The Abridged version:
- Ziru Mo and Olive Olsen host Taohua Tea ceremonies at Signa, a rare plant shop in Southside Park.
- Mo and Olsen were inspired by the tea culture they experienced on a visit to Taiwan in 2024.
- On June 20, Taohua Tea will partner with others for an event called “Earth Body,” which will feature tea, dance, community vendors and more.
This story was reported by a member of the Abridged by PBS KVIE Community Reporters program. The Community Reporters program empowers local residents to report stories with guidance and support from the Abridged editorial staff.
At the corner of 11th and T streets sits Signa, a rare plant shop and community event space that has been home to the recurring Taohua Tea ceremonies since creators Ziru Mo and Olive Olsen began hosting them in February 2025.
Mo and Olsen first met while working at Scorpio Coffee and transformed from co-workers to best friends. In November 2024, they visited Taiwan together to attend a wedding and were inspired by the tea culture they experienced. “In the neighborhoods of Taipei, there’s a bunch of tea houses everywhere, and it’s just a place for people to commune and meet their community and their neighbors, where you’re actually in no obligation to buy anything,” said Olsen.
As Mo and Olsen share this history, they are also preparing tea. They invite participants to choose their desired cups. The cups are heated with boiled water. They encourage participants to look at the tea before it’s brewed, to smell it, to engage with the senses at each moment.
Snacks made of sesame and mango are available on the wooden table. Each brewing vessel, adorable tea pet, tea leaf and person present has a story and a place they are from.
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As a photographer and multimedia artist, home is a concept that Mo has often explored through art, including the photo album artwork they made titled “Home is What We Made Of” (2025). A work that started from a place of homesickness expanded Mo’s conception of home to include both their culture and memories of China while recognizing Mo’s rich sense of community in Sacramento. For Mo, hosting tea ceremonies is a way to “stay connected to my culture and memories, but also connected to the people in Sacramento.”
For Olsen, Taohua Tea is also a way to connect to her culture. “My mom is Chinese, and she lives kind of far now, and so I don’t get to see her very often, and I haven’t been back to China in a long time, so I’ve kind of felt like a daughter of an immigrant, you have to find your your own ways of connecting to the culture that your parents maybe won’t give.”
Finding a place
In September 2024, before Taohua Tea was born, Mo had an art gallery exhibition at Signa. There, Mo met the shop’s events coordinator, Michael Malloy, and learned the venue wanted to host more community gathering spaces, galleries, and workshops. After traveling to Taiwan, “I figured that this will be a perfect environment and setting for us to do tea because it’s very calming and cozy and they have a big table.” And so they began to host intimate tea ceremonies for six people dedicated to education, mindfulness and community, brewing an intentional tea culture right here in Sacramento.
Like Taohua Tea, community is a driving factor of Signa’s ethos. The spot is named for the founder’s grandmother, who taught her grandson David Bramblett about botanicals, floral arrangements, and growing and using herbs. “Signa is a Swedish word. It means a blessed event, means a sign, means a signal, significant. It’s the root of all these remarkable words. And so I thought, well, that there’s nothing better that we can call this business,” shared Bramblett.
After attending protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, Bramblett wanted to make sure that Signa was a space that was open to meet community needs, and soon after, the shop began hosting art exhibitions, music nights, comedy and more.
Bhupy Singh, Bramblett’s business partner, grew his love for plants when he first started working at the shop when it opened up a decade ago. He began noticing, “this plant’s green, and this one’s thick, and this one has stripes, and this one’s different from this one. And then I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re all different.’” Similarly, passersby are compelled by the vibrant greens pouring out of the store. Stumbling upon Signa is much like happening upon an oasis.
The tea tells a story
Taohua Tea’s name references an oasis in the Chinese tale that’s title translates to “Peach Blossom Spring.” In the story, a man is rafting along a river, ”and all these peach blossom trees started appearing, and then he came across this group of people who were living in a beautiful town, and they had no earthly afflictions… He basically stumbled upon this piece of heaven,” said Olsen.
For Mo, Taohua Tea ceremonies are an invitation to that piece of heaven where participants “enjoy, relax, and come out feeling better.” In the original story, the paradise is not able to be found again, but through these ceremonies Olsen and Mo provide a mindful moment while equipping participants with education in the hope that the peace of the ceremony continues beyond the hour and 15 minute sessions they host.
One day while enjoying tea with a friend, Anashay Terreforte wished there were more places to intentionally drink tea, and a week later, she saw an Instagram post about Taohua Tea’s ceremonies. “I felt like it was a nice balance between knowledge sharing and opportunities to connect and get to know the other people that were participating.” This ceremony also blossomed a friendship and collaboration between Terreforte, Mo and Olsen.
Taohua Tea will lead a ceremony in partnership with Terreforte on Saturday, June 20, at an event titled, “Earth Body.” The event will also feature ecstatic dance, community vendors, breathwork, and a soundbath.
“I feel like everybody has their own role or gift to share, and I think a part of my dharma here is to help support other people in returning to themselves. I think that, in caring for ourselves, and connecting in that way it has a ripple effect, you know?” said Terreforte.
The tea ceremonies include attendees from a diverse range of ages, occupations, and backgrounds, and whether the group begins more social or more reserved, at the end of the tea ceremonies, Olsen says, “everyone’s usually just so happy.”
Natachi Mez is a member of the Abridged Community Reporters program. Natachi is a poet, facilitator and event producer who was born and raised in the Sacramento region.