Rumors mix with pollen, swirling and clumping on the early summer wind, which flows in gusts down the Friendly Street corridor. At the end of the historic Eugene drive, which has a neighborhood community dedicated to preserving its roots, lies the home of Eugene’s local tea master. Remodeled in 2010, J-Tea brings the Taiwanese tea experience to the Pacific Northwest.

As the door swings open, the rumors of odd business hours and a divisive personality dissipate, leaving only the reassuring scent of steeping tea and the enthusiastic “Thanks!” of Josh Chamberlain’s latest tea convert. For Chamberlain, a 50-year-old Eugene resident, the discovery of tea was a life-changing twist of fate, and he’s spent the last 21 years bringing the best of Taiwanese tea to the Friendly neighborhood.

Chamberlain was introduced to tea during his college years at the University of Oregon, where he studied international studies and Mandarin. “I needed caffeine to stay awake, and I was reading a textbook about tea. Thinking it seemed cool from an intellectual perspective, I decided to buy some,” Chamberlain said.

But the store-bought commodity tea he found only left him with disappointment and a stomachache. The frustration would slowly change to awe as Chamberlain uncovered a wealth of tea knowledge off the coast of mainland China.

Chamberlain was guided to Taiwan via a chance encounter with his study abroad advisor, who had spent time there. “She recommended this language program school, and I had a strong interest in martial arts, so I thought ‘if I can go to Taiwan and find a kung fu school, that would be ideal,’” Chamberlain said.

The study abroad experience in Taipei brought Chamberlain the language experience and local connections, but following his graduation, he felt lost in the endless opportunities the working world had to offer. So in typical recent graduate fashion, he decided to travel back to Taipei to continue studying the language.

But Chamberlain remembered the feeling of aimlessness that followed him. “I remember thinking it was kind of pointless; I had no direction in life. I might be learning Chinese, but ‘so what?’”

The turn from solo travel back into the work world brought Chamberlain the purpose and opportunity that he needed. “I started to see that the work world was so vast. Once I started to see that, I decided to take every job I could,” Chamberlain said.

True to his word, he took unconventional jobs, working as a ground agent at Starlux, a Taiwanese airline at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. Working from midnight to 5 a.m., Chamberlain spoke only Mandarin and developed his fluency.

The decision to hone his language skills proved highly beneficial. When he embarked on a fateful third trip with a group of four high school friends, he finally began unlocking all that Taiwan had to offer. Unlike the first two trips, which were relatively short and both based in Taipei, the five-year escapade led the group to Tainan in southern Taiwan, where Chamberlain spent his time learning kung fu and earning an International Master of Business Administration in economics from National Cheng Kung University.

For the motley group of kung fu protegees, tea was a byproduct of the martial art they loved. Introduced by their teachers, they bought a tea table and sat around drinking tea bought from local markets. At first, they were completely oblivious to the nuances of the tea world.

“We were so clueless; we would just buy the cheapest tea we could get,” Chamberlain said. “Our kung fu teachers were using $500 teapots and we couldn’t wrap our heads around it.” Slowly but surely, Chamberlain and his friends began to piece together the beauty of tea culture, but it wasn’t until a chance encounter at a noodle stand that his tea journey truly began.

While waiting for his food, Chamberlain was approached by an artist who seemed to recognize his air of refinement and invited him to what can loosely be described as a studio. The fateful interaction quickly sparked a friendship, and Chamberlain began joining him and his crew of musicians on their outings at tea houses.

While frequenting the houses, he connected with one of his tea teachers, who began teaching him the ways of the leaf. Simultaneously, Chamberlain’s kung fu practice led him to an acupuncturist and restaurant owner — the mentor who pushed him into the tea well once and for all.

“At that time, I was buying the crappiest oolong, and I thought it was so rad. But one night, he brought out and brewed an Osmanthus Oolong, which changed everything for me,” Chamberlain said. “When you fall into the well of tea, sometimes you fall deep and you can never get out.”

From then on, Chamberlain dove into the well, developing his taste and pursuing as many teas as possible. “I remember I told my mentor I wanted to try Dong Ding Oolong, and he called me at 9 p.m. and told me to come over, so I went and we made tea for three hours. It was nuts.”

As he was gradually introduced to farmers and fellow tea enthusiasts, Chamberlain was brought into the fold of Taiwanese tea. The tasting sessions with both farmers and friends could take many hours, and to many, any more than 15 minutes dedicated solely to brewing tea seems far-fetched. But in the East, where Gongfucha, translated as “brewing tea with skill,” is practiced, three hours barely cracks the surface.

Gongfucha, a practice that J-Tea pioneers in Eugene, utilizes smaller teapots and cups to scale down the volume of tea consumption and maximize one’s appreciation of high-quality tea leaves.

“By conducting multiple smaller steeps and keeping a tighter control over variables, like water temperature and brew time, you can appreciate the changes in the tea,” Chamberlain said.

Gongfucha also breaches the spiritual, with deep ties to Buddhist thought, leading practitioners to greater self-cultivation.

“We are a block when we are born, and by self-refinement or practicing different arts, yoga, or training yourself to appreciate an aesthetic, your edges are rounded off and you become an elevated version of yourself,” Chamberlain said.

While the philosophy behind Gongfucha may convey a heady air, in practice, Gongfucha depends on its surrounding context. In some communities, like the intelligentsia, its aesthetic importance is stressed. But according to Chamberlain, it’s usually just used as a social lubricant; well-made tea can connect friends and strangers alike.

For Chamberlain in 2025, turning strangers into friends via J-Tea is relatively straightforward, but his work blazing trails connecting quality tea with the Eugene consumer left him with some scars.

Inspired by his mentor in Taiwan, Chamberlain branched into the bubble tea business in 2016 with the now-defunct Oolong bar. The bar, which was slotted between Sweet Life Patisserie and Prince Pucklers Ice Cream, was aimed to be a space for students to enjoy the highest quality mixed teas while sharing ideas.

“The products we developed in the Oolong bar were insane. But I’m a perfectionist and wanted it to be to the Nth degree, which didn’t quite match consumer demand.”

Chamberlain even went so far as to implement “T-talks,” which brought fellow tea experts to Eugene to discuss tea life. But even after all the extensive research and experimenting, the business closed in 2023 following the pandemic, and proved to be a learning experience for Chamberlain.

“It was a great idea, and I learned a lot,” Chamberlain said. “That kind of lesson you can’t learn in a vacuum; I had to go through it to learn it.”

Bringing cutting-edge information to a community is always a battle, and the mark of a savvy business owner is perseverance and the ability to adapt. As of now, Chamberlain has reconsolidated his operations back at J-Tea, continuing to build his community with consistent posting on both his blog and newsletter, as well as budget-friendly tastings for the community to enjoy.

The tastings — raucous, good-natured events —are a way for Chamberlain to continue sharing his love of tea with newcomers. Much like in Taiwan, Chamberlain takes pride in making his customers tea.

“It’s a way to demonstrate to my guests that I appreciate them,” Chamberlain said. “It’s about connecting, and it brings everyone together.”

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