The Story of Eisa Tea Co.
(psst- it's pronounced eye-sah)
On the 20th April 1141, a boy called Myōan Eisai was born. This boy would turn into a man, who would then turn into an ultimate legend.
His father was a Shinto priest, and as such, Eisai studied at schools of Buddhism before becoming ordained as a monk. Throughout his studies, Eisai visited China - and in doing so, realised that tea was a luxury that only the elite of Chinese society was able to enjoy.
As such, this little rebel filled his bags with tea leaves and took them back to Kyoto - and there, Japanese tea was born.
Eisai is known within tea circles as 'the father of tea', and long story short, he's a pretty sick guy. Hence, we decided to borrow some of the letters of his name.
Pronounced as 'eye-sah', Eisa stands for everything we believe in - pushing great quality tea, making it accessible to people everywhere, and doing a little bit of rebellion against the current tea market. What else could you need?
My name’s Amy Aed and I’m the owner of Eisa Tea Co., an ethical and sustainable tea business focused on ending exploitation on tea farms around the world.
I was born in the (not-so) sunny Welsh city of Swansea, where I grew up constantly surrounded by tea. Here, you’re always invited into someone’s home with a sweet cup of milky black tea and a Digestive biscuit or two.
In my home - like in many other homes across the globe - tea brings people together. It builds relationships, cures colds and heartbreak, and is always a vessel for a good ol’ natter.
Tea runs through our blood.
As such, I strongly believe that a cup of tea needn’t be damaging to the environment, the farmers, nor the people who drink it - and that’s why I started up a tea business to revolutionise the industry.
So who created Eisa Tea Co.?
How did Eisa Tea Co. come into being?
I’ve always been a massive fan of tea, but it was only whilst living in the Vancouver China Town that I truly started to understand the beverage. I would spend my days lounging in the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen garden, drinking jasmine green tea, and attending educational talks on tea for the first time.
It was there that I experienced my first ever Gong Fu Cha (a type of Chinese tea ceremony) and absolutely fell head over heels with it all. I loved how tea brought people together, formed communities, and created deep bonds between drinkers - in seemingly every corner of the world.
Over the next year, I travelled through tiny towns and even tinier tearooms, tasted rooibos and chai and sencha, gathering local stories and legends around tea as I went.
It was all very whimsical… until I began to work for several small tea businesses which still sourced their tea from dodgy places, used artificial ingredients, and didn't value the farmers behind each brew. Honestly, this broke my heart a little: I wanted to love everything about tea, but could no longer support companies with questionable ethics.
So, I entered my local university competition with my brilliant new business idea...
The birth of Eisa Tea Co.
...And lost.
However, one of the judges saw potential in the business (and me!🥺) and offered an office to work in. From there, she introduced me to the local Aberystwyth business community, and I was able to secure a branding grant and a small initial product purchasing grant.
I then started a baby business of loose leaf tea, working from a beautiful office in my home country to bring my people the best quality tea from the most incredible farmers across the world.
Very recently, I entered another competition...
And this time, I won!
After months of work and preparation, a (terrifying) sales pitch in front of some of the best business people in the UK, and endless rounds of samples, I secured another grant to produce a range of three iced teas.
Ojalá, this year they will be released!
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