Services

We provide authoritative tea supply chain advice. We can guide you on processing, sourcing, supplier management, and help build sustainability capability into the heart of your tea business. We work with tea growers, packers, traders and other stakeholders looking to future-proof tea supply.

Our wide hands-on experience working with the entire tea value chain from growing to market with multinational companies means we can provide practical expertise for both value creation and carve out. We cover strategic buying and blending, tea tasting, NPD and even provide  quality evaluation and  arbitration. If you are starting  a tea business, venturing into tea business or want to improve your existing tea business we can help.

Expertise is our strength. Experience, skill and knowledge is our way. We give you authentic product and market guidance based on 30+ years of real hands-on industry presence. You know your business will be in good hands.

From competitor mapping and market landscaping to new product development I provide invaluable tea industry expertise to help you create the perfect tea experience – on shelf or in hospitality.

eLEARNING

We believe in evolving with the times! You can now learn at your pace, at your own place. Select from our suite of self-paced courses, book it then fit it around your work-life balance. Learn tea in a flexible and accessible way.

BESPOKE TRAINING

For all our eLearning classes, you can opt to have the invaluable experience of 1:1 teaching from The Tea Expert, Joyce on webinar. You get to ask questions, taste teas together and pick the expert’s brains on those tea issues close to your project.

You can also book a completely bespoke class tailored specifically to your needs – I know all businesses are different, and you may have very specific training requirements. I will be happy to work with you to create material specifically for you!

On-site training is available for businesses. This can be for your tea team junior/middle level tasters, or your sales and marketing team to know the product.

Email to arrange.

TASTER CERTIFICATION

My Certified Taster training is aimed at those who are, or working to become professional tasters as Tea Sommelier, Buyer or Blender. I offer intensive taster training to help you build and sharpen your tasting and evaluation skills.

Whether you are a beginner, intermediate taster or wanting to become a global taster – get trained by the International Tea Expert.

• Training covers both CTC and orthodox commercial tea tasting.
• Speciality tea tasting : The Cambridge 5S System is a bespoke grading and categorisation system developed by Joyce Maina, and covers speciality teas of all 6 types, as well as purple teas. This work was facilitated by the International Trade Centre to bridge the gap created by the lack of a universal tea grading system for quality assessment and articulation. The system is currently in use with speciality producers from Kenya and Myanmar.

In my long tea career, this stands out as the most exhilarating part of the job. Nothing compares to being on a tea garden, smelling the fresh leaf as it is plucked from the bushes, looking into the smiling faces of tea farmers and pluckers, marked by the rain and sun of the tea growing areas, doing what they absolutely love – make tea! You have never tasted or smelt tea like freshly made leaves, still warm from the drier, brewed in the local way.

Ah, take me to a tea garden now!

Sound like something you would like to do?

Well, you can.

We partner with small speciality tea producers and arrange for you to visit, learn and enjoy the tea garden experience.

Kenya

Tanzania

China

Learn the art of teamaking on a tea garden

Pluck your own leaves

Handmake your different tea types

Learn about the farmer and their terroir

Sharpen your tasting skills

Bring back your very own tea caddy

 Talking tea: There is a whole world of tea largely undiscovered by drinkers and non-drinkers alike. It’s an exciting world featuring history, colours, flavours, aromas and origins. Not only do consumers want to understand their cup of tea better, but people young and old are looking for new experiences – that’s where Cambridge Tea Consultancy step in.

CONVENTIONS & EVENTS

From tea expos to trade association conventions, I am an experienced and engaging public speaker on the subject of tea. I have spoken at a wide range of events including tea conferences in the UK, Kenya, Burundi and China.

Some examples of recent events:

• GTI’s 8th Annual Colloquium, Tea and Value –  January 2023
• Anxi College of Tea Science, European Tea Culture & Marketing  December, 2022
• 5th African Tea Convention, Marketing Dynamics of Specialty Teas
  & Diversification – Aug 2022

If you are looking for a speaker, let’s talk.

OTHER TEA ACTIVITIES

Team activities

Inspire your team creativity using tea tasting, tea and food pairing or tea mocktails making.

Product tasting

“I’m a taste expert – let me help you create exciting products whatever they might be!”

Tea and Beverages Judging

“I bring objective assessment with great experience gained judging internationally.”

 

Other activities include women groups fun tea tasting and schools/college groups – learn about tea tasting as a career option!

TEA STORY TELLING

As a tea expert, I provide tea expertise and elevate the profile of tea. Some of my features can be found  in Harper’s Bazaar, Red Online and The Stylist.

I can also help you build your product storytelling for impact.

• Pack copy
• Online product descriptions
• Media material build