Since 1925, family-run wholesale tea business, Pek Sin Choon, has delivered quality Chinese tea and preserved generations of tradition. Sharing stories of their heritage, they stay relevant while connecting people one cup of tea at a time.
By Felicia Keok & Savanna Tai
Kenry Peh and his staff at the entrance of Pek Sin Choon at 36 Mosque street in Chinatown.
(PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
Pek Sin Choon’s quaint little tea shop is well-hidden in the cultural enclave of Chinatown.
But among the plethora of shophouses, it is hard to miss the shop’s traditional interior and unique collection of Chinese tea.
As one of the oldest tea merchants in Singapore, Pek Sin Choon is located at its fourth establishment since 1925. Renowned for their Nanyang tea blends, they supply tea leaves to over 80 percent of Bak Kut Teh shops in Singapore.
The business is helmed by fourth generation owner Kenry Peh, 53, an affable and charitable man with a can-do attitude and penchant for telling stories.
“Was it hard to find our shop?” Peh asked with a smile as he settled into his traditional tea brewing station.
Peh sitting at his tea brewing station. He often enjoys telling his stories using interesting analogies. (PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS: A NEW SPRING
Reigning a legacy of 96 years, Pek Sin Choon is imbued with nostalgic touches from the olden days in Singapore. Its remarkable history traces back to 1910, a year before the Xinhai Revolution — when Peh’s grandfather, Pek Kim Aw, left China with his family in search of a better life in Singapore.
Starting anew was not easy as an immigrant. Pek Kim Aw worked as an odd-job labourer, before taking a leap of faith and venturing into the tea business.
“My grandfather used to sell tea from door to door with a shoulder pole,” Peh said. “There was a lot of uncertainty being out here, but he was a strong-willed man.”
Slowly but surely, it took 15 years of painstaking effort for Pek Kim Aw to finally set up Pek Sin Choon. The first shop was located along George Street and business flourished until World War II broke out in 1939.
The name, Pek Sin Choon — “Pek” their family name, and “Sin Choon” (新春) which directly translates to “New Spring”, signifies a good harvest for tea plantations.
“It takes tremendous effort for tea plantations to survive the winter,” Peh explained. “Spring is about embarking on a new chapter. It’s about hope, energy, and passion.”
During Peh’s primary school days, he described his grandfather’s authoritative tea training regime as “scary” and “unforgettable”. On many occasions, Peh would sneak away through the small passage of their old shop to avoid his grandfather but faced several futile attempts.
“He would approach me and let me try tea, but the next question was the killer,” Peh recounted warily. “He would ask me to name the tea - this was the real phobia. The moment I got it wrong, it was a straight kanaji (knock on the head with knuckles).”
With every right answer, Peh was rewarded five cents to buy ice cream. To earn extra pocket money, he often helped his grandfather pack tea leaves.
At a young age, Peh could only learn the ropes watching his grandfather blend and roast tea, while he was given handyman tasks like packing and delivering. As a result, his tenacity culminated from years of patience and resolve.
When he was finally handed the reins, Peh showed great flair in his knowledge and tea-making skills, owing to his grandfather’s lessons that nothing came easy, and he had to learn the teas by heart.
“He trained us to be strong. He wanted us to know our roots so that we can pass them down to our future generations,” recalled Peh’s cousin, Peh Feng Qin, 58, who has been working at Pek Sin Choon for almost 40 years.
Pek Sin Choon’s success is owed to Pek Kim Aw’s hard work and dedication since the beginning. From selling tea door-to-door to creating a modern day tea empire, posterity will always remember him for his tenacity and resilience.
Old photographs of their forefathers and news articles of Pek Sin Choon in the olden days are displayed in the shop. (PHOTO: Felicia Keok)
OVERCOMING GENERATIONS OF SETBACKS
In Pek Sin Choon’s early days, Pek Kim Aw traded between countries to secure profits and forge connections. This came with challenges such as export constraints, negotiations challenges, and the uncertainty of a new tea market.
“During my grandfather’s time, there was a period when teas didn’t manage to travel out of China,” Peh said. “Some negotiations were not successful so he had to travel to places like Indonesia to get a hold of other teas that can substitute the Chinese teas.”
This was a tedious process — Pek Kim Aw had to travel back and forth to close business dealings and settle on a compromise that would benefit both parties.
“In trading, it’s all about having a balance,” Peh explained. “It’s a give and take situation. If both parties play their roles properly, they will be an awesome donor and an awesome recipient. That was what my grandfather was striving for.”
