The Heritage of Grandpa Muen's Tea
From Royal Vision to Community Resilience. Rooted in Forests, Sustained by Water.
Grandpa Muen's Tea takes its name from Pu Muen (Grandfather Muen), a respected Lahu community leader in the highlands of northern Thailand. His legacy is part of a remarkable story of transformation, bringing together royal vision, community leadership, environmental stewardship, and sustainable livelihoods.
Around 1970, when His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great (King Rama IX) visited Doi Pu Muen, the community was largely dependent on opium cultivation and subsistence farming. His Majesty encouraged the community to replace opium cultivation with tea farming as a sustainable livelihood. Inspired by this vision, Grandpa Muen and local leaders helped establish tea as a principal economic crop, creating better opportunities for generations of Lahu families.
The transformation continued through the next generation. Recognising that water was essential to the community's future, local leaders and villagers worked together to restore forests, build check dams, develop water storage and filtration systems, and improve water management for households and agriculture.
Today, water also supports renewable hydropower, generating electricity to power tea-processing machinery. By harnessing natural water resources, the community has developed a more sustainable approach to tea production, improving product quality while creating greater value for local livelihoods.
Grandpa Muen's Tea is more than a traditional mountain tea. It represents a living legacy of royal vision, Lahu heritage, intergenerational commitment, and harmony between people, water, forests, and nature.
Every cup tells a story of transformation. Every sip honours a legacy of peace, sustainable livelihoods, and care for future generations.
Watch the story: A Royal Forest Legacy – The Story of Grandpa Muen's Tea.
From Community Heritage to the World
Grown beneath ancient forest canopies in the highlands of Chiang Mai, Grandpa Muen’s Tea reflects generations of community knowledge and sustainable living. Tiara WeShare works alongside the Doi Pu Muen Tea Community Enterprise to share this unique forest tea with wider audiences, creating opportunities that support cultural heritage and sustainable livelihoods.
Our Ethical Commitment
Community Support: Every purchase helps support the Doi Pu Muen tea community, including education, nutrition and community well-being initiatives.
Heritage-Inspired Packaging: Our packaging draws inspiration from the vibrant colours and patterns of traditional Lahu woven textiles.
Responsible Product: Tea is produced using clean energy and practices designed to support long-term community and environmental sustainability.
Brewing Guide
100% Wild-Harvested Assam Black Tea
Steep one sachet in 220 ml of hot water for 3 - 5 minutes.
Taste and Recognition
Taste
A smooth, full-bodied black tea with a naturally rich aroma, reflecting the distinctive character of the highland forests of Doi Pu Muen.Recognition
5-Star OTOP Product Champion and selected as a welcome drink and official gift at APEC.Quality
Thai FDA Registration No. 50-2-08158-2-0001.
From Mountain to Your Cup
High in the mountains of Chiang Mai, approximately 1,300 metres above sea level, Doi Pu Muen is home to a long tradition of Assam tea cultivation. Surrounded by highland forests and watershed areas, tea remains closely connected to community life, local livelihoods and the natural landscape.
The Tea Journey
From fresh leaves to finished black tea, each stage combines community knowledge, careful processing and appropriate technology.
1. Harvesting: Fresh Assam tea shoots are carefully harvested in Doi Pu Muen.
2. Withering: The leaves are allowed to wither, reducing moisture and preparing them for processing.
3. Rolling: The leaves are rolled, beginning the transformation that develops the character of black tea.
4. Fermentation: Controlled fermentation develops the tea’s rich colour, aroma and flavour.
5. Drying: The tea is carefully dried to preserve its quality before packaging.
From Fresh Leaves to Finished Tea
20 kg → 4 kg
Approximately 20 kilograms of fresh tea leaves are required to produce 4 kilograms of finished black tea, reflecting the time, knowledge, labour and care invested at every stage.
Powered by Clean Energy
In its remote highland setting, the Doi Pu Muen community uses small-scale hydropower, solar energy and battery storage to support tea processing.
Together, these technologies provide reliable energy for production while reducing pressure on shared community electricity resources.
Clean energy supports the journey from mountain to cup.
Community at a Glance
A Lahu highland community in Mae Ai District, Chiang Mai, where tea, forests, culture and community life remain closely connected.
Location: Mae Ai District, Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand
Community: Approximately 250 people across around 110 households
Elevation: Approximately 1,300 metres above sea level
Livelihoods: Assam tea cultivation, agriculture and community-based tourism
Culture: Lahu traditions, music, dance, food and community knowledge
Tea Heritage: Assam tea has been part of community life for generations
Community Enterprise: Tea processing, homestays and cultural experiences
A Living Heritage
Tea at Doi Pu Muen is part of a living landscape and a community way of life, connecting the mountain, its people, their knowledge and the tea they create.
Since 2021, Tiara WeShare has worked alongside the community to strengthen livelihoods, create opportunities and share their tea with wider audiences in Thailand and beyond.
For the community, seeing their tea reach new audiences is a source of pride, hope and possibility.
Tiara WeShare remains committed to walking alongside the community and supporting its journey into the future.
From the mountain to your cup, every leaf carries a story.
The Stories of Grandpa Muen’s Tea
A Tiara WeShare Story Collection
High in the mountains of Northern Thailand, every tea leaf carries stories of leadership, transformation, community knowledge and a living relationship between people and the forest.
Through five interconnected stories, discover Doi Pu Muen through the people who shaped the mountain, the tea that sustains community life and the ideas carrying its living heritage into the future. Explore the five stories!
This story collection was independently researched and curated by Tiara WeShare, drawing on publicly available Thai-language sources and firsthand experience working alongside the Doi Pu Muen community.
Continue the Journey
Every cup of Grandpa Muen's Tea carries the story of a community, a landscape, and a living cultural heritage from northern Thailand.
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