Experience a Personalized Taste of Beijing With Joyce Pan

I first met Joyce Pan (潘雪 Pān Xuě) when we were neighbors in the Yonghegong/Beixinqiao area of Beijing. When I would pass the door of the hutong house Joyce was renting close to ours, I often spotted many foreigners donning aprons, busy learning how to make dumplings or sampling Chinese delicacies under Joyce’s guidance. 

When Joyce left the neighborhood, my husband and I reconnected with her in 2021 and booked a staycation at the tastefully furnished Cosmopolitan Cloud House in Beijing’s suburbs at the foot of the Great Wall. Situated near chestnut groves, it combines elements of local nature and culture into an elegant whole, and Joyce documented the experience by taking professional photographs of us during our stay.

Joyce has been working as a Beijing tour operator, experience creator, and event planner since 2009.  She started out working for an international travel and cultural company as a product manager and local host before founding her own restaurant studio in 2014, Taste China Beijing Food & Cultural Studio, where she started to host immersive Chinese cultural experiences through cooking, dining, and tasting activities. Eventually, she added more immersive local experiences, including photo shoots at famous Beijing sights, group picnics on the Great Wall, and mountain retreats, among others. Now, Taste China Beijing Food & Cultural Studio has been renamed Taste China Beijing (TCB), which is composed of TCB Travel, TCB Cultural, and TCB Event. It caters to travel agents, visitors to Beijing, and expats. I talked to Joyce about the different cultural experiences she has on offer at TCB.

What kind of experience would you like to give your guests through your offerings?
TCB specializes in custom-made Beijing tours and provides in-depth and immersive experiences. We create precious memories and awe-inspiring moments to help guests connect with China, and to benefit their own well-being. We want to present our guests, wonderful people from all over the world, with a culturally enriching experience in Beijing from our hearts to theirs. 

Could you tell us more about your rice wine-tasting events? How did you become interested in that?
When I owned my restaurant studio near Beixinqiao, I wanted to set up Chinese rice wine-tasting programs, and then I found this excellent brand “Nuoyan Rice Wine” in the same neighborhood. It’s a contemporary Chinese rice wine from Fujian, which can give people a feeling of nature and can make them happier and calmer.

The Nuoyan rice winemaker and brand owner, Huang Yu (黄禺), also a renowned local artist, designs beautiful bottles and packaging for the different flavors of rice wine. He has also designed beautiful wine houses for people to experience his wines.  It is just so inspiring – my guests and I all love this brand and all his (Huang Yu’s) creations. I started to do marketing for this incredible Chinese brand and host rice wine-tasting experiences, both at my restaurant studio and at Nuoyan Rice Wine House.   

What about tea culture experiences?
Tea culture has a long history in China and it is an important part of Chinese culture. You can achieve happiness through tea. Tea is associated with meditation and relaxation, and just like the rice wine I just talked about, tea connects people with nature. 

Since 2010, I have started to learn more about different teas, and have established an extensive network with Chinese tea masters, tea house owners, and tea producers. All the people in the tea business are lovely people to meet; they are calm and cultured. TCB tea culture experiences include tea classes and workshops, tea house visits, and tea tasting. I want to introduce our guests to the wonderful world of Chinese tea.  

Please introduce your homestay options in the suburbs of Beijing (the Cosmopolitan, Wellbour, Jiangyu Piano Mountain Villa) – the location, architecture, and amenities.
I first stayed in the Cosmopolitan, an area containing three modern renovated houses/villas owned by the same group and located under the ancient Ming Great Wall in Huairou, in 2021 when looking for staycation projects. 

The idea was to bring people to nature and the villages outside of the city during Covid, while also providing some luxuries. And then I started to work together with more places in Huairou, including Wellbour Garden Hotel and Jiangyu Piano Mountian Villa. I act as a consultant for all these places, and my company TCB Travel acts as an agent to book rooms and packages. All of these venues have one feature in common: zero distance to nature.

What about the local artists whose art is promoted in these homestays, like Cao Ying?
The founder of Cosmopolitan Great Wall is an art curator, and the Cosmopolitan holds art exhibitions in the Great Wall houses for Chinese artists she is working with. These (artists) include Chinese artists Cao Ying (曹穎) and Ru Yi (如一). Together nature and art provide people with a sanctuary. 

Could you share more about your team-building events?
As part of TCB Travel business, we offer customized team-building packages including accommodation, transportation, meals, and activities. People who seek us out are usually looking for something cultural, natural, exclusive, and unique. Some of our activities included a “Hutong scavenger hunt,” “Private lunch in the former residence of the last empress (Wanrong, 婉容),”  “Private dinner at a trendy Hutong bistro,” and “A hands-on Chinese tea workshop.” Last year, I arranged many mountain retreats for companies as team-building events, where employees can work, have fun and relax together in nature.

How do you prepare for your events, like shopping for porcelain tea sets or snacks? Is there any particular area in Beijing you prefer?
For themed events, I make a shopping list. Some (items) are shopped from local producers, and some are from Taobao or Jingdong. If I do tasting events, I will partner with restaurants, tea houses, and wine houses. They already have good products, I just need to make a selection. 

To date, what has been the most memorable event you have organized for your guests?
I will always remember Oct 2020. After many lockdowns and working at home, we made the trip to Jinshanling Great Wall. My guests were a group of wonderful people from different embassies in Beijing. The weather was very nice, and we enjoyed an incredible sunset and Great Wall views, we shared food and wine, talked, and celebrated one guest’s birthday. We shared a lot of laughter and beautiful photos from that trip. It was a memory of a lifetime for everybody. 

If you're interested in booking a cultural experience with Joyce, you can add her by scanning the QR code below.

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Images: courtesy of Joyce Pan