Joseph Wesley Uhl

For over twenty-five years Joe has searched to find the world's greatest tea growers and producers. Through this search he connected with luminaries who provided him with a deep knowledge and understandings about tea. In returning to Detroit, Michigan in 2001 he found it difficult to readjust. So, he became an attorney at a large law firm. It was not long, however, that he found himself feeling like another 'grey suit.’ He did not relate to the work; its purpose was not his. Noticing the person he became through the eyes of his first daughter he realized a change was needed and resigned from the league of gray suits, packed his bags and returned to Asia. He reached out to his former mentors and began deconstructing the myths the western world carries about tea; about its flatness in culture, the tendency towards garish blends, and about how the discourse of craft and terroir is lost. In so doing, he realized there was an opportunity to tell a different story and to tell that story from the most unlikely places, his hometown Detroit. In moving back to Detroit, he started Joseph Wesley Black Tea and began sharing his love and passion for the world's best tea.