OUR FOUNDER
Our founder Isilay comes from Turkey, the largest tea consuming country per capita. She grew up with brewing and drinking tea. Moving to the UK widened her tea horizons. However, only when she relocated to China, she was tea-struck and became a big fan of fine Chinese teas. She completed her tea sommelier training at the International Tea Academy in 2019.
Isilay founded Not Just A Cuppa a few months later as a platform to spread the word on fine teas. Her discoveries continued when she tasted rare artisanal Turkish teas and made it her mission to make them accessible to tea lovers internationally.
OUR TEAS
We bring you four types of loose-leaf teas. They are all made out of the same plant (camellia sinensis var. sinensis) but processed differently. In the order of increasing oxidation level, we offer green, white, oolong and black teas.
OUR MISSION
Cuppa refers to 'a cup of tea' in British slang and with our name we would like to emphasise that tea is more than a simple beverage.
We source our teas sustainably from the tea fields of the Black Sea coast in Turkey. The leaves are carefully handpicked and processed artisanally to ensure the highest quality.
We promote single-origin, loose-leaf teas which will brew some complex and delicate aromas and flavours.
OUR TEA SETS
Tea drinking offers a unique experience that transcends time. It is an experience that is complemented with exquisite teaware. While tea ware varies from one culture another, they share one thing in common: beauty. This is in line with what Lu Yu mentioned in the first-ever book about tea: "All moments in life should be attended by the beauty". Our tea sets were designed with this in mind. We believe that tea appreciation and pleasure grows once shared. You can gift our tea sets, but we understand if you would like to keep them to yourselves.
