Owned by David & Kathy Collen, The Essence of Tea grew from our passion for the exquisite teas produced by small-scale farmers and producers of China & Taiwan.  Having lived in China and travelling extensively each year, we've built up contacts that give us access to some of the best teas in the world.

Our approach is very hands-on.  We often help with picking the leaves and processing of many of our teas, particularly some of our Puerh and Wuyi rock teas.  We personally travel, meet the farmers and work only with those who meet our standards of ethics and quality.

In a world, cluttered with tea companies claiming to offer rare or special teas, we strive to find teas that are really special, some that have been aged for over 50 years, some produced in quantities of mere kilograms, some from 400-800 year old trees, many completely hand-made and all from ethical & environmentally responsible sources.

We also specialise in the fascinating and complex world of aged teas.  These teas have naturally transformed over the years, evolving into completely new entity.  Their flavours transform and they often develop powerful and calming energies.