The modern era also posed its own challenges. When the COVID-19 pandemic descended, Pek Sin Choon faced one of its biggest adversities. During the circuit breaker period, the business had to cease operations for two months, which took a great toll on their finances.
“In those two months we lost over 90 percent of our income,” recalled Peh. “We don’t usually ask for subsidies, but this time we had to rely on 25 per cent of government subsidies.”
Despite this perfect storm, Pek Sin Choon remained resilient and kept their business afloat by optimising their operations. Most importantly, they had a family of committed and passionate staff.
“Our staff are very sensible. During the start of the pandemic, they voluntarily took unpaid leave for a few months,” said Yuen Eng Wah, 52, the general manager of Pek Sin Choon. “They also volunteered to work longer hours when the demand came back.”
Besides a team of loyal staff, Pek Sin Choon also shifted operations online when wholesale distribution dropped to zero during the Circuit Breaker period. However, digitising their business was not easy and took several rounds of innovation and planning.
“It was a challenge at first since this was something different,” Yuen said. “There was a lot of planning among the different departments. We had to come up with new ideas and learn new ways of innovating.”
Eventually, they managed to cover 10 per cent of their total losses from online profits.
NANYANG TEA PRIDE
Pek Sin Choon’s most renowned tea blend is the Nanyang (南洋) tea, which origin dates back to the olden days in China. After the fall of the Ming and Qing Dynasty, the term Nanyang, which refers to the region of Southeast Asia and the coastal provinces of South China, was coined after various waves of emigration.
Chinese immigrants brought tea blends from all over China to Nanyang, with oolong tea from South and North Fujian. The tea trade burgeoned on a melting pot of cultures and flavours, which gave the Nanyang tea a unique taste.
However, due to trade difficulties and tea supply shortages, Pek Sin Choon pivoted to stay in the market, leveraging on old and new tea from the North and South Fujian regions in Wuyi Mountain and Anxi County.
“Survival comes first, followed by creativity,” Peh quipped.
Pek Sin Choon’s first Nanyang tea blend was the Wuyi Iron Arhat, introduced in the 1930s, which followed one of their most popular tea blends in the 1950s, the Renowned Unknown Fragrance tea, unsurpassed for its Bak Kut Teh pairing.
Before this tea blend hit the market, Bak Kut Teh teas were of lower grade, so Pek Kim Aw sold their Renowned Unknown Fragrance tea blend at a premium, five times the market price. Peh recalled: “Everybody in the industry said my grandfather siao because nobody was going to buy or sell it.”
Yet today, Pek Sin Choon supplies this tea blend to over 80 percent of Bak Kut Teh shops in Singapore.
The Nanyang tea blends are Pek Sin Choon’s most popular tea and are an integral part of their development and history. (PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
The tea blends also feature illustrations on their tins, representing key moments of China’s history.
For instance, their Wuyi Iron Arhat tea features an illustration of a muscular man juggling iron balls, honouring the nation’s labourers, and encouraging others to lead a healthy lifestyle.
FAMILY FIRST, ALWAYS
Mixing business and family is no mean feat, but the Pehs are set on keeping their family-run tradition. At Pek Sin Choon, blood really is thicker than water.
Although most of their staff are in their 60s — and some in their 80s, none are considering retirement anytime soon. When asked why she continues to work, Feng Qin responded that she enjoys the homely feeling of their tight-knit community.
As far as working hours go, it is not your typical nine to five job. They adopt a flexible work arrangement, allowing some elderly staff who are also grandmothers to have more time to fetch their grandchildren or go back home to cook.
“They can come in at ten, or at eight,” Peh chuckled. “They can come in anytime they want so long it’s within working hours, and they can go off anytime too. Our staff love this arrangement.”
Staff bonding sessions are held on occasional Sundays and public holidays. Earlier this year, the team went to S.E.A. Aquarium at Sentosa, and recently attended a concert together.
“At the end of the day, it’s never about the money. We care about our people more,” Peh affirms. “Family first. It’s always been like this since the beginning of our business, and we are glad to keep it that way.”
Peh’s aunts are both over 80-years-old. They have dedicated most of their lifetime to Pek Sin Choon’s business. (PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
UNITING PEOPLE AND CULTURES
Despite their challenges during the pandemic, Pek Sin Choon continued to show support for their retailers. The tea merchant supplies their tea blends to businesses including Song Fa Bak Kut Teh, Founder Bak Kut Teh, Yum Cha and more.
