The house

Villa Bailiu sits on a quiet stretch of Nusa Dua sand, a compound conceived for unhurried days where the sea provides the rhythm and tea the punctuation. The main pavilion — a long, low slung structure of teak, volcanic stone, and glass — holds six bedrooms, each with a private terrace, and a great room that opens entirely to a pool deck. Frangipani shadows drift across the tiles as morning light filters through woven bamboo screens.

The property feels less like a villa and more like a small private resort, scaled for a large family or a corporate retreat where focus and ease must coexist. At its heart is the tea room: a hexagonal pavilion with twelve seats arranged around a single low table carved from a slab of urea wood. Sliding panels can close the space for stillness or open it to the garden, letting in the scent of salt and ylang-ylang.

Chen Hui Yi — senior tea expert from Guangdong, known for her deep work with white, green, and yellow teas — is in residence here on rotation. Her mornings begin at 6:30, when the lagoon is still glassy, with a quiet preparation of Bái Háo Yín Zhēn (白毫银针). The silver kettle’s weight is deliberate; her pour barely disturbs the surface of a celadon gaiwan. Guests who wake early enough will find her on the pavilion steps, a tray set with three cups and a small jar of moonlight white, as the first fishermen push out past the reef.

Beyond the tea pavilion, the villa unfolds across a series of terraces. A 20-metre infinity pool runs parallel to the ocean, its edge dissolving into the horizon. Below, a private gate opens onto a near-deserted beach — the Nusa Dua shoreline here is sheltered by a coral break, the water always calm and shallow. After a session, guests often walk down with a flask of cold-brewed Shòu Méi (寿眉) in hand, settling into daybeds under the sea almonds.

The interiors respect Balinese craftsmanship without resorting to ornament: lime-washed walls, woven pandan ceilings, stone basins carved from river boulders. Every bedroom has a generous writing desk and a daybed that doubles as a tea perch, with a small kettle and a selection of the week’s leaves. The library corner — more a tea library than a book one — holds around forty cakes of aged white teas, each wrapper bearing a year and a brief provenance note in Chen Hui Yi’s hand. You might find a 2014 Gōng Méi (贡眉) from Fuding whose dried fig scent has deepened into something almost almond-like.

As the afternoon heat builds, the villa quiets. Blinds are drawn, ceiling fans stir, and the staff appear only to refresh water jars and set out a plate of chilled longan. It’s the kind of place where you fully understand why good tea rarely needs sweet accompaniments — the tea itself, brewed attentively, carries all the fruit and honey you could wish for.

Chen Hui Yi also contributes tasting notes and stories to puerh.app, where her writings explore the aging nuances of pressed white teas — a quiet body of work that mirrors the steady, unhurried quality of her sessions here. When she isn’t pouring, you might find her at the long table in the pavilion, piecing together the next day’s flight, a cup of something pale and cool beside her. The villa’s butler will also arrange deliveries from shop.thetea.app, should you wish to take a cake of your favourite back home.

The tea programme

The programme at Villa Bailiu is built around six categories of Chinese tea, anchored by the white, green, and yellow varieties that define Chen Hui Yi’s expertise. Twice daily — early morning and late afternoon — she hosts a seated tasting for up to twelve, each session a quiet, forty-minute meditation on a single cultivar or a carefully composed flight.

A morning session might begin with a delicate Bái Mǔ Dān (白牡丹) from Zhenghe, its peony-sweet top notes lifting just as the sun clears the eastern rim of the bay. The second infusion brings out a gentle cucumber coolness, and by the third, a whisper of vanilla bean. On alternate days, Chen Hui Yi pours a Huáng Chá (黄茶) — a rare yellow tea from Meng Ding — its warm, chestnut-like body a counterweight to the tropical light. Green teas appear in the afternoons — often a lightly steamed Ēn Shī Yù Lù (恩施玉露) served at 70°C, its vegetal clarity a sharp, refreshing contrast to the afternoon heat.

The tea room is equipped for full gongfu preparation: temperature-controlled kettles, porcelain gaiwans, double-walled glass pitchers, and a small induction plate for slow-boiling the silver kettle. A sideboard holds jars of tea stored by category — white cakes in bamboo wrappers, green teas in light-proof ceramic caddies, and yellow teas in vacuum-sealed parchment. All leaves are sourced directly from small producers in Yunnan, Fujian, and Hunan, and can be ordered through shop.thetea.app for arrival at the villa or for your onward journey.

For guests who prefer self-guided exploration, the butler sets up a private service on their terrace: a tray with a gaiwan, a porcelain fairness pitcher, a small Jian ware cup, and a thermos of the correct water temperature. A handwritten card explains the provenance and suggested steep times. The villa’s tea garden — three terraced rows of camellia sinensis brought from Fujian — offers yet another angle; though not harvested commercially, it’s a quiet reminder of where every cup begins.

If you desire a deeper dive, tea.school publishes short courses on white tea classification and gongfu technique, which can pair beautifully with a week of daily practice at Villa Bailiu.

Amenities

• 20-metre infinity pool with ocean horizon edge

• Hexagonal tea pavilion seating twelve, with temperature-controlled kettles and full gongfu equipment

• Tea library of aged white cakes (40+), with handwritten provenance notes

• Private beach access via gate — sheltered, sandy-shallow Nusa Dua lagoon

• Six en-suite bedrooms with king beds, writing desks, daybeds, and personal tea stations

• Main living pavilion opening fully to pool deck and garden

• Air conditioning and ceiling fans throughout

• Daily housekeeping and evening turndown

• Villa manager and 24-hour security

What’s included

• Daily sunrise tea session with resident master Chen Hui Yi (up to twelve guests)

• Afternoon tea service — a seated flight of single-origin Chinese teas

• Welcome tea tasting on arrival: a three-tea introduction to the week’s programme

• Return airport transfers for up to twelve guests

• Daily tropical breakfast, served on the pool terrace

• Butler service for in-villa tea preparation requests and shop.thetea.app deliveries

• Private beach daybed setup with cold-brew flask of white or green tea