My teacher showed me how integrate tea into my meditation practice, partly by counting breaths to measure the steep time. If we silently count five breaths, and then pour out our hot tea and sip it, it’s hard not to slip into a meditative state. Practicing tea helped me in my meditation practice.

In 2011, I started JoJo Tea because I never wanted to run out of tea again. Meditation practice is difficult. We’re surrounded by stimulation and distraction. We need all the help we can get. And this tea practice (called gongfu) seemed to help me very much. It made me consider tea and its culture a little differently. Imagine a culture that values the moment of peace. Imagine a culture that practices, refines, and shares the moment of peace. It became clear that our mission is to create that culture.

It started with ziplock bags, selling tea to family and friends. Soon after, a small French bakery heard about us and wanted to try our tea. Chocolate Fashion, in Coral Gables, wanted to offer our product. The quality of our tea was so much higher than what the average Miami tea lover had ever seen.

Over the next decade, we’d opened over 300 accounts, from restaurants and cafe’s to hotels and even a cruise line, Virgin Voyages. We opened our tasting room in Miami for private tastings, classes, and sessions in 2016, and in 2019 I won the first American Tea Master’s Cup. We aim to continue to define authenticity in this New American Tea Culture. We aim to be centered around the Moment of Peace, but flexible enough to enjoy a spiked iced tea with a fat scoop of frozen lemonade.

After all, tea is both a silent ceremony and a refreshing cocktail, and it is also everything in between. We aspire to be as such, and invite you to find and enjoy your moment.