“During the lockdown we initiated some food vouchers for our staff. We paid them about 100 per month to order food from our customers,” said Peh.
“Not because we’re rich but we want to make sure they still deliver (food) to our store and we wanted to support some of the elderly managing the Bak Kut Teh shops, especially because they had difficulty handling the delivery and takeaway period.”
Within the community, Pek Sin Choon continues to share stories of their heritage and spread appreciation for Chinese tea. Peh believes the key for businesses to survive is not about making profit, but rather playing a part in supporting community projects.
“With trade, the basic thing that generates income comes from the public and for us to give back, I think it’s a balance,” he added.
With the Singapore Heritage Board, Pek Sin Choon launched the annual Nanyang Tea challenge in 2018 to preserve their Nanyang tea heritage and promote tea to people all over the world.
The event includes a presentation on Chinese tea brewing, food pairing and tasting, with participants combining elements of their culture to compliment the Nanyang tea. The recent Nanyang Tea Challenge was hosted virtually in May this year, with participants from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia.
A young Singaporean, Chen Ziyi, delivers his tea presentation for the second preliminary round of the Nanyang Tea Challenge 2022. Following the final voting, he was awarded the Silver Award.
(PHOTO: Pek Sin Choon Youtube)
Pek Sin Choon also hosts heritage tours in the shop where visitors can experience the world of tea and get a taste of their rich heritage.
Toh Thiam Wei, 40, a tour guide at Indie Singapore Tours said: “There’s a lot of history in their stories, even the packaging and type of teas. They bring unique tea scents to Singapore and the tea that they sell you don’t see in China, so it’s something uniquely Singapore.”
Shahira Sam, 30, a teacher who visited Pek Sin Choon on a heritage tour agreed: “We had a really good time. It was a really informative and enriching experience, a lot of things we had no idea about.”
Her heritage tour experience included learning about various types of teas, their history, and how the teas are blended and roasted. She also learned how tea leaves are wrapped into the tins and got a glimpse of the oven used to dry the tea leaves.
Peh demonstrates how to wrap the tea leaves using paper on the heritage tour. (PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
To Yuen, the heritage tours go beyond just visiting an old tea merchant in Singapore. “We lead people through stories. It’s the stories and hands-on activities that entice them. Majority are here for the experience and the knowledge so such an experience is one of a kind. If you go to other tea shops they may do tea appreciation, but they don't lead you through heritage stories,” he noted.
“We always have this idea to make it a household name. I think it is something that will keep us going. We concentrate on heritage and culture so that Nanyang tea will become more known as part of our local culture.”
Visitors enjoying a cup of Nanyang tea on a heritage tour at Pek Sin Choon. (PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
PAYING TRIBUTE TO HISTORY AND TRADITION
From traditional tea ware lining the shop to pictures of their ancestors on the shelves, it is no surprise that modern-day Pek Sin Choon is committed to preserving its tradition.
In modern times, although fully automating the tea packing process can boost efficiency and save costs, Pek Sin Choon is steadfast on retaining staff and a pristine production standard.
“The staff wages itself are about three, four times more than the machinery but we chose to keep this traditional packing just to make sure we can pack the teas to our best ability and show people that all five senses need to be used despite the hardship,” Peh explained, adding that about 14 of their 17 staff may be let go if operations are fully automated.
“I think history should repeat itself, some of the methods we can try to enhance but we want to make sure that some traditions of our heritage can tell our story,” Peh added.
Packets of tea leaves are placed on the sealer machine by a staff member. To retain jobs while speeding up production, Pek Sin Choon's operations are currently semi-automated. (PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
Aside from its vibrant colour and contrast, Pek Sin Choon's pink tea leaf wrapping paper holds much historical significance. After World War II, when they ran out of resources, Pek Sin Choon resorted to replacing their white paper with pink paper from Chinese medicine shops.
Eventually when resources were replenished, many tea merchants returned to using white paper as it was easier to consolidate resources from the same supplier, but Pek Sin Choon had a different plan.
“We chose to keep the pink paper because the pink is auspicious for us and it also reminds us of the difficult period,” Peh said. “So of course we can forgive, but don’t forget the war that caused a lot of disasters to the people.”
Pek Sin Choon's tea leaves are wrapped with pink paper on the inside and white paper on the outside. (PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
SUSTAINABILITY FROM DAY ONE
If you purchase one of Pek Sin Choon’s Nanyang tea blends, you may notice that the metal tin you receive does not look new. Since the early days, Pek Sin Choon recycled their tins due to their high costs back then.
