Our own editor Rick has been dreaming for years of his own tea garden. A small business in a beautiful area where he can plant and grow tea, (garden) herbs, and other treats to serve the most delicious tea to his visitors. Personally, I hope he will one day realize this dream, because then I will undoubtedly become a regular customer. And until that dream comes true? We still have board games like Tea Garden to escape from reality.

Background

The setting of the game Tea Garden is China—the Yunnan mountains, to be precise. This is where players will build their tea gardens, cultivate and ferment tea, and trade to earn the most points. The origins of tea also take us back to ancient China, where, according to legend, Emperor Shen Nung accidentally discovered tea around 2737 BC when a few leaves drifted into his boiling water. This simple event grew into a ritual that spread across Asia and later the entire world. Tea was quickly appreciated for its invigorating and medicinal properties and found its way to distant lands via trade routes.

From China and Japan, tea traveled with caravans and ships to Europe, where it became a beloved beverage among the elite as early as the seventeenth century. The rich history of tea is steeped in stories of tradition, adventure, and discovery—a journey that continues today in every steaming cup. Nowadays, many countries have their own tea culture and tea is indispensable. Think, for example, of the British. What would they be without their “cuppa”? Yorkshire tea without a splash of milk? I think the whole of Great Britain would sink into a deep depression (both macro-economically and on a micro-personal level).

And me? I must honestly confess that I am mainly a fan of herbal tea. Or at least, I drink herbal tea more often, but a good Chinese jasmine tea with white or green tea leaves? I will certainly not say no to that. That tea can truly be a ritual is something I’ve experienced during my travels through Asia—from traditional tea ceremonies to washing utensils and cups in tea, and vast, sweeping tea fields.

Gameplay

At the start of the game, components such as the board are set up and each player receives a stack of cards to form their starting deck. Tea Garden basically resembles a deckbuilder, but with many twists.

Each player has their own player board, where they collect tea leaves. Players have fresh tea and fermented tea, and they keep track of the quality using different baskets on their board. Below their player board, players place cards on their turn to determine their actions.

Tea Garden lasts about five rounds, and each round every player has a maximum of four turns. The first three turns are free, and for the fourth, players must pay a number of tea leaves. Each turn, players play at least one card but may play more. The cards determine the strength of the action, and the top (i.e. visible) card gives a bonus effect and/or action for that turn.

Players can use action points for a main action, and the action points determine the strength of that action. With main actions, players can increase their presence on the board by building new tea gardens. In these gardens, players can grow tea. Players may also trade, ferment tea, or buy action cards to improve their deck. During their turn, players can also perform bonus actions, depending on the top card played, such as collecting teapots, studying at the university, or sailing with their boat along the river to collect extra bonuses and points.

For some actions, players must pay or trade tea leaves. You can always pay with a higher value, and you can always use fermented leaves as fresh, but not vice versa. Some actions require a specific quality of tea. At the end of a round, fresh tea leaves lose quality, while fermented leaves become even better.

Conclusion

Aside from the theme and design, what charms me most about Tea Garden is its strategic depth, which, by the way, is not overwhelming. The gameplay is logical and the mechanism is intuitive and smooth. You can approach Tea Garden in several ways, but the various actions and bonuses influence each other so you can try interesting tactics. The deckbuilding mechanism, where you take cards into your hand and assign them to actions in multiple ways, is innovative and clever. If you use many cards, your action is strong, but you may have fewer cards left later in the round.