Two Leaves and a Bud, BASALT, CO

Two Leaves and a Bud is an independent tea company based in the small mountain town of Basalt, Colorado, and is known internationally for producing high quality organic and fairly traded tea in sachets, iced tea, loose leaf, and now teabags from their Paisley Label Tea collection.

Richard Rosenfeld started the company in 2004 after traveling extensively in Asia for business where he became passionate about tea. He was confounded by not finding that same quality tea back at home. So he went to the tea gardens in Sri Lanka, India and China to begin developing relationships with organic tea farmers from whom the company now sources small quantities of tea each growing season.

Two Leaves and a Bud was a pioneer of the pyramid-shaped sachet in North America. These tea sachets have made drinking whole leaf tea convenient for all. The special shape and size of the sachets allows the tea leaves room to infuse completely, providing fuller flavor.

Truly great tea is hard to come by. It requires rich flavor with complexity and nuance. It balances sweetness and astringency. It’s a labor of love: Every season’s new tea brings variance in cup color, flavor, depth, intensity, all of which need to be cupped and assessed. Most of all, it requires the kind of passion this bunch of tea drinkers has for their favorite beverage.

Named for the top two leaves and bud of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) plucked by hand to make the world's best tea, Two Leaves and a Bud has built a grassroots following by "taking tea personally" — connecting tea lovers to the tea they love and introducing new tea drinkers to great tea. Cheers to that!