About Us
"Tea is so much more than just a beverage. For us, it’s a way of life…"
WHY TEA?
We believe that, our society has become enslaved to today’s fast pace. Constantly, running from one thing to the next, whilst being consumed by the anxiety and stress, inherent to modern-day life. As a result, we’ve neglected the rituals and traditions that tided us together, we secluded ourselves from others that don’t share our views or lifestyle, and we have grown to become very isolated, in our own bubbles.
Tea is, the best tool to create this missing common ground, to re-establish these connections and to strengthen our communities.
“The ritual of brewing tea can be a very social event that starts conversations, promotes the building of relationships and open dialogue or it can be very solitary and personal, akin to a brief meditation, since it requires thoughtful actions, inadvertently forcing us to slow down, be present and reflect- in either case, tea can help change our outlook on life and even ourselves. And we want to share that, with you".
OUR MISSION
Tea has been misrepresented for decades in the West, due to poor knowledge, service, and poor brewing skills across the board, especially in the hospitality industry.
The tea offered is often stale, low quality, not brewed correctly, served without care, or all of the above. We came to the conclusion that, if we were to make a real impact, we needed to focus on educating both the consumers and our stockists. We need to elevate tea - the second most consumed beverage worldwide, after water- to its rightful status; our mission is to challenge the status quo, and in doing so, to change peoples' perceptions of what tea really is and what it can offer.
As specialty tea wholesalers, educators and ambassadors, it is our obligation to share knowledge with our partners and our customers, while being as transparent as possible. Making these premium teas is a very complex, arduous and intricate art form. By giving these teas the value and status, they deserve, we can help create a sustainable industry for everyone involved, and help preserve this delicious and multi layered art, for generations to come.
Therefore, we spent the first 12 months- after our launch- showcasing specialty tea, in as many different ways as we could, hosting tea and food pairings, degustation’s, educational workshops and training events for baristas, chefs and sommeliers. Everyone involved, had been completely blown away by how complex and multifaceted tea could actually be. Consequently, through hosting these events and engaging with the general public, we realised that we could can in fact change their perception of tea and help develop a tea counter-culture.
THE TEA
We spent years sourcing and blending our teas with a focus on quality, transparency and sustainability. Therefore, all of our specialty teas, tea blends and tisanes/herbal infusions, undergo a meticulous and comprehensive cupping and tasting process, in order to make the final cut. We do this, not only to ensure our products are kept to a high-standard, but also to evaluate and determine flavour characteristics, and/or changes in them. Much like wine, tea’s flavour and attributes can change when exposed to fluctuating temperatures, certain teas will continuously develop and age, over time.
We proudly source tea, from both small-to-medium artisan (family-owned and operated) tea gardens, in addiction to larger sized tea estates- as long as they fit with our ethos, by using natural bio-diverse practices like companion planting/permaculture; or by being certified as Fairtrade; UTZ; Rainforest Alliance and/or its equivalent organic certification. Therefore, we only source very small batches, in order to maintain freshness and consistency, for your enjoyment.