Evaluation Panel

David De Candia, Senior Manager Tea / Master Tea Blender, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

David De Candia is Senior Manager of Tea and Master Tea Blender for Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf . He is responsible for buying, developing and educating the company’s 850 retail store employees on tea. To that end, he has created company tea training and certification programs. David has been with the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for 11 years and is the company’s main source for public relations on tea.

Eliot Jordan, Director of Tea, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc.

Eliot Jordan, director of Tea for Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc., has been selecting, buying and blending the finest premium teas for the company for two decades. A Berkeley, CA, native, Jordan first fell in love with tea and coffee as a craft and an industry while working part-time at the original Peet’s store on Vine Street in Berkeley. Over the years, Jordan has introduced new tea offerings like Peet's Rare Teas and created new blends such as Peet's annual Anniversary and Holiday Breakfast. He has traveled to Asia several times to learn about the major tea-growing regions – India, Sri Lanka, China and Japan – consequently developing strong relationships with the premier producers. Jordan is a member of the Specialty Tea Institute and speaks frequently at tea industry events.

Lydia Kung, Buyer, Eastrise Trading Corp.

An avowed foodie who thinks teas get short shrift even as culinary expectations rise in our craft-fixated food culture, Lydia is delighted to play the role of tea advocate. Surely, some of the attention to growing regions and techniques in food, wine, and coffee can be transferred to a more judicious appreciation of fine teas. As an importer, Lydia has occasion to sample teas daily, ranging from low-end, high-volume products to captivating teas that virtually demand sipping again and again. She especially enjoys any occasion to taste with a group, since shared comments help build a tea lexicon and give articulation to nuances. Although no longer working in ethnography, all that this subject encompasses remains a passion, and tea falls easily into this field. Despite its long tradition, tea continually turns up new finds and surprises. Tea can still confound, and Lydia considers this as one of tea's greatest pleasures.

Jane Pettigrew, International Tea Consultant and Writer

In 1983, with two friends, Jane opened and ran Tea-Time, an art deco style teashop in southwest London. Since those busy but fun days, she has written 12 books on various aspects of the beverage, its manufacture, associated table wares, rituals, history and recipes. Over the years, she has also worked as editor of Tea International, as Managing Director of St James's Teas and as consultant and trainer to The UK Tea Council. She regularly trains staff at some of the London's most important five star hotels including the Dorchester, Grosvenor House, the Waldorf, Browns and The Savoy and runs monthly Tea Masterclasses for anyone who wants to know more about tea in order to enhance their business or personal life. Jane speaks at conferences and events around the world and appears regularly on television and radio.

Aaron Vick

Aaron Vick fell out of professional cooking and into the world of tea when he had his first tea cupping led by a professional trainer at Peet’s Coffee & Tea. Inspired by that experience he spent ten years with Peet’s as a staff educator, sharing the knowledge that inspired him and learning from some of the most experienced people in the industry. That community of tea people led him to The G.S. Haly Co., renowned supplier of specialty teas in the U.S. for over 120 years. In his three years with Haly, Aaron has been immersed in the daily discipline of cupping samples from the great specialty tea origins of the world and bringing them to the North American market.

David Walker

David Walker has spent over forty five years in every stage of the tea and coffee industries, beginning in western Kenya, and working throughout Eastern and Central Africa. He has a wide experience in planting and manufacturing tea and coffee and has worked as a trader, quality controller, and blender. He is a renowned tea taster and coffee liquorer. From 1973 to 1983 he ran his own tea importing and coffee broking company in New York City, Walker Tea Corp; and for the next 10 years worked as a consultant and quality controller for several US Coffee Trading Companies, traveling extensively in Central and South America and the Middle East. In 1992 he returned to East Africa to rehabilitate a tea and coffee estate and factory. He now spends his time between Florida and East Africa, consulting mainly with tea and coffee small holder cooperatives, establishing the best possible quality and finding overseas markets.

Mo Sardella

Mo Sardella began his career in the coffee and tea industries in 1998 with Peet’s Coffee and Tea based in Berkeley, CA. Since then, Mo has focused on broadening coffee and tea education and experience for hundreds of new professionals and customers alike. Now at the G.S. Haly Tea Company working alongside Mike Spillane and Aaron Vick, Mo continues to hone his pallet and refine his knowledge about the various intricacies of tea every day.