From Ayumi’s Tokyo art studio and Diana’s sunny Los Angeles kitchen, we decided to start Three Gems Tea to share our own kind of tea break — one rooted in our families’ traditions but also infused with our shared love of color, design, and delicious things.

Our mission? To make tea breaks good, simple, and fun.

GOOD: Quality tea, grown and shared with care. 

Our tea is grown organically in China and Taiwan. Our teaware is handcrafted in Los Angeles and Jingdezhen, the history-steeped ceramics capital of China. 3% of our tea sales support clean water projects, like DigDeep and LA Waterkeeper. And no matter how new or experienced you are when it comes to loose leaf tea, you’re welcome at our party — we know tea is tastiest when shared.

SIMPLE: Easy by design. 

Whenever we return to China, we love the unfussy way that our families drink tea together — low-key gatherings that inspired us to share the magic of a casual tea break with the rest of the world too. So we’ve designed an infuser mug and a streamlined, modern gong fu tea set for everyday use, and created intuitive guides to make tea time a little more delightful. We’ll provide the essentials, you make tea time your own.

FUN: Seriously, tea’s not that serious.

It’s just leaves in water! We don’t believe in complicated rules for enjoying tea, even if you’re brewing gong fu style. The way you like it is absolutely the best way to drink it, and learning how you prefer to take your tea is half the fun. (If you’re new to loose leaf, we put together basic guidelines — just a starting point! — to make a reliably tasty gaiwan/mug/pitcher.)

Since our teas are bold and vibrant, we thought our teaware should match. We believe in the power of a tea break to brighten any day, literally and figuratively! 🌈

People photos on our site by Oriana Koren. Product photos by Josh Schaedel and Three Gems Tea.