ABOUT MEM TEA

  • The Origin Story

    “Around the time I sold my coffee and espresso company, some herbal tea samples appeared on my desk. They were brought by a friend who was working with newly formed nations after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The samples came from Armenia, nestled between the Black and Caspian Seas, near the biblical site of the Garden of Eden. Upon tasting I discovered that these teas possessed that elusive, but much sought after food ingredient quality: Integrity – integrity of flavor, purity and efficacy. I decided that I would start a new company – a tea company – with the mission to source, distribute and spread knowledge about teas with integrity.

    In 1999 fine loose tea was scarce, yet a small, but passionate group was forming to spread the word. At that time there was a movement among chefs and restaurant people to source ingredients with integrity. It was a natural fit to introduce tea to that group. MEM TEA began sourcing, importing, and distributing tea to the food service and hospitality industry, conducting thousands of tastings and trainings for cafes, restaurants, hotels, and nascent tea companies.

    The time was right and tea, along with MEM TEA IMPORTS, has blossomed and grown considerably. Tea is a great gift from Nature to man. We are thankful to be a part of its dissemination.”

    - Mark Eli Mooradian (MEM)

  • Mark Eli Mooradian and his elderflower. Photo by Kristin Teig - from “Tea Time in Saco, Maine” in To Market Magazine.

  • Currently

    In the spirit of Mark’s vision, we now provide extensive tea programs to over 800 cafes, restaurants, and other businesses around New England and the U.S. We run our own tea shop and training center in North Cambridge, MA, where we provide full staff trainings. Our reps make frequent on-site check-ins to make sure our tea is being served with care, and that our customers and their patrons enjoy a perfect cup of tea. We spend several hours on Tuesday nights at our warehouse tasting tea after tea after tea to make sure we get the best teas for our needs, to make sure our blends are always consistent, and to stay on top of the latest tea trends. Both our wholesale program (out of Watertown, MA) and our retail shop include a large list of carefully sourced and blended products including tea lattes, matcha, and award-winning chai blends. On top of all that, our ambitious, creative, and passionate staff makes it hard not to fall in love with our company and products.

The Team

GILBERT

“I am the Proprietor & Owner. Ultimately, I'm responsible for everything that happens. But because I have an awesome staff that gets sh*t done, my day-to-day responsibilities revolve around sourcing good tea, paying the bills, and dreaming big.

Tea for me is very mood dependent, but I would say the two style of teas that I gravitate towards most are Japanese greens and Taiwanese oolongs. Complexity, flavor, heavy body, memory inducing, calming...there's a lot of reasons why they are my go-to teas.”

MEG

“A.K.A. Megtar - I am the Chief of Sales & Operations. I listen to film scores and audio-books while drinking tea and coordinating how we can bring it to you. I oversee our sales and marketing teams while taking time out to visit customers to taste new teas with them and make sure their staff is educated and excited about tea.

My go-to category of tea that will almost always satisfy me is Chinese black tea. I love their complexity, sweetness, and multitude of flavor profiles. My treat yo' self teas are Wuyis. I love their depth, mouthfeel, weight, and richness. I could spend hours with a single yixing of Tieluohan and each steep would always be a surprise.”

WILL

“I'm Will, the Office Manager here at MEM. I'll be your main point of contact for all your wholesale orders and tea related questions. I'm looking forward to getting to know everybody.

My tea career started with those big cans of Arizona which are still delicious (Don't fire me!) But I'm getting into First Flushes cause I'm fancy.”

SUANNE

“Hi! They call me the Director of Education because I love to talk and share my experience with anyone who will listen. Now that we have a store and training center I'm truly humbled to find that people come to listen to me.

I would have to say oolong tea is my favorite because of its complexity and diversity. There's one for every day of the year and then some. I doubt I'll ever tire of them.”

IAN

“I am the Marketing Director and the head of the art department, meaning that anything visual, customer facing, marketing related, the website, and more, all go through me while I drink large amounts of delicious and pricey tea.

Due to its broad spectrum of flavor, I am an oolong dude, through and through. I find oolong is also the best type of tea to assist me in using my growing teaware collection. It's a party in every cup. But I do love a good sheng pu-erh as well.”

EUGENE

“I am the Warehouse Manager, Tea Mixer Extraordinaire, part-time scapegoat, and full-time caffeine drinker. Basically, I maintain warehouse workflow and product levels, intake new teas and supplies, mix (or find a way to mix) all our proprietary blends, and I always nod and say "yes" anytime Gil yells at me.

Japanese green teas are my favorite, all the way!”

TERRENCE

“Hi, I’m Terrence the Production Manager & leader of the packing room. I get to oversee the packing of all the teas as they arrive. I also have a great crew that can communicate and work well together under pressure to get teas sorted, packed, and shipped out on time.

I do like a number of teas - Red Chili, Golden Buds Milk Oolong, Lemon Verbena, Sencha: Fuji, and that is my tiny list!”

BILL

“I am a secondary tea mixer and a tea packer.

I’m a big fan of oolong tea, specifically Tieguanyin Iron Goddess. Because metal.”

JENNIFER

“I’m Jennifer and I’m the Director of HR. I do the payroll, benefits administration, and all of the other HR related tasks. I also help with other projects like inventory management.

I think my favorite style of tea overall is oolong. Good oolongs are so interesting and delicious. They are like a puzzle and comfort food all wrapped up in one package. I also really like matcha, chai, and green teas though. Each has a purpose and I crave them at different times and for different reasons.”