Having spent his youth traveling around Asia and immersing himself in Asian tea culture, he strongly believed his fellow Britons were missing out on the essence of the beverage, the quintessential pleasure at the heart of this ancient practice. He began to dream of sharing his knowledge of true tea and making its authenticity relevant to the modern world. To this end, he founded Jing Tea in 2004. Like Thomas Twining almost exactly 300 years before him, Edward started at the top and quickly began to redefine tea for luxury hospitality and sophisticated homes. He usually makes small batches, which often involves hand processing, and the leaves generally come from remote, family-run gardens that produce the most authentic and best-tasting teas in the same way they have for generations. They are rare and, accordingly, expensive.
Besides providing the best teas, Jing commissions elegant tea wares and works with its hospitality partners “to ensure the tea is prepared and served in the very best way,” as Edward puts it. Jing is already available in five-star hotels on four continents and is also the preferred source of tea for a growing number of celebrity chefs. At the risk of name-dropping, I might mention Thomas Keller (Per Se, New York), Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck, London), Joël Robuchon (Joël Robuchon Restaurant, Tokyo), Pierre Gagnaire (Sketch, London), Richard Ekkebus (Amber, Hong Kong), and Ollie Dabbous (Dabbous, London), omitting many another. You get the idea.
