About Us

Hello

My name's John and welcome to Shibui Tea.

I always have enjoyed having a cuppa. Having grown up in Yorkshire and the North of England I was brought up with a strong brew from pretty much birth.

That's why I made sure our breakfast tea is full of flavour and also can take a bit of milk. I'm one of the ones who does take milk in their tea by the way. There’s no judging here and that’s what we think is great about tea - you can have it any way you like.

Shibui Tea is a small family run company based in Edinburgh.

I run the company with my wife, Claire, plus we have 5 other members of the team: Simona, Sarah, Marc, Lindsay and Annabel.

The Teas

We also wouldn’t be anywhere without the teas and we hope you enjoy the diverse range that we offer.

From classics such as Earl Grey and Breakfast to some more interesting blends that you may not have tried before. We are constantly looking at different flavours and it’s always fun coming up with new blends.

Take our Chocolate & Ginger herbal blend for instance. When we were looking at our range of pyramid tea bags at the start we couldn't have all the flavours we wanted due to the minimum quantities involved so we had to compromise a wee bit. We wanted a ginger tea and also wanted a chocolate tea which is when the idea of this blend came to us. It's now one of our best sellers and has won many Great Taste Awards. Take a look if you’re intrigued by the combination.

Sustainability

We've also been working hard to reduce the plastic in our packaging and are pleased to say that our teas are now available in compostable and/or recyclable packaging. We’re not perfect but we’re trying our best. We’re always looking at the packaging and it’s constantly evolving. That’s one of the best things about being a small business – we’re able to adapt very quickly. More information about our plastic stance can be found here and if you have any questions on this then please contact us.

It's also very important to make sure our teas are ethically sourced. More info on our sustainable & ethical policy can be found here.

We are a proud member of 1% for the Planet. If you’ve not heard about it then it means that we have pledged to donate 1% of our annual sales to charities which help protect the environment. We can choose which charities we like to support and we’ve chosen a few which are close to our hearts. These are The Woodland Trust, The Marine Conservation Society & The John Muir Trust.

What does Shibui mean?

We get this question a lot. Well, we wanted a name that meant something and was something that wasn't common either so everyone would remember it too.

It's a Japanese word which has a few meanings.

One meaning is a way of describing something which appears simple but has a complex nature. We think that this sums up tea perfectly. Tea is just tea, right? To most maybe but look into it and there’s a lot more to it than that.

By visiting Shibui Tea online, you can see this and browse and choose from over 100 different teas and collections.

You'll also be assured of good customer service - that's one thing we’re particularly keen on - we want you to be treated exactly as we'd like to be treated.

Anything you'd like to ask us?

Please drop us a line or give us a call.

We'll try our best to help with any questions as long as they aren't about coffee...