Since 2014
A tea merchant on Marchmont Row
Steep began with one buyer, ten years of tasting and a list of growers whose best tea never reached the shops.
Ines Calder, founder and buyer
Ines spent ten years buying tea for a London importer, travelling to Darjeeling, Fujian and Yame and tasting hundreds of lots a season. She learned what a good cup depends on: the garden, the flush and the care taken after picking.
Again and again she met growers whose best tea never reached the shops, either because the lot was too small or because the price was set too low. She started Steep in 2014 to buy from those gardens directly and to pay them properly.
She still tastes every lot before it is listed and sets the price with the grower. Fourteen small gardens in Japan, China, Taiwan, India and Sri Lanka now supply the shop, and every caddy carries its harvest date and a brew guide written at the counter.
