Meet Our Founder

Veerinder S. Chawla

Inspiration

While travelling in the Himalayas with my family one summer, I dreamt of a life in tea and the possibilities it offered. That was 29 years ago in 1996. Having not much knowledge in tea, I decided to first learn tea by serving tea to others. As such, I decided to open a small, hospitable, internationally inspired teahouse in Portland, Oregon. Constructing it with natural, sustainable materials was equally important and meaningful as was fun building it. The Portland community embraced my teahouse with a full heart and it quickly became its own living room, where gatherings, social dates, events would happen. It began to develop its own life and a source for learning.

Prior to tea, my prior career had been based in working for a well reputed International management consulting firm. After working in a variety of industries, I ended up specializing in energy management and deregulation. conservation programs, demand side management and financial modeling were at the core of my expertise. Later, I was able to apply principles of market strategy and sourcing to my tea company.

Source Connection

I began to travel in the late 1990s and went straight to tea origins to develop friendships and connections. After all, tea is best when enjoyed with family and friends. Unlike some other industries, it holds a very special connecting thread and energy that binds tea people together to appreciate this ancient plant. My travels to India, China, Taiwan, Japan and Sri Lanka and in many cases, off the beaten paths

In Search of Clean Teas

Tea, like many other agricultural products is prone to pesticide use in the industry. My search for clean, pure, unadultered teas started in the early years. That era was before a National Organic Programme (NOP) was established in the United States. By the time the final rules were launched in late 2000, my search had resulted in a number of clean teas that began to be imported. The Tao of Tea became one of the first group of tea companies that obtained a full organic certifaction in the country. Since then we have been involved in raising our standards and continue to participate in various food and culinary initiatives positively impacting the communities we serve.