Serumpun x Rhymba Hills: Showcasing Malaysian Heritage Through Botanical Storytelling — From Kuala Lumpur to Paris
In Malay, serumpun describes things that grow from the same clump — bamboo shoots rising from a single root, or peoples who share a common origin. It’s a fitting word for a partnership built on the idea that heritage isn’t something kept behind glass. It grows, spreads and finds new ground.
As Rhymba Hills counts down to Paris this October, we’re looking back at the collaboration that shaped how we tell our story — and forward to where that story goes next.
What is Serumpun x Rhymba Hills?
Serumpun is a Malaysian heritage initiative that presents the country’s culture as a living, evolving identity rather than a fixed past. Rhymba Hills joined as a strategic partner, bringing Malaysia’s botanical traditions into that cultural conversation.
Together with Tourism Malaysia, the partnership shares one message for Visit Malaysia 2026: that Malaysian heritage is rooted in nature, sustained by communities and ready to be experienced by the world.
For Rhymba Hills, the collaboration crystallised something we’d always believed — that a cup of tea can be a story, not just a product.
A heritage tea brand in a heritage house
For ten days, Rhymba Hills botanical infusions were showcased at Tong Shin Terrace in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.
The setting mattered. Built in 1937, Tong Shin Terrace is one of the rare surviving pre-war residential terraces in the heart of the city. Its architecture captures Kuala Lumpur’s shift from the Late Straits Eclectic style to Art Deco — stained glass that throws turquoise and amber light across patterned floor tiles, bricks from nearby Brickfields, and a central airwell open to the tropical sky. The building has outlasted the Second World War and the great 1971 flood, and has been lovingly restored as a home for Malaysian culture.
Serving Malaysian botanical tea in that space created a quiet dialogue between two kinds of heritage: the built heritage of old Kuala Lumpur, and the living, botanical heritage of the Peninsula’s farms and kitchens. Visitors didn’t just read about Malaysia — they smelled pandan, tasted Bentong ginger and lingered over a warm cup in rooms that have witnessed nearly a century of the city’s history.
That is what we mean by botanical storytelling: heritage shared through taste, aroma and a few unhurried minutes.
Why botanical storytelling matters for a Malaysian heritage tea brand
Many brands talk about heritage. Fewer let you taste it. For Rhymba Hills, storytelling rests on four foundations.
1. Ingredients with roots
Every blend begins with botanicals woven into Malaysian daily life for generations:
- Bentong ginger — grown in the hills of Pahang and prized for its clean, bright heat
- Lemongrass — the citrus backbone of countless Malaysian kitchens
- Pandan — Southeast Asia’s much-loved aromatic leaf, soft and sweetly fragrant
- Roselle — ruby-red, tart and vivid in the cup
- Misai Kucing (Java tea) — a delicate, grassy herb long brewed across the region
- Ceylon cinnamon and turmeric — warm spices that trace Malaysia’s centuries-old trading connections
2. Sourcing with a sense of place
Our botanicals come from the food basin of Peninsular Malaysia, grown in partnership with local farmers. When you drink Rhymba Hills, you’re tasting a specific landscape and supporting the communities who tend it.
3. Standards that travel
Heritage means little without trust. Rhymba Hills blends are JAKIM Halal certified and packed in a GMP, HACCP and ISO 22000-certified facility. They’re naturally caffeine-free, with no added sugar or preservatives — so they suit a wide range of lifestyles, faiths and wellness routines around the world.
4. Recognition beyond Malaysia
Rhymba Hills has earned award recognition in both Paris and the UK, and our teas are enjoyed in markets including Malaysia, Japan, the UK and the UAE. International recognition helps a small Malaysian brand carry a big national story. (Read more in Rhymba Hills: The Story Behind Malaysia’s Award-Winning Botanical Infusion.)
Paris Countdown: taking the story to Europe
Less than three weeks from now, the world’s food industry gathers in France. SIAL Paris, the world’s leading food innovation exhibition, runs from 17 to 21 October 2026 at Paris Nord Villepinte, drawing buyers, producers and hospitality leaders from around 200 countries.
Rhymba Hills will be in Paris this October, meeting hotel, hospitality and retail partners who are looking for premium, caffeine-free and meaningful beverage experiences for their guests.
The lessons of Tong Shin Terrace are coming with us:
- Setting shapes the experience. A tea tasted in a heritage house feels different from one handed out at a counter. In Paris, we’ll bring the same care to every tasting — telling the story of each ingredient as it’s poured.
- Heritage is a bridge. France has its own deep tradition of the tisane and the salon de thé. Malaysian botanicals meet that culture with something unfamiliar yet instantly understandable: a warm, aromatic infusion with a story behind it.
- Serumpun travels. The idea that we grow from the same root is as true between Kuala Lumpur and Paris as it is between neighbours. Tea, shared across a table, is one of the oldest ways to prove it.
As a proud Visit Malaysia 2026 partner, we see Paris as another chapter in the same story that began in a 1937 terrace house in Bukit Bintang — introducing Malaysia’s landscapes, farmers and flavours to new audiences, one cup at a time.
How to experience Malaysian botanical heritage at home
You don’t need to be in Kuala Lumpur or Paris to take part in the story. Try this simple ritual with any Rhymba Hills blend:
- Choose by mood. Ginger or cinnamon for warmth, lemongrass for freshness, pandan for a calm evening.
- Brew with care. Use freshly boiled water and let the sachet steep for 5–7 minutes to draw out the full aroma.
- Pause before the first sip. Notice the scent — it’s the quickest way to understand a place you may never have visited.
- Share it. Heritage is meant to be passed on. Brew a second cup for someone else.
Frequently asked questions
What is Serumpun x Rhymba Hills? It’s a cultural partnership in which Rhymba Hills works with the Serumpun heritage initiative, alongside Tourism Malaysia, to present Malaysian heritage through botanical tea experiences as part of Visit Malaysia 2026.
Where was the Serumpun x Rhymba Hills showcase held? Rhymba Hills was showcased for ten days at Tong Shin Terrace, a restored 1937 heritage terrace in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.
What makes Rhymba Hills a Malaysian heritage tea brand? Its blends are built on botanicals rooted in Malaysian food culture — Bentong ginger, lemongrass, pandan, roselle, Misai Kucing, Ceylon cinnamon and turmeric — sourced from Peninsular Malaysia in partnership with local farmers.
Are Rhymba Hills teas caffeine-free and Halal? Yes. All blends are naturally caffeine-free and JAKIM Halal certified.
Will Rhymba Hills be in Paris in October 2026? Yes. Our team will be in Paris during SIAL Paris (17–21 October 2026). Trade and hospitality partners can contact us to arrange a tasting.
Rooted in Malaysia, shared with the world
From a restored terrace in Kuala Lumpur to meeting rooms in Paris, the thread is the same: Malaysian heritage is best understood when it’s experienced. Every sachet of Rhymba Hills carries a little of the Peninsula’s landscape, its farmers’ care and its people’s culinary history.
Wherever you are, we invite you to pour a cup and become part of the story.