The Original Wine of Borneo · Since 2020
Heritage, in our own hands.
Tuak Atelier was born in 2020, in the quiet of Sarawak’s movement-control months, when founder Evelyn Teo began brewing roselle tuak at home. What started as a way to keep her social enterprise alive became something larger: a mission to give Borneo’s ancestral rice wine the craft, the design and the pride it has always deserved.
Evelyn’s own story runs through every bottle. Born in Sibu, shaped by years in Australia and Peninsular Malaysia, and rooted in Foochow Chinese ancestry, she brings a rare meeting of worlds to the jar — pairing the red-yeast winemaking of her heritage with the ragi and rice traditions of the Dayak. The result is tuak that is at once deeply Sarawakian and entirely its own.
How we craft
From rice to ritual
- 01
Rice & Ragi
We begin with glutinous rice and ragi — the wild yeast of Borneo — the twin souls of every batch.
- 02
The Jar
Steamed, cooled and folded together, the rice ferments in jars for around two weeks. Patience does the work.
- 03
Infusion
Local fruits, botanicals and spices — pineapple, black pepper, lemongrass, red yeast — are layered in by hand.
- 04
The Vintage
Each batch is finished, dated and labelled by hand. No two vintages are ever exactly alike.
Foochow × Dayak
A fusion only we could make
Our signature Tuak Merah is the clearest expression of who we are: the ruby depth of Foochow red-yeast wine, married to Bornean ragi. It is a bottle that could only come from Evelyn’s hands — and a story no other tuak maker can tell.
A house with a purpose
Carried by hands we trained
Tuak Atelier grew out of WAT (Work and Training), the social enterprise Evelyn founded in 2016 to train marginalised Bornean youth in hospitality. Every bottle is made — and its craft carried forward — by hands we have taught ourselves. To own one is to be a patron of a living tradition.
“I wanted to give Borneo’s oldest wine the craft, the design and the pride it has always deserved — and to put it on the world’s finest tables.”
Begin
Taste a timeless art.
Explore the collections, or speak with the atelier and we’ll guide you to your first vintage.