All this is quite an accomplishment for a company’s first decade or so and ample proof of what amazing teas the Jing brand represents. More amazing still is Edward himself—dazzling is the word my wife used after first meeting him and Louise 13 years ago: beautiful people, inside and out, with intelligence and heart to match. Edward had discovered true tea culture at 15 while in Prague, his father’s place of birth. Once he graduated from Winchester College, England’s oldest “public school,” he spent years traveling and living in Asia, particularly in Japan and China. There he learned Mandarin; trained in Wing Chun, a martial art derived from Tai Chi; and earned a degree in traditional Chinese medicine.
Mostly, however, he spent time in the countryside with tea farmers who taught him ancient traditions and skills of tea cultivation, manufacture, and preparation. He forged deep bonds with his teachers and steeped himself in various tea cultures. Later, in India, he met an English dancer named Louise, now mother of their children, Scarlett and Rufus. United and back home in England, they looked for meaningful work that would promote health, happiness, and living well. What else, but tea?—a decision that prompted that first e-mail from Norwich, followed by Edward and Louise’s visit with us in San Francisco.
