Bird & Blend Tea Co. introduces Joyce Maina as its first-ever Head of Tea. With more than 30 years of experience in the tea industry, Maina brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the brand.
Now living in Brighton where the first Bird & Blend store opened 11 ago, Maina is an internationally renowned tea expert whose career spans multiple continents and world-renowned companies.
As Head of Tea, Joyce will spearhead the development of impactful initiatives that align with Bird & Blend’s mission to be an industry leader in sustainable sourcing and innovation. She will be instrumental in creating groundbreaking products and serving as the company’s in-house tea expert, ensuring that each blend reflects the company’s commitment to quality and innovation.
Maina has held key roles as a Senior Buyer, Taster, and Blender for some of the most well-known names in the tea industry, including Unilever, Tetley, and Twinings, and her commitment to innovation and ethical trade practices, having worked extensively in developing countries to support sustainable
Working from Bird & Blend’s head office in Worthing, Maina will collaborate closely with the company’s 25 stores across the UK, leading tea innovation and inspiring new and exciting flavours, that will redefine the future of tea.
Beginning her career in Kenya, where she grew up, she has travelled, building her knowledge of the sector, whilst blending for markets across Europe, the Middle East, North America, Australia, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and in South Africa.
Obvious dedication to improving the tea industry goes beyond her commercial work, and Joyce’s expertise goes beyond just her day job, when she supports the United Nations’s trade agency ITC – Transforming Trade, Changing Lives on tea programmes in developing countries where she provides training in quality improvement in tea growing and processing.
She has trained and supported groups of producers and tea SMEs from Mynamar, Kenya and in February this year she was in Burundi training all the industry players there on good sustainable tea business practice and quality improvement.
Maina took the Myanmar producers to the World Tea Expo ’24 in Las Vegas to help them showcase their product to the world.
In 2021, ITC commissioned Joyce to create a speciality tea quality categorisation system to help farmers to assess and articulate their tea quality to buyers across world markets and she continues to support this work which she loves and highly values as it speaks to her purpose to do good in tea through her work.
Maina’s leadership in reimagining tea and bringing new experiences to tea lovers everywhere will play a pivotal role in furthering Bird & Blend’s reputation for quality, creativity, and happiness.
Of her new role, Maina said, “I am excited to embark on this new chapter with Bird & Blend. It’s a fantastic opportunity to bring my global experience to a company that shares my passion for exceptional tea. Together, we’ll continue to push the boundaries of what tea can be, creating new blends that not only taste amazing but also make a positive impact.”
