Michelle Comins

Michelle’s story is a common dream. To step off the treadmill of work, give up the high-flying, hectic pace of city life and follow your real passion in life. A classic tale, but this time, a different ending. Michelle bucked the trend and really did it. Her passion is tea, and it shows in everything she does.

It’s taken her around the world several times: India, Japan, Sri Lanka, China, Dorset, Bath… all in search for what not only makes the best tea, but is also good for the planet and fair to farmers. She’s also passionate about creating the time to enjoy it. To sit, slow down and take time off the treadmill.

Sharing a hot drink together has an unspoken way of saying 'I have time and am making time for you'

Why is ‘making’ important to you?

In our case, as tea merchants: making refers to the 'making' of tea. More specifically for us it is the making of a cup of tea. We are just one part of a large community who work together across continents to bring you a great cup of tea – we have a huge responsibility when making the tea to ensure that the cup that arrives in front of the tea drinker is the very best it can be and representative of all of those involved in its journey. 'Making' in this context is important to me because it is about sharing a passion, a skill, the knowledge I have been fortunate enough to acquire through my travels, with others. For me tea is one of lifes great social levellers – when I serve tea to people we are, in that moment, connected through that simple shared experience – two humans caught in a moment of stillness and calm as the leaves infuse in the pot. There is a wonderful simplicity to this: yet the act of sharing tea often has a much deeper and lasting impact on people.  


What or who inspires you?

Nature inspires me – more specifically what can be experienced when humans understand and learn to work with nature rather than against it. A life travelling the world buying tea inevitably leads you to think more about the relationship between tea, communities and ecosystems. As you can imagine the growers and tea makers who take care of their soil, consider the insects and animals they co-exist with and constantly evaluate and seek to minimise the impact of tea cultivation on their local environments produce the most memorable teas. These are the people who inspire me everyday because none of them have chosen an 'easy' path. That is the madness of the modern world – it is easier to take a destructive path than a constructive one – these people are humans with huge resilience capable of working and living to a long term ambition rather than short term gains. There are too many tea heroes to list here – you can meet many of them in our book Tales of the tea trade or come in for tea and Ill be happy to share some stories! 

How do you come up with your best ideas?

I come up with my best ideas when I am sitting quietly in our Dorset Tea House – which is next door to our home. I really don’t like bright artificial light so I like to sit in the natural daylight and just allow my mind to clear.  Its always best to choose a tea that can be reinfused so that there is no need to get up to keep boiling the kettle – I simply fill my thermal jug once, select my tea and teaware – which is an important part of this ritual – and then I am ready.  In a world that is so noisy and often has so much to say without really saying anything at all silence and quiet are invaluable. The tea provides me with an anchor, a reason to sit, a way to relax, and as I do this I move from a 'full' head to an 'empty' head and then slowly a new much clearer path emerges – around which I can start to shape new ideas. It’s a tried and tested method that works every time.  

Illustration: Mariko Aruga

What are you most proud of?

‘Comins Tea With Purpose’: When most people think of Comins they think of our Tea Houses and our online store. These are the spaces where people most commonly come to enjoy our tea. For many years we held back from working with partners [cafes, hotels etc.] on scale beyond our Tea Houses wanting to be able to offer a small collection that tasted great and would stop tea drinkers in their tracks whilst also offering tea drinkers a chance to educate themselves and make a positive contribution to some of the issues impacting the tea industry. The result of this desire: turned action is ‘Comins Tea With Purpose’ a collection of 7 teas we have chosen for our new partnership project. All the teas are from growers and partners who produce delicious & flavourful tea in a way that positively impacts people, nature and the planet. Importantly they are all also looking to educate beyond their tea gardens and broaden the impact of their approach. The collection is a true partnership – specific teas have been selected and all packaging and literature has been designed and brought to life alongside our partners – an approach that offers you complete transparency on those producing your tea. This approach aims to bring the story of each tea to the forefront of tea-drinkers minds, bringing tea growers and tea drinkers closer than ever and showing how every cup of tea can support those working hard to make a positive difference.  

How important is risk taking and failure? 

I like to live and work in a positive way – which means saying 'yes' a lot. For me risk has always been based around 'not doing something' rather than doing something if that makes sense. I had another career before tea and I vividly remember waking up on my 30th birthday in a panic because I felt so strongly that the tea was a path I needed to follow, 'a risk' I needed to take that I was overcome with the fear that it may not happen. I think this is perhaps different to the way that many people see risk.  This thinking follows into 'failure' – trying new things is always a step-wise approach – I fully expect that elements of any idea won’t work at each step – if they don't I tend to think I haven't pushed the idea far enough – its great to keep note on these, look for themes and learn from them but I prefer to focus more on the elements that have worked and look to build upon those. Rob and I live by the 'Be Brave and Be Kind' rule – decisions are based on our business values and with our community in mind. A great example of failure would be a tea trip to China where we made a long detour to look for a particular tea. Those of you who know Comins will know that we buy tea from those we have personal relationships with so imagine my dismay when we arrived at a huge tea factory very far from the small tea farmer cooperative I had in mind. We lost a whole day but rather than focusing on that I spent the evening dinner chatting with some of the younger team members at the company one of whom it turned out came from a small tea growing village nearby and whose mother had walked the mountains all her life. The next year I returned to stay with her and walk those hills resulting in some beautiful wild picked Mao Feng – time well spent it turned out : )

Best piece of advice you’ve received?

'A cup of tea is a commitment of time' : I love this – an old boss in a previous life gave me this advice when I was a young manager with a much older team. She said that sharing a hot drink together was an unspoken way of saying 'I have time and am making time for you'. Time is so central to a life in tea.

What themes do you see emerging in the making world?
In the tea world and more widely in the making word I feel we are all seeking connection. The story of where something is from, the intention behind its creation and the impact that is felt when you choose to spend your money on it. We are all starting to care far more about the causes that our £ support – that puts a huge but exciting responsibility on makers like us at the front line with consumers – we need to ensure we are presenting the story with honesty and integrity in a way that compels. For us in tea we also feel the importance of the Tea House is growing. A safe space for people to gather and be nurtured by tea and the community that surrounds it. You could extrapolate a theme of 'slowness' here – we all know we need to slow down but its not quite that simple – over the years we have observed how the ritual of tea offers us busy Western humans a gateway into a slower world – and back to your question around where we get our best ideas [and at a time where the world needs a lot more good ideas] it seems that it really is time for tea.  

How do you keep it fresh?
Stay open minded and keep engaging in the world and conversation that surrounds your particular niche and the world beyond. For us we keep it fresh by continuing to serve tea rather than just sell tea  [therefore meeting amazing people everyday who teach and inspire us with new ideas and feedback], experiment without overthinking [especially important during lockdown where we started a number of new initiatives such as Monday Tea & Meditation and our Instagram lives] and continuing to reach out and communicate regularly with our partners all around the world [after all these are the people who work so hard to grow and make the tea – the true heroes of the tea world.  It’s so important that we all work together and through weekly discussions over wechat, whatsapp, ZOOM and more from South Korea to India and beyond we get plenty of weekly input].

Advice to your younger self?
No one has the answers so don't be afraid to challenge the norm. There is not one definition of success – ensure you are clear on what this looks like to you and don’t be afraid to stand by it. Sitting and thinking, rather than doing, is a good use of time – do more of it!

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