Expert Judges

Ottilie fell into the world of tea after picking up a discarded copy of The Times on a train, where she spotted an ad for Trainee Tea Buyer at Twinings. Since then, Ottilie has spent the past 18 years in the tea trade and experienced every part of the tea value chain along the way, from grower to producer to retailer, working for brands such as Twinings, Finlays and Fortnum & Mason. As Tea Buyer at F&M, Ottilie is responsible for selecting the finest and most rare teas from across the globe for the iconic luxury retailer.

Juyan grow up in Zhejiang, China – one of the most important provinces for green tea production and worked with her parents in the family-run tea garden from a young age. In 2002, Juyan came to the UK for study and noticed that there was lack of premium quality teas in the market. So she started The Chinese Tea Company in London in 2010 after finishing the university. Since then she has traveled extensively visiting the tea gardens in China and meeting farmers to purchase the premium teas and learn her tea knowledge from the masters. She leads tea trips to China and hosts courses and private tastings and corporate events in London. She also teaches the Tea Sommelier Chinese tea module and Chinese Tea Masterclass.

Dr Lin teaches our Taiwanese Tea Masterclass. She started Marulin in London to share teas from her family farm in Taiwan – specialists in Taiwanese Oolong tea.

Marulin’s most recent development has been blending oolong teas in tea bags and creating new tea powders that go beyond matcha.

Suranga has had over 20 years’ experience working at the centre of the tea trade in Sri Lanka and possesses an in-depth understanding of the tea and the industry. He worked as a Tea Broker in the Sri Lankan Tea industry for over 20 years. Starting at Forbes and Walker, he then became Vice President of Asia Siyaka Commodity Brokers, before being moving to Ceylon Tea Brokers PLC, where he was appointed COO and then CEO. During this time, he also served on the Sri Lanka Tea Board Tasting Panel representing the Broker community and was a Board Director for the Colombo Brokers Association. He represented the Colombo Brokers Association at the Colombo Tea Traders Association(CTTA) as the Tea Convenor for Tea Brokers and was a member of the initial panel appointed by the Sri Lanka Tea Board to carry out a feasibility study into the E-auction system, which is now in place. Suranga moved to the UK in 2017 and is now a consultant, entrepreneur and tutor on Ceylon tea for the UKTA.

Asako Steward is a tea educator, consultant, and judge who bridges the worlds of Japanese and English tea. She founded and leads Tea Academy Japan, offering professional courses and masterclasses that highlight both Japanese and international perspectives on tea quality, culture, and appreciation.

With formal qualifications in both Japanese tea and black tea, she brings a rare cross-cultural expertise that connects producers, students, and professionals across continents. Her teaching focuses on helping people understand tea in its broader cultural and sensory context — from how it is crafted to how it is experienced around the world.

Asako serves as a judge for The Leafies – International Tea Academy Awards and The Great Taste Awards, evaluating exceptional teas from global producers. She also provides consultancy to hotels, tea brands, and growers, supporting them in product development, sourcing, and building bridges between Japan and international markets.

Her passion for communicating the beauty and diversity of tea has led to appearances in media including BBC Radio4 and Japanese television, and she is the author of five books on tea and tea culture. Through Tea Academy Japan and her consultancy Infuse Tea, Asako continues to share her passion for authentic, thoughtful tea education and cross-cultural connection.

I grew up in Sardinia, working in my father’s bar, where I picked up an interest for blending as blended our coffee beans. I moved to London and started working at the Ritz where I grew curious for tea. After a short course and a trip to Sri Lanka, I enrolled for a tea master course and started travelling to different countries where they grew tea.

I have been the Tea Master of the Ritz London for more than 10 years and I’m in charge of choosing the beautiful teas that we serve to our guests in our famous afternoon tea lounge.

Having spent 39 years in the industry, Kurush leads a large global cadre of the company’s specialist tea tasters across 15 countries and is required to protect, nurture, grow and sharpen this skill base. His mantra for his team is to taste, taste, and taste, or as he puts it: ‘Practice makes perfect; so perfect your practice’. He firmly believes that the best way to learn about tea is to taste it. Originally from India, Kurush’s first 20 years there included roles in buying, blending, quality, product development, speciality tea, exports and imports. He then moved to Dubai, spending 8 years in servicing a multitude of regional markets across Africa, Asia and The Middle East in a Tea Procurement, Quality and Supply Chain capacity. The last 10 years have seen him based in the UK, located at the company’s Global Innovation Centre in Bedfordshire where his roles encompass both recipe design and deploy; infusing passion, instilling belief, building capability, and championing a tea culture. As he confesses, ‘Tea is much more than what I do; it is who I am’…..And by a strange quirk of serendipity, even his family name (Bharucha) ends in cha!

Will started as a Trainee Tea Taster for Tetley 27 years ago. His training in India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Malawi sparked an enduring love and appreciation for tea and the communities who produce it. After nine years at Tetley he decamped to Douwe Egberts in Switzerland to perform a similar role for the Pickwick brand, first from Zug and then Utrecht in The Netherlands. Will returned to the UK in 2016 when the first edition of his award-winning book The World Tea Encyclopaedia was published. Will now runs Fine Tea Merchants Ltd, a tea import and wholesale company based in Lincolnshire as well as helping to run the family arable farm (although Will admits he is hopeless at tractor driving and best kept on more menial tasks). His latest book, The World of Tea, was published in 2024 by The International Wine and Food Society.

Bryony entered the world of tea after finding a role advertised at Twinings for a Trainee buyer whilst searching for a sales position at the company for a friend. During the past fifteen years, Bryony has experienced all areas of global tea buying, spending considerable time at the origins and understanding the intricacies of the supply chain; from the field through to blend development and retailer interaction.

Bryony has spent the last five years deep diving into herbs buying and is now the lead in sourcing new herbal materials for Twinings globally. She is passionate about spreading tea and herbal knowledge across the business and has been fortunate enough to travel widely to host international Masterclasses as well as helping to train the next generation of Master Tea Buyers.

Back in 2012, Emilie was a frustrated tea-drinker, so started a business, Good & Proper, to bring better quality, variety and theatre to the experience of drinking tea when out of home. Over 11 years on, she is passionate about raising the profile of specialty tea, by changing the way the UK thinks about and drinks tea. She tastes and selects every batch of tea herself, and having run two Tea Bars in Central London, she now works closely with hospitality partners across the country to help them get the best from their leaves. She has written a book about tea, including recipes for cakes, iced teas, cocktails and more.

Elizabeth spent her childhood growing, harvesting, and infusing herbs from her grandmother’s garden. She founded Elizabella Tea & Co. in California to bridge the world of tea and botanicals in fresh and unique ways. Elizabeth currently is the tutor for the Herbs and Infusions Masterclass with the UK Tea Academy and pairs her gardening and culinary skills to create engaging tea and botanical workshops.

Alex trained as a Master Tea Blender at Tetley and now has over 20 years experience as a tasting expert. He started his own company, Blends For Friends in 2006. Alex runs several UKTA Masterclasses on blending and tasting, both online and at the Blends For Friends blendatorium in Kent.

Thirty years ago while living in Kyoto, Tim became fascinated by tea culture and started to explore the tea traditions of East Asia. This led him to start importing tea in the late 1990s and to found Postcard Teas in 2005 which works exclusively with small farms across Asia. He has also written several books on tea which have been translated into several languages.