I wanted to share another new shop with you! I communicated with them over instagram and bought a few teas to try! They have a great assortment of pu’er which I love but also An incredible amount of ceramics as well!

Learn a little more about Pugs & PIgs below and be sure to check out their shop!

Can you tell us a little bit about you and your passion for tea?

Pugs and Pigs is a small two people operation entirely dedicated to the amazing work of ceramic artists and tea producers. As such, we set up a little online gallery to showcase some of our favorite artists and also present a highly curated selection of teas. Both Ingrid and I (Laurence) come from different tea backgrounds. We've been living this obsession our own way for many years until we met down this path a year ago. Pugs and Pigs was born from a desire to work with people closer to us, to our values, and offer products that better represent who we are as tea drinkers.

Was there a catalyst that pushed you to open your shop?

Tea is an ever growing obsession. I think many tea drinkers can relate. You take a step forward, then another one, and suddently you realize you're pretty far down the rabbit hole. It is not very difficult to reach that point where tea becomes the central focus of your everyday life. From there, it is only a step more to get involved in the tea business. The real catalyst of our enterprise was ceramics. As much as we wanted to work closer with producers and import teas we feel deserved better attention, the real push forward was when we realized how under represented ceramic artists were in the tea world (and in the ceramic world for that matter). There are so many incredible artists out there and their work truly deserve more attention.

What is your personal tea ritual like?

Every morning starts with tea. Before breakfast, before social medias or any other activity, we sit, boil water and steep tea. Usually japanese green tea. The first tea of the day takes us about an hour. I used to be very disciplined about this, taking a full hour to steep before I do anything else (even if that meant waking up before sunrise when I worked early), but since Ingrid and I are together, I've become a little more flexible about it. Also, two people empty a kettle much faster than one... Then there's a laid back tea after breakfast (which we sometimes drink together, sometimes not), and the rest goes according to the day's tasks: tasting sessions, selections, descriptions, writing tea-featured posts and so on.

What is your favorite tea or other item in your shop right now?

We just launched our second ceramic exhibition: Variations - by french artist Manon Clouzeau. Honestly, her work is incredible. Her cups, gaiwans and verseuses are out of this world. I believe many who will have the chance to use them will never go back to industrial teaware after. As for tea, since we talked about our tea rituals, I would feature RITUAL, a clear and delicate sencha made from Yabukita cultivar and grown in unprunned tea gardens in Kawane. Although senchas are entering their "end of season" period, RITUAL's taste profile is do deep and soothing that it finds its way on our tea table most mornings.

Do you have any holiday specials you’d like to share?

We offer free sustainable gift wrapping during the holiday season! All made by hand with love!