About The Tea Alchemist

I've loved tea for as long as I can remember. I grew up drinking tea... to relax, to nurse a cold, to celebrate, to embrace the mood of a rainy day. Tea is simply my first step. I begin each day, each project, each brainstorming session, with a cup of tea.

Beginning with tea requires a pause. And that pause is an opportunity to check in with yourself, with the moment, with what's going on around you and within you. Whether consciously or not, each sip brings us back to that moment of pause, so we can continue to embody our initial intentions, even as we move on to other things. How beautiful is that?

I have always shared tea this way with my friends. And as The Tea Alchemist, I'm honored to share our handcrafted teas with you. - j

Jennifer Purrenhage, PhD, AADP

 

At The Tea Alchemist, we believe that beautiful, delicious teas are an integral tool in the cultivation of health and happiness. While our philosophy values aesthetics, the benefits of our teas extend far beyond their beauty. Here's what we mean...

We are grounded in a deep social, health, and environmental conscience. So are our teas.

We would never create or sell you a product that we wouldn't use ourselves, and personally we would never settle for a tea that wasn't crafted using safe, high-quality, and environmentally and socially ethical ingredients, so you can feel good about drinking these teas.  We do. Every day.


Our tea blends and herbal tisanes are made from 100% Organic ingredients. Always.

You're here, so we're guessing you already tend to choose organic. Drinking organic tea is a particularly important decision because tea leaves are not washed before they are dried and exported. This means that if you're steeping conventional (not organically grown) tea, the first time those pesticides are rinsed off the tea leaves is when you pour your purified water over the leaves in your cup.  Not on our watch!


Fair Trade Certification is extremely important to us when sourcing ingredients.

Whenever the option is available, we use ingredients that are Fair Trade CertifiedCurrently, the tea leaves for the majority of our true tea blends (those based on green, white, pu'erh, and black teas) are Fair Trade Certified, as are a number of the other ingredients in our tea blends and herbal tisanes (e.g., our green rooibos, red rooibos, cinnamon, and vanilla beans are Fair Trade Certified). We will continue our search for suppliers who offer Fair Trade options of any ingredients that are not yet Fair Trade Certified.


We blend our teas and tisanes in Small Batches. 

In our opinion, preparing a great batch of tea requires an artistic blender with a keen attention to detail. Our brand of mindful blending works best on a small scale where the need for tiny adjustments can be seen and addressed. Small-batch blending ensures freshness and allows for quality control on every tin of tea. We consider each cup of tea to be a work of art.


Our tea blends and tisanes are always Loose Leaf. Here's why...

We want you to fully experience your tea and we want your tea to have the freedom to reach its fullest potential.

For tea lovers, drinking tea is a truly sensual experience involving visual-aesthetic, aromatic, and tactile enjoyment, as well as, of course, the pleasure of tasting the tea. All aspects of the experience are heightened when you can see and smell your tea without barriers.

For the tea, bags and other confined spaces can inhibit the movement required for an ideal infusion. When tea leaves come into contact with hot water, they begin to unfurl and expand. During this expansion, the leaves impart their powerful compounds and unique flavors to the water. This process--called 'The Agony of the Leaves'--requires freedom for movement and expansion, and it is responsible for the well-integrated cup of tea you'll enjoy.

You'll never find 'flavorings' or nasty chemicals in our teas. That's simply not allowed.

Our tea blends and tisanes are made from real ingredients. That means you can look at any of our loose-leaf blends and actually see every single ingredient in there. We believe that all you need to make a great cup of tea is the right blend of organic leaves, roots, flowers, and fruit.  And that's all you'll ever find here.