Peh noted that charging customers for new tins would actually be more convenient and lucrative as the tins are now cheap, but Pek Sin Choon kept their old practice.
“We collect back the tins and pay 50 cents to the people who return them. Last time I think it was about 10 cents,” Peh said. “Today we are still doing so because we believe the resources from Mother Earth are going to drain off very fast.”
Pek Sin Choon spares no effort to replace damaged tins and provide better ones for purchases made as gifts but still faces challenges for maintaining the practice.
“It takes a lot of effort for us to clean the tins, and sometimes people bring them down and ask, ‘How come the tin is so dirty and you still pass it to us?’. Our aunties (staff) don’t know how to explain to them,” Peh said.
“But since our recycling efforts started from day one, why would we want to throw away and choose an easier way just so people won’t complain about our tins?”
The metal tins used to contain tea leaves are recycled to preserve tradition and save resources. Customers who bring back the tins will be given 50 cents. (PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
FREE TEA FOR EVERYONE!
The tea stand outside the shop has remained a perennial feature for decades, providing a pit stop for travellers to rest and patrons to wash down meals in the olden days.
Upon moving to Mosque Street 20 years ago, Pek Sin Choon harboured second thoughts on continuing the tradition, believing they were the only modern day tea shop with a tea stand.
“We wanted to forgo this but after thinking, since this is about blessing and sharing, why stop?” Peh mused. “Since we also drink the tea, we decided to leave it here and surprisingly people will still come back. The neighbours will drink, people who know us will also top up their water bottle.”
The tea stand outside Pek Sin Choon's shop holds a basket with a porcelain teapot, inviting passers-by to open the lid and pour themselves a cup of tea. It is refilled four to five times daily.
(PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
TAPPING ON MODERN TEA TRENDS
In the booming market of bubble tea and coconut shakes, Chinese tea may not be the majority’s first choice of beverage, especially for the young.
As part of their foray to straddle tradition and innovation, Pek Sin Choon has supplied their tea blends to conventional tea brands producing fruity tea mixes, kombucha, and bubble tea.
“Sometimes people talk about new trends, starting new businesses and making fast money, but without traditional roots, there would be nothing such as carbonated tea,” Peh explained. “It’s with all the traditional roots that we are able to explore and try new things.”
While ventures into the modern tea market have led to innovative creations, Peh, who drinks Chinese tea every day, believes traditional tea will never lose its appeal. After all, Chinese tea has been consumed for over five thousand years.
Besides its health benefits, the tea also has a nuanced, mellow taste. Compared to many modern beverages that contain added sugars and preservatives, Chinese tea has a rich and authentic flavour.
In fact, during the pre-Covid days, Peh also noted that their shop saw many youths who came to enjoy a cup of this healthy beverage.
So if you are looking to sip on a steaming cup of fragrant Chinese tea while listening to Peh’s stories, here's your chance to come visit.
MOVING FORWARD: NOT JUST A TEA SHOP
When asked if any of his six children will take over the family business, Peh said he does not want to pressure them into it.
“To take over a business, it’s not simple. Your heart has to be strong. I wouldn’t want to force them. If they want to help with the business, I want them to do it well and enjoy it.”
For now, he has no plans to automate their work procedures as he highly values their family culture of working together. Tradition and family values underpins the core of Pek Sin Choon’s business.
“It's not about the quantity. We need people to take up the responsibility, who are strong enough to last, and can contribute value and innovation to our business, and not just because of extra salary.”
Peh also noted that although their business did not make it very big, they are happy with the way things are going. Recalling a time when he was asked how Pek Sin Choon compares to big tea brands like Lipton, he added: “We are unique. I don’t think Lipton wants to be Pek Sin Choon, and Pek Sin Choon doesn’t want to be the next Lipton.”
Yuen, who was Peh’s secondary school classmate when he joined the family business, shares a similar vision: “Preserving traditional tea is a root of what we have now. Without that, there’s nothing to talk about, there's nothing to our name, we would be just another tea shop,” he said.
“With this Nanyang heritage that we have, we become something local and unique that we can tell people about and share with them. We are a heritage shop with stories.”
Pek Sin Choon hopes to continue preserving their Nanyang tea heritage while bringing people and cultures together one cup of tea at a time. (PHOTO: Savanna Tai)
Comments