Dan Bolton
Founder | Publisher | Podcast HostA newspaper reporter, editor, and magazine publisher, Dan brings 55 years of experience in journalism, editing, and media leadership. He founded Tea Journey Magazine in 2015 to foster deeper conversations within the tea community. Dan also hosts the weekly Tea Biz Blog | Podcast, now heard in over 100 countries. He’s a frequent speaker at global industry events and continues to champion thoughtful, independent tea media.
Favorite Tea: Varies by season. In the early spring, I prefer green teas and first flush black teas. Darjeeling Muscatel second flush, and malty Assam are my summer mainstays, along with Sri Lanka high-growns. Dark oolongs, Wuyishan rock teas, and Pu’er get me through winters where the monthly high is a very low -20 below.
Tea Journey Launches on Kickstarter
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Bhavi Patel
EditorAn accomplished journalist and content creator, Bhavi specializes in the worlds of tea, coffee, and culinary culture. With bylines in Perfect Daily Grind, Barista Magazine, STiR coffee and tea, and more, she is known for crafting clear, engaging narratives that bridge origin stories and brewing science. Her work also supports global brands through writing and content strategy.
Favorite Tea: A good hot Darjeeling Second Flush or Shou Pu’er for the winters, a South-East Asian style iced oolong for the summers, and matcha and genmaicha in all its forms all through the year. Also, would never say no to a Lao Cong Shui Xian or a Longjing.
Bhavi Patel Named Tea Journey Editor
Sonali Y
Design LeadSonali works across communication design, websites, visual systems, and video. She believes good design comes from working closely with content, not around it. She's drawn to work that feels resolved and contemporary, where thoughtful details do their work quietly. Hands-on and detail-driven, she focuses on creating visual continuity and tone in how things look, feel, and communicate.
Favorite Tea: Cold-infused white tea — quiet, delicate, and deep.
Senior Contributors
Anne-Frédérique Dayraut
Senior Contributor | EuropeAnne-Frédérique is the founder of the Sanskriti Collection and representative for Mittal Teas, a premium tea line crafted in collaboration with Vikram Mittal, an internationally acclaimed taster dedicated to conserving Indian ancestral know-how. She lives in Paris.
Si Chen
Senior Contributor | ChinaSi is a certified tea sommelier (Canada) and tea artist (China), contributing to tea research, particularly in relation to Chinese tea origins, and offering consultation to Chinese tea businesses. She is a founding partner of Tea Journey and lives in Beijing.
Horacio Bustos
Senior Contributor | South AmericaHoracio is the director of Gyokuro Circulo Argentino de Té, where the careers of Tea Sommelier, Tea Master, and Water Workshop, Horacio has been an Honorary Member of the Circle of Water Tasters (Hidrocatadores) of the European Tasters of Waters since 2012. Horacio lives in Argentina.
Partners
Nan Cui
Associate PublisherAn experienced cultural consultant, Nan co-founded Tea & Chan Commune, a private traditional tea and meditation club in Beijing. He is the former Deputy Director of Marketing for the Americas and Europe of the China National Tourism Administration and a founding partner of Tea Journey. Nan lives in Shanghai, China.
Aravinda Anantharaman
DirectorWriter, editor, columnist, tea reporter, and co-owner of Copac Media, a creative consultancy. Her interests are history and literature, and their influence on contemporary society. Aravinda is a former editor of Tea Journey, residing in Bengaluru, India.
Ellen Kanner
DirectorA web design and development specialist, photographer, and video editor. She operated the Dobrá Tea teahouse in Portland, Maine, for 12 years before switching to online tea purveyors at Teafarers.com. She lives in Portland, Maine.
Kevin Gascoyne
DirectorBritish taster Kevin Gascoyne co-owns, runs, and shop-keeps the award-winning Camellia Sinensis teahouses and Tea Schools of Montréal and Québec City. A prize-winning author on tea and a founding partner at Tea Journey. Kevin lives in Montréal.
Contributors
John Smagula
USAAssistant Dean for Graduate and International Programs at Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia. He is a certified tea specialist in the United States and China.
