Tea Pope from Vienna

Wenzhuo Liu

Thomas M. Grömer, from Vienna, Austria, is a successful European tea entrepreneur known as the “Tea Pope”. In the 1990s, Thomas went to Japan to study, majoring in tea at university and obtaining a Japanese tea taster certificate. In 2001, Thomas founded a tea company in Europe, which now has two tea brands and four office locations in Hamburg and Vienna. Its products are sold to 47 countries in Europe and West Africa. As a successful tea entrepreneur in Europe, Thomas has also provided business consulting services in the past two years, helping tea brands, stores, and practitioners.

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British Tea People in Denmark

Wenzhuo Liu

Alexis Kaae is from the UK and currently resides in Denmark. She used to be a mechanical technician and now runs a physical and online tea shop, Simply Tea, providing educational services. She is also developing a tea plantation. In 2007, Alexis traveled to tea regions in China to study tea. In 2014, she co founded the Danish Tea Association with several outstanding ladies from the Danish tea industry. In 2017, she became the Vice President of the European Specialty Tea Association, and in recent years, she has also joined the European Tea Association and other organizations. Alexis is active in the European tea industry, frequently invited to participate in tea events in China.

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Professional ‘Nose’ in the Tea Industry

Wenzhuo Liu

Carine Baudry is a professional nose from Paris, France, with years of experience in aroma creation that has given her a deep understanding of sensory evaluation. Currently working at the tea academy of the tea brand Nunshen, Carine has developed a tea evaluation system primarily based on olfactory perception of tea, utilizing sensory evaluation techniques and descriptive dialectics for teaching and training. The French non-profit organization Femmes de Culture has named Carine one of the 100 Women of Culture 2023. Traveling to the origins of the world’s magic fragrance products and cooperating with people from the famous French industries, such as red wine, perfume and food, Carine shared her personal understanding, how to introduce tea to the French in the right way.

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International Tea Consultant- Nigel Melican

Wenzhuo Liu

Nigel Melican currently resides in Ireland and is semi retired. At the age of 83, he has been running his own tea consulting company over 30 years. He once worked as a product developer and trouble-shooter at Unilever Research. He was a botanist who accidentally entered the tea industry in the 1980s and worked in multiple tea producing countries to assist in establishing and improving tea factories. In 1990, Nigel opened his own tea consulting company Teacraft, which involved businesses in 31 countries on six continents, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, and Europe. In 2018, he also led the establishment of the European Specialty Tea Association to promote multi-party connections in the tea industry chain. Nigel has focused his company’s efforts over the past decade on assisting small tea farmers and factories, and encouraging tea brands to develop international markets.

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Chilean Tea Man Enters European Tea Circle

Wenzhuo Liu

Eduardo Molina Anfossi comes from Chile, he has traveled to 96 countries around the world, with his footprints in major tea producing regions. He is studying Asian Studies at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany and works for the newly popular European tea chain brand Paper&Tea. Currently, he is currently in the graduation thesis stage and has now transitioned from part-time work to full-time work. Eduardo is mainly responsible for marketing and skill training, as well as operating public relations activities and developing products. He has also witnessed the rapid expansion of this brand, from having two tea shops in Berlin to seven countries including Germany.

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New Director of the German East Frisian Tea Museum

Wenzhuo Liu In 2021, the East Frisian Tea Museum in northern Germany welcomed a new director, Mirjana Ćulibrk, she was born in Wilhelmshaven, northern Germany. After graduating with a master’s degree in archaeology and museum management, she has been working in related fields. The Tea Museum not only showcases the tea culture of the local East Read more about New Director of the German East Frisian Tea Museum[…]

French Tea People Promote Chinese Pu’er Tea

Wenzhuo Liu

French man William Osmont settled in Yunnan, China, with a background in agricultural machinery education. He helped his wife Yubai, a tea farmer, whose family has been tea farmers for generations, William establish the Yunnan tea brand Farmerleaf and gradually expand into the international market. William mainly promotes through social media. In 2023, he organized a European tour to promote his own brand of tea, holding small meetings with local tea enthusiasts in more than ten cities across Europe.

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American works as Tea Makers in Europe

Wenzhuo Liu

Photo Andy LeGresley

Alicia Gentili, an American with a Bachelors degree in Socioe conomics, gradually transformed into a new tea maker in Europe through multiple encounters with tea. As a project manager, Alicia worked at a tea plantation in Jersey, UK for over two years, accumulating knowledge of tea production through practical experience. In 2022, she began providing tea processing services and consulting Alicia Gentili Tea Consulting in Europe, and during the tea season, she went to tea plantations of customers in various European countries to help with tea processing and production.

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Crossing “Circles” Tea People

Wenzhuo Liu

Liu Rui, who started modeling at the age of 16, had a very successful modeling career and won numerous awards. Since falling in love with drinking tea, she has opened up a new direction in her life. During her study abroad in London, she worked part-time as a model and accidentally brought tea and tea culture from her hometown of Guizhou into the international fashion circle. Every Thursday, the alcohol frenzy at the “Thursday Club” in London was also influenced by her, and tea parties were held instead. In 2016, Liu Rui founded the tea brand Grass People Tree in London, specializing in Guizhou tea and currently developing steadily.

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Tea Brand Advertising Writer in Germany

Wenzhuo Liu

Thomas Langnickel-Stiegler, a German, is a freelance advertising writer who, due to his love of drinking tea, has done a lot of advertising planning for several well-known German companies regarding tea. He advocates that brands should not create an image without ground, but should be customer-oriented, tell the brand story well, and actively engage with customers. He believes that in Europe, at least in Germany, drinking tea will become a positive attitude and healthy lifestyle in the near future, and Europeans will be willing to spend more money on drinking better tea. Thomas also hopes to put forward some personal opinions and suggestions to Chinese tea brands that want to enter the German market, and discuss with me whether Chinese tea should bravely show its characteristics and take the initiative to define itself, as well as the international status of Chinese tea culture history.

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