Less fuss

Liu, who is originally from Harbin, says TNTea wanted to strip back the fuss of traditional Chinese tea ceremonies and present tea in a modern, fresh way with creative names and innovative recipes.

"We wanted to change the formality of drinking tea. With the names we took inspiration from cocktails, wines and other drinks. But the heritage and essence of the tea remains. It's still natural, it's still healthy and it has no additives."

The 29-year-old admitted creating the additive-free drinks was a "horribly long process", which involved scouring tea fairs for supply chains that didn't exist and employing two experts who resigned within a week after declaring TNTea's mission "impossible".

"No one in the whole world was willing to do it, so we said we would do it ourselves and came up with different recipes. A lot of them come from personal experiences."

The former investment banker and his team traveled across China and found ancient tea recipes to experiment with and renovate into creations influenced by their love of cocktails, wine and foreign flavors from their time spent abroad.

Liu, who has a level-five Wine and Spirit Education Trust certificate, said his favorite tea, Nirvana, is based on the layering concept of a wine. He said in one sip you could distinctly taste the separate flavors of green tea and Chinese rock sugar.

"It's a totally new taste system with no additives and low calories. I would say coffee is a very strong flavor. Coffee is like a Western boxer - it packs a strong punch. Tea is like Chinese Kung Fu - it has more elements to it, it's more sophisticated," says Liu.