of the team.

I hope you have enjoyed this months “Startup of the Month”. Check back in a few months to see where Wu Mountain Tea is at (I will be doing a follow-up). And as always, check back in next week at 3PM MST to learn more about what is going on in the Boulder Startup community.

Thanks for reading. Cheers!

Chase Howard Director of Business Relations