Did you know that tea drinking dates back to 2732 BC when a Chinese emperor discovered the concept after some tea leaves blew into his boiling pot of water? It’s true. With a market size of $13 billion, tea is a global good today. But, the majority of teas do not provide customers with a unique experience, that of a flower blooming in your cup as you sip. Welcome, The Qi, an organic whole flower tea brand that is elevating the at-home drink.

Born in Yingkuo, on the coastal edge of North-East China, founder of The Qi, Lisa Li grew up drinking tea. “My mother was a single parent and worked full-time. She is the main source of my inspiration and told me that you have to make the best with what you have. As a result, my grandmother raised me and I grew up surrounded by many herbal remedies and treatments from a young age. Back then Ginseng wasn’t known as an adaptogen, but just as a regular old herb. The soups that we had were what most westerns would call bone broth today” says Lisa.

Before the wellness trend hit the Western market, Lisa lived her life surrounded by traditional Chinese medicine as a way of life instead of a solution to a problem. At the age of 14, she moved to Vermont with her mother who opened up a dumpling restaurant. Lisa later attended Bentley University for undergrad and got a job in accounting, which she hated and eventually made her way to the fashion industry, working for Gucci after attending Parsons University.

“I was never an A+ student, like your stereotypical Asians. School was fine, but I never liked to learn from books.”

Fast forward to 2017 and The Qi (pronounced the chee) was born. Qi means life force or life energy in Chinese. The Qi is an organic flower tea brand with food-grade quality. Customers can purchase 3 types of flowers: rose, lotus, and chrysanthemum alongside accessories such as glass mugs, glass pots, bamboo tongs, and more. The Qi wants to elevate your at-home tea drinking experience and takes design very seriously.

The Aha Moment

“I was feeling burnt out and wanted to start something in the tea category, having grown up around herbal remedies my entire life. I went on a trip to Shangri-la with my mother and found a remote village where 90% of Asia’s teas originate from. At the time I thought I wanted to launch a caffeinated tea brand rooted in green tea or black tea. However, I came across these roses that the locals drink as a tea and eat as a delicacy. I found the experience to be so transformative and beautiful that I felt a responsibility to share it with the world.”

Tea is very similar to wine, in the sense that it is very complex. Lisa went out to set up her supply chain in this tiny village in China, near Tibet where the flowers grow 10,000 ft above sea level. Each flower sold on The Qi is sourced from a different farm. She was able to meet these farmers by attending the local flower market and developing a relationship.

“By using third party testing we almost went broke and closed our doors before even opening, but the end result is worth all of the effort.”

The hardest obstacle Lisa faced was finding a farm that grew flowers that were edible and free of pesticide since many farms didn’t have the money for testing and obtaining official certifications. Lisa tells us how “you need to have food grade quality flowers with organic standard flower tisanes. The biggest surprise was learning what went into getting an organic certification. The flower tisane category doesn’t exist in the USDA directory, which meant that each flower had to have zero traces of pesticides for us to call it organic.” Fun fact: the pesticide threshold for caffeinated teas is below 0.5%.

“Many people buy our products as gifts.”

Functioning on a bootstrapped budget, Lisa engages in organic, grassroots level marketing. “We do a lot of giveaways, collaborations with influencers, and email sign-ups. I find that the digital advertising space gets very expensive, you need to pay to play and if you don’t have the budget, it is hard to get a good return.”

Instead, The Qi has exhibited at tradeshows such as Shop Object to land successful retail partners such as Anthropologie and Bloomingdale. Pre-COVID majority of their sales were coming from these wholesale accounts, but now things have shifted towards their website with bigger margins (snaps).

The Advice

Every founder has their own advice for those looking to launch a business in this digital world we live in. Lisa mentions that:

You should constantly manage your cashflow and prioritize what is truly important to move the needle forward.
Invest in PR, but make sure whoever you hire has a track record as your money can go down a black hole very quickly with little returns.
Everything happens for a reason and nothing is by accident. You should be aware of your personal journey and the space this world holds for you.
You need to be extremely passionate about what you are doing as this will become your obsession for the next couple of years and you don’t want to get burnt out.

Born on the leap year (Feb 29), Lisa tends to work seven days a week, but will take the day off bi-weekly to engage in cooking, playing with her dog in the park and reading. Her favorite brands consist of Nike, Patagonia, and Billie.

If you are curious about the benefits of flower power or are looking for a great gift idea, shop The Qi here and mention “radiche15” for a 15% discount.

Photo courtesy of The Qi.

Written by Alysha Malik.