Meet Sally - T2's Head of Tea

Sally, T2’s Head of Tea, has tasted more teas than most people will encounter in a lifetime. Her favourite, however, remains a humble yet complex oolong.

"We've made hundreds of teas over the last 30 years, but I always come back to a simple beautiful Chinese oolong. I love the simplicity and the depth of flavour. And I know everyone is obsessed with Japanese tea at the moment, but I always come back to a humble Chinese oolong."

Sally’s love story with tea started twenty years ago at a well-known British tea company. Landing in Australia in 2007, she was first introduced to T2 Tea.

“I immediately thought, I have to be the person who makes these teas one day,” she recalls, before finally getting the opportunity 10 years ago to join T2’s buying and product team.

The work itself is deceptively expansive. On the surface, Sally makes tea. But in practice, the world of product development runs much deeper.

“Every tea has to start with an idea and an overall shape that we’re trying to achieve. So we might be looking for tea specifically for Mothers Day or Christmas or tea for just feeling like an indulgent moment.”

Inspiration comes from everywhere: conversations with customers and store teams, food trends and specific ingredients that are having their moment, even desserts that Sally comes across on her travels. She also works closely with suppliers to develop and refine each blend, a process that can stretch across months of iteration before it's right.

“I work closely with our suppliers to come up with a new blend and keep finessing that until we find the right one. But the best part for me, is when I get to go into our store and I see somebody drinking our tea on our tastings, and then buying it and loving it. That makes everything worth it. It doesn’t matter how long the process is before that, seeing somebody enjoy that product is the best feeling in the world.”

Watch Sally’s full interview below.