In the same way that OC's Carol and Humberto scour the world to shop, Sebastian Beckwith travels across continents to sip tea. His company, In Pursuit of Tea, got its start as a wholesale retailer bringing rare teas to the restaurants and bars of New York. Now, the business includes an online store, tea sommelier services for events, and a brick-and-mortar store (which began as a pop-up in 2010) just down the street from OC. The shop caters to the most seasoned tea connoisseurs and neophytes alike, offering advice on brewing, information on the way each tea is processed, and more. I sat down with Beckwith to learn more about his travels and his love affair with the leafy beverage.
Kayla Weisdorf: So you travel around the world in pursuit of tea.
Sebastian Beckwith: I spend a lot of time on the ground at small farms in China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, southeast Asia, learning about tea and tea culture as well as buying. Understanding the teas we sell is important, because a big part of my job is educating our customers. So we really try and cultivate relationships with growers, farmers, and producers. We go and have dinner with them, hang out, walk around in their fields, and spend time with them. And that’s the fun of my job.
KW: Why are you so obsessed with tea?
SB: Because of the flavor and the process.
KW: Where were you this past trip, and how do you decide where you're going each time?
SB: In November I was in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. I travel two or three times a year. My reasons for choosing my destinations vary. Maybe I haven’t been to a region for a couple years, and I want to go back and look for a tea to add to our line. It’s always different. In the spring, I think I’ll go to Darjeeling in West Bengal, China, Bhutan, India, and Thailand. It’s always sort of last minute.
KW: What kind of tea are we drinking right now?
SB: This is a pu-erh tea. It comes in many different compressed bricks and cakes of sorts. This is the one tea that becomes more valuable as it ages, because the taste can get much more complex. This one is about two years old.
KW: This set-up is interesting. Is this the Chinese ceremonial drinking style you talk about on your website?
SB: The style is gongfu. Gongfu just means skill and practice. People often think of it as a special ceremony, but it’s just the way tea is made in southeast Asia. With gongfu, you use a small amount of water with a large amount of leaf. This allows you to steep the tea leaves many times and do multiple infusions.
By doing this you can more fully enjoy the tea, because maybe the sweetness of a tea––or a camphor note, or some other characteristic––won’t come out for three steeps. So you get to know the tea better than when you just make it once and dump the leaves. Most of the tea farmers that we deal with are aghast that the leaves are used once and then thrown out here. They’re like, “But they’re not even getting the best flavor!”
KW: Milk in tea: right or wrong?
SB: Wrong.
KW: Do you ever drink coffee?
SB: Occasionally, it’s interesting to taste. I’m sort of glad I don’t drink it every day, though. You know, I’m chained over to the tea clan.
KW: What sets you apart from other tea companies?
SB: For one thing, we don’t do any blending, which is the opposite of what you always hear from a tea company.
Kayla Weisdorf: So you travel around the world in pursuit of tea.
Sebastian Beckwith: I spend a lot of time on the ground at small farms in China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, southeast Asia, learning about tea and tea culture as well as buying. Understanding the teas we sell is important, because a big part of my job is educating our customers. So we really try and cultivate relationships with growers, farmers, and producers. We go and have dinner with them, hang out, walk around in their fields, and spend time with them. And that’s the fun of my job.
KW: Why are you so obsessed with tea?
SB: Because of the flavor and the process.
KW: Where were you this past trip, and how do you decide where you're going each time?
SB: In November I was in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. I travel two or three times a year. My reasons for choosing my destinations vary. Maybe I haven’t been to a region for a couple years, and I want to go back and look for a tea to add to our line. It’s always different. In the spring, I think I’ll go to Darjeeling in West Bengal, China, Bhutan, India, and Thailand. It’s always sort of last minute.
KW: What kind of tea are we drinking right now?
SB: This is a pu-erh tea. It comes in many different compressed bricks and cakes of sorts. This is the one tea that becomes more valuable as it ages, because the taste can get much more complex. This one is about two years old.
KW: This set-up is interesting. Is this the Chinese ceremonial drinking style you talk about on your website?
SB: The style is gongfu. Gongfu just means skill and practice. People often think of it as a special ceremony, but it’s just the way tea is made in southeast Asia. With gongfu, you use a small amount of water with a large amount of leaf. This allows you to steep the tea leaves many times and do multiple infusions.
By doing this you can more fully enjoy the tea, because maybe the sweetness of a tea––or a camphor note, or some other characteristic––won’t come out for three steeps. So you get to know the tea better than when you just make it once and dump the leaves. Most of the tea farmers that we deal with are aghast that the leaves are used once and then thrown out here. They’re like, “But they’re not even getting the best flavor!”
KW: Milk in tea: right or wrong?
SB: Wrong.
KW: Do you ever drink coffee?
SB: Occasionally, it’s interesting to taste. I’m sort of glad I don’t drink it every day, though. You know, I’m chained over to the tea clan.
KW: What sets you apart from other tea companies?
SB: For one thing, we don’t do any blending, which is the opposite of what you always hear from a tea company.