About Jade Mountain tea

History: Jade Summit Tea > Jade Valley Tea Arts > Jade Mountain Tea

In the Spring of 2014, after an 18 year journey as a practitioner of the Way of Tea, I had entered a new era, being fatefully phoned by a friend about a for-rent sign in the center of downtown Nevada City.  Two months later, and with full community support, Jade Summit Tea & Antiques was birthed. Converting a large portion of my personal antique collection to store stock, plus tapping 15 years of established relationships in the Tea world to source high quality whole leaf Teas, Jade Summit was off to a stellar beginning with the concept of operating a high-end Tea & Antique Shop alongside a fully Private Tea Room.

DISASTER STRIKES (or was it Divine Intervention?)

On January 10, 2017, after several days of monsoon style rains and flooding, Jade Summit was hit with a deluge of water, and subsequently had to be evacuated. The shop was permanently closed within three weeks due to structural damage and mold issues in the 170 year old brick building. Fortunately, sensitive Tea and wood antiques were removed immediately and spared serious damage. But the shop was closed for good, and along with it, an income, a livelihood, and a public location to connect with clients.

Jade Valley Retreat

Having moved my family to a beautiful new home location just six months prior to the flood, I found myself looking for a new business models and realized I need look no further than my own front door. Thus, Jade Valley was initiated as a private tea house and Nature Retreat Center where we could host events, clients, tea ceremonies, workshops and retreats in a park-like setting accentuated with Japanese-esque architecture. Many current guests assume that we designed and built the Jade Valley location because of its perfect-fit aesthetics. Indeed, it did turn out to be a stellar location for our work, and a great home for all the Asian antiques that had once adorned the Jade Summit shop.

Growing Tea - a New Project Emerges

Recovering from the blow of having lost the storefront, I was confronted with something new: growing Tea. I had been visiting tea farmers in various Asian regions for a decade. Some of these plantations were similar to N. California - in climate, altitude and natural flora. Two of these places were in Japan as examples that stood out in my mind. Why not grow tea at Jade Valley?

And then serendipity happened: I had met Mike Fritz, who had been growing a small private tea plantation North of Oroville, CA who had gained some recognition for his tea after several years of cultivation. This confirmed my gut feeling: that growing tea could be viable in N. California. Immediately I set out to find organic seedlings, and in Autumn of 2017 proceeded to prepare beds and begin to plant 1/2 acre of tea, roughly 400 saplings.

8 years later, the Tea is thriving, though not without mishaps and losing over half of my initial plantings. What has survived is happily growing semi-wild now… yes, barely even watering it. Summer 2025 saw less than 5 days of watering.

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY

Currently (Dec 2025) there is an exciting new project in development that incorporates Jade Valley Programming and Activities with an in-town Education and Gathering Community Hub for Regenerative and Local Self-Sustainability, that funnels people to Jade Valley for Retreats, Healing Programs, and Education in: Zen, Tea Practice & Culture, Regenerative and Permaculture practices, Wilderness/Survival skills, Community Ceremonies, etc.

Please send us an email for further inquiry on ground-floor opportunities.

About MJ Greenmountain

MJ is the Guiding Teacher at Jade Valley. He has had a deep 28 year relationship with Tea, and a daily disciplined practice since 1997. He spent many years under the exclusive tutelage of an Elder Master and Scholar in the SF Bay Area, and has also had the opportunity to sit with many other Masters from various lineages in China, Japan and Taiwan since 2010. Deeply experienced, knowledgeable and heart-centered, MJ focuses on harmonizing the array of historic cultures into his Tea and Zen Practices, and transmits the Ancient “Spirit” of Tea in all aspects of his life. Widely known for his professional music endeavors spanning 3 decades, MJ has been living Nevada City since 2012 to raise his family, ground his visions and deepen his community organizing / healing work. He is a single father of a 9 year old boy and 12 year old girl.