Michael, the founder of Teawaves, grew up in a tea drinking family (as opposed to coffee drinking). He always enjoyed teal, but never expected tea would become his career! After graduating with a degree in Chinese Studies, Michael spent a good portion of his early 20s backpacking the world. This first took him to China, where he had the goal to expand his knowledge of Mandarin and Chinese culture.
Michael decided to stay for a longer period in China. While he was thrilled to experience such a new and foreign place, he was disappointed to feel lonely and maybe a little out of place. This is when he discovered the social and diverse world of Chinese tea. Little did he know that he would fall in 
love with the ritual, taste and tradition behind tea. Michael switched from drinking the occasional cup of tea (from a tea bag) to using different methods to brew all different types of loose leaf tea throughout the day.
He immediately preferred the taste and variety of these teas. Soon afterwards he also started to notice some of the health benefits of drinking tea: clearer skin, increased energy, improvement in his yoga and workout practices. Overall, he just felt better. In addition, the tea and experiences the ceremony of drinking tea at the tea houses in China allowed him to slow down, build friendships, and build community. Diving deep into tea led to much better habits for him physically, spiritually, emotionally and socially for the rest of his time in China.
After four years living in China, Michael returned home to the states. Unfortunately, he found that high quality tea and tisanes and the associated practices were just not easy to find in the US. He wanted to bring back the benefits of tea, not only for himself, but for his friends, family, and community.
This led to the development of Teawaves, founded in 2022. Michael’s native proficiency in Mandarin and experiences traveling the rest of Asia, makes him uniquely capable of finding the best quality Eastern tea to bring back to the States. Teawaves aims to source and find the highest quality teas for people to enjoy (consider Michael a sommelier for tea).
We hope that you will get to experience the incredible benefits of our teas soon!