Adeline Teo
AustraliaAdeline Teoh is a writer based in Sydney, Australia. She runs events through the Sydney Tea Meetup and writes about tea culture and paraphernalia at teashirts.com.au.
Jeff Fuchs
CanadaAward-winning Himalayan explorer Fuchs has traced some of the most remote tea routes on the planet, tracing teas back to their original sources and original caretakers. He also acts as the procurer and co-founder of JalamTeas.
Ian Chun
JapanIan Chun is the founder of Yunomi. He believes that tea is a focal point of a lifestyle that enables the Japanese to live longer than anyone else in the world.
Greg Goodmacher
JapanGreg stocks a wide variety of tea in his kitchen while juggling various roles: college professor, journalist, environmentalist, gardener, and tourism consultant. Although born in New York, he has lived more than half his life in Asia. Over the years, he acquired a taste for tea and a fascination with cultural variety.
Roopak Goswami
IndiaRoopak has worked as a newspaper journalist in Northeast India for the past 25 years. He is always on the lookout for something exciting and new. “I love my tea and look around for new wildlife species!!!” he says.
Suzette Hammond
USASuzette is now an independent executive consultant specializing in tea programs and training. She collaborates with both private companies and industry trade groups in the United States and Europe. She is a founding partner at Tea Journey. Her company is Being Tea. View her bylines in the magazine here.
Shiuwen Tai
USAShiuwen was born and raised in Taiwan and steeped in tea culture from a very young age. Separated from Taiwan by her many travels, she was inspired to rediscover her own roots. As her love of tea grew, she and Rob began exploring the entire world of Chinese tea together.
Jaq James
AustraliaJaq is a co-founder at The Artisan Tea House who became a Chinese tea enthusiast after moving to Mount Wuyi, Fujian, in 2016. She was kindly taken under the wings of several lecturers of Wuyi University’s School of Tea Science for private tutelage.
Dan Robertson
Mexico - USASince 1989, Dan Robertson has been traveling throughout Asia. He is the founder of The Tea House, an importer, blender, and purveyor of premium teas from around the world. He is also the organizer of the International Tea Cuppers Club. He owns the acclaimed World Tea Tours, bringing tea-lovers of all levels, on tea adventures to the major tea producing regions of the globe.
Frank Miller
ThailandPioneer in specialty tea retail in Seattle in 1989 as founder of Teahouse Kuan Yin and Blue Willow tea. He is a freelance writer living in Thailand and the founder and long-time friend of Tea Journey Magazine. View his bylines in the magazine here.
Cynthia Gold
USAAuthor of Culinary Tea: More Than 150 Recipes Steeped in Tradition from Around the World and a respected tea sommelier, winner of the Golden Spoon. She began her education at Johnson & Wales University and later attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and in Napa Valley at the Greystone campus for advanced classes in pastry, chocolate, and baking. Gold teaches the concepts behind culinary tea—including cooking with tea, pairing teas and foods, and tea cocktails—to culinary students and professionals.
Austin Hodge
USAFounder of Seven Cups Fine Chinese Tea in Tucson, Ariz., Austin is the first American to be published in the Chinese International Tea Culture Institute’s Journal. He is a Chinese government liaison with experience in e-commerce, retail/wholesale, and databases, and head of the International Specialty Tea Association. His tea house, operated with his wife Zhuping, features 80 high-quality, loose-leaf Chinese teas, earning international recognition while remaining a quiet spot in the neighborhood to enjoy tea.
James Norwood Pratt
USAJames is widely acknowledged as an instigator and prophet of America’s present tea renaissance. The Ultimate Tea Lover’s Treasury remains the most comprehensive compendium on tea in the English language. Known as "America's Tea Sage," he is possibly the world's most widely read authority on tea and tea lore. He is best known for his books on tea, including James Norwood Pratt's Tea Lover's Treasury (1982), The Tea Lover's Companion (1995), and Reading Tea Leaves (1996), all of which were authored "by a Highland Seer." In 2010, he authored James Norwood Pratt's Tea Dictionary, which was named Best New Publication by the World Tea Expo (2010). He is a founding contributor to Tea Journey and a long-time friend.
