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I first experienced tea as a young teenager, and like so many others in America, tea was prescribed to me by my mother when I was sick almost as a sort of panacea. Sore throat, common cold, flu, all were remedied with a cup of black tea from a tea bag. The perfect companion to a hot summer day was a cold glass of iced tea, also made from black tea bags and with copious amounts of added sugar.
Throughout university, I worked at a cafe as a barista and became more interested in the tea that was sold than coffee. In 2005, I joined a month-long university trip to China to study the geology of Southern China. It was during this trip that my love for tea blossomed, and I realized that there was a world of knowledge about this drink that hadn’t yet reached our shores in the West.
I read every book on tea I could get my hands on; classics such as 'All About Tea' by William H. Ukers and 'Tea Lover’s Treasury' by James Norwood Pratt. Later, in 2008, I ventured back East on a 6 month backpacking expedition throughout Southeast Asia. In 2009, I started my own tea importing company, in 2011 I met my wife (who was also studying tea), and in 2016, I published my first book on tea, Tea: A User’s Guide.
Through these experiences, I went from being a tea drinker to becoming a tea taster. Tea became more than a simple beverage for me, I yearned to taste all of the teas that I could get my hands on—training my palate as I tried more and more styles of tea. Tea became exciting!
This type of story is what we in the industry call a “tea journey.” Once tea becomes more than a beverage for you, once it grips you, it takes you on a journey. You cannot stop it, and its captivation grows as you realize that the more you learn about tea, the less you truly know about it.
Throughout my tea journey, I have spent months chasing the tea harvest across Asia and have met countless others doing the same, many of whom have become great friends of mine. The simple act of sharing tea with someone bridges cultures—transcending any differences, requires no common spoken language, and fosters friendship.
I launched Tea Epicure in 2019, the first to introduce "wine style" reviews of teas.