Bonjour.

I am Renée Sebastian, a Certified Tea Master and Blender residing within the San Francisco Bay Area. For over a decade, I helped shape the tea conversation throughout the Philippines, providing education and work opportunities for Filipinos. In 2022, I embraced a new mission to share my love of tea culture, travel, and languages with a global audience. I now write about my tea memoirs, adventures, and occasionally offer business advice with the goal of helping others find their passion for tea.

Photo: Aboard the tea train, Ella to Kandy, Sri Lanka

News

tiens-moi au jus

Follow me on Medium + IG and receive tea tips, resources and much more.

Photo: Nunobiki Herb Garden, Kobe, Japan

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Brand Creation

Sweetea's

Designed to convince a non-tea drinking culture to embrace a healthier beverage. It grew from a small kiosk to three branches in the metro.

Featured in Design Milk

Creator: Renée Sebastian
Branding: Luis Domingo
Design Architect: Iris Cantante
Local Architect: Megan Camaya
Photo: Shaira Luna

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Beverage Development

Tea Mama

22 unique tea and fresh fruit blends crafted for those who put a primacy on wellness. It expanded to 3 stores as part of a strategic local partnership with co-working office space global brand SPACES.

As seen in Metro Style

All tea blends and drink recipes by: Renée Sebastian
Branding: And A Half
Photo: Mars Guisala

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Tea Consultancy

Solaire Resort and Casino

As a tea consultant for Solaire Resort and Casino’s from 2014 to 2019, I streamlined the tea menus, created signature tea drink recipes, and supplied premier teas across property outlets. I provided the customizations for the tea displays in Oasis, the resort’s tea salon. Notably, I trained hundreds of servers and staff in the preparation of a branded tea service to improve product knowledge and guest satisfaction.

Signature Drink Recipe - Hong Kong Style Milk Tea
Oasis x da.u.de Tin Can Design: Luis Domingo
Custom Tea Box Service Design: Renée Sebastian

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Tea Blending

Bo’s Coffee

I created 5 loose-leaf tea blends celebrating local flavors for the Philippine’s largest local coffee retailer. The result was the creation of a supplementary subcategory: specialty teas with distribution spanning 90 stores nationwide and a branch in the United Arab Emirates.

Original Exclusive blends: Kape, Mangga, Lemonada
Photo: Mars Guisala

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Featured Collaborations

Artist - Peter Ibruegger

Designed the original mustache coffee mugs, UK based artist collaborated with me to produce his designs for tea lovers. The result is a double-walled tea cup with mustache and bow designs.

Brand - % Arabica Coffee

A world-renowned coffee roaster, I worked with their local roaster to create a signature espresso blend for Tea Mama at SPACES.

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Tea Cultivation

Philippine Economic Zone Authority

Determined the viability of tea cultivation for commercialization within the Freeport areas in Zamboanga City. This yielded in the renewed interest for the Department of Agriculture’s pilot project on tea farming. I verified the tea species and instructed local staff on how to create orthodox teas. Coincidentally, I produced a black and oolong tea from this farm which was entered into competition in the World Tea Expo 2019.

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Press

Dites moi.