For people like me that have never experienced tea culture in the United Kingdom, this episode will be a good introduction.

I talked with Kyle Whittington of Whittington’s Tea Emporium (update: The company has become part of Tea Studio). Check out a previous podcast I did with him to learn more about his online tea store.

Kyle covers the history of tea in the UK, how afternoon tea has evolved, and the current state of tea culture.

I think that in the future, there will be a renaissance of tea houses in Europe, and loose leaf tea will become very popular again.

When I get a chance to travel there, I want to have an afternoon tea experience. It sounds quite fun

Sugimoto America is a subsidiary of Sugimoto Seicha, a very old Japanese tea company.

I interviewed Noli Ergas and he shared a good amount of information regarding the company and its teas.

Noli also talks about temomi shincha (hand-rolled shincha) that the company makes in few amounts each year, and about sustainable agricultural practices in the region.

I’ll be reviewing this company’s products in later posts. I’m eager to do so

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This episode is a little different from the others, because one of the interviewees is speaking in Japanese!

Simona Zavadckyte and Akihiro Kita (aka Akky) from Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms were kind enough to talk to me in this podcast, although Akky is in the process of learning English.

Together with Simona, we translate everything Akky says. He’s very funny, and I’m sure he’s going to get good at English soon.

Besides the company and its teas, we talk about their internship program, the tea tour that they offer in Japan, and the International Tea Farms Alliance.

I’m a great fan of this company’s teas. You’ll be surprised to find out that the tea produced in Wazuka is also Ujicha (tea from Uji), which is one of the most famous in Japan!

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Did you know that Japan has it’s own organic certification for tea?

To shed some light on the subject, I interviewed Ian Chun from Yunomi, a marketplace for Japanese teas.

You can learn more about Yunomi on podcast episode 2.

Also in this podcast, we’ll talk about fair trade, natural farming, and the issue of radiation from the Fukushima accident.

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Have you ever thought about buying your favorite teas from different brands on the same store?

This is the idea behind Whittington’s Tea Emporium, an online tea store that offers many specialty tea brands. It’s located in the UK, but it ships worldwide.

In this podcast I interviewed Kyle Whittington and we talk about his company, some of the teas that he sells and a tisane that I hadn’t heard of before, olive leaf tea from Italy.

Update: This company is now part of Tea Studio.

Have you ever wanted to process raw leaves in your kitchen, in order to make your own tea?

If so, you’re in luck, because Caleb Hodes of Boston Teawrights will send raw leaves to you.

You’ll also find the necessary instructions on his site, and no additional equipment is needed.

Although I haven’t ordered raw leaves from Boston Teawrights (because I live outside the US), I think it’s a great idea. That’s why I decided to interview Caleb.

In this podcast, Caleb talks about how the process for making your own tea works. It’s much easier than you think.

If you’re interested, I encourage you to give it a try!

You can tell me how your tea came out in the comments

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Unlike most online tea stores, Breakaway Matcha only sells one type of tea.

I had a good time interviewing Eric Gower. He lived in Japan for many years and is passionate about matcha.

As a chef and author, he talks about matcha from a unique perspective. He gives technical and detailed information about what he considers important when blending matcha, how it’s similar and at the same time different than wine, and his breakaway approach to brewing it.

I learned a lot in this interview, and I’m sure you will too.

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Tea Horse is a British online tea store that sells a variety of loose leaf tea.

This is the first time that I feature a tea company from the United Kingdom

I decided to do so because they ship internationally, and the UK is the second biggest source of visitors to this blog (the first one being the US).

The interviewee is Ali Silk, Tea Horse’s founder. She’s very friendly and an excellent marketer, her young company has managed to get a lot of press coverage in its first year!

In this podcast, Ali also speaks about professional tea tasting, which is something I find fascinating. Plus, she tells us more about the state of the tea market in the UK.

Update: Tea Horse is out of business, I’m very sorry that this online store had to close.

In a sense, Nicole Martin is my tea blogging mentor.

She helped me out with some questions I had when I started this blog, and she is also active in a Google + community for tea bloggers.

Her blog, Tea For Me Please, offers new posts daily and is focused on tea reviews.

Nicole has reviewed hundreds of teas, so if you’re wondering about how a specific tea tastes like, just look it up in her blog’s search bar

Listen to this podcast to learn more about Nicole. She is a kind person and has a very pleasant voice.

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Mellow Monk is an online tea company that sells Japanese teas from the Kumamoto prefecture.

I interviewed Paul Kotta, Mellow Monk’s founder, who personally meets and buys from artisans that produce single-estate tea at a small scale.

The type of green tea produced in the region is tamaryokucha.

Unlike most Japanese teas, these leaves are curly. It’s an uncommon tea outside Japan, you should definitely try it. Even better, Mellow Monk’s artisanal teas are all reasonably priced and of very good quality.

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