My Tea Journey

 

Hi! I'm Simon Parish, the founder of Northeast Tea House and River & Stone Tea. Northeast Tea House is the parent company of River & Stone. It was originally formed as an oasis of calm in the heart of Minneapolis, where people could go to relax and sip tea. Yet from the start, I wanted to offer the best tea possible, and that me led down a rabbit hole until I landed at the conclusion that we ought to import a matcha mill and offer fresh matcha! 

Well, that decision really landed with a lot of people in our community, and matcha quickly became something the tea house was known for. Meanwhile, in learning the craft of operating the mill, fine-tuning it, assessing tencha, making blends, and seeing first-hand what happens to matcha day-by-day as it ages, my passion for this form of tea only grew. Many people ask me what my favorite tea is, and, to be honest, there are too many answers to that question. However, not a day goes by where I don't give in to my craving for matcha at least once! 

I am honored to be a part of the tradition of milling matcha and to share my work (though lots of credit goes to our amazing tea growers!) with my community - and so, River & Stone was conceived to extend that community across the country! 

Every day I come home caked in green dust (I've learned to wear green), and every day I breathe a bit of it in as I'm sifting the finished product and the ultra-fine particles rise like smoke. Our partner farmers grow their tea the old-fashioned way, with no artificial fertilizers or sprays of any kind, and I'm so thrilled to be able to express their raw material as finished matcha. From start to finish, this is truly craft tea - the result of several extremely passionate people working together on opposite sides of the world! 

Hopefully you'll give our matcha a try and become as fascinated with freshly milled matcha as I am!

Cheers!

Simon

Founder, Head Tea Guy, Head Matcha Miller