Steve Schwartz is a best-selling author, Master Tea Blender, and the Founder of Art of Tea, an award-winning tea purveyor based in Los Angeles. At Art of Tea, Steve applies his background in Ayurveda, initially cultivated during his time studying at the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico, to create award-winning blends that showcase his passion for the alchemy of combining herbs and botanicals. Schwartz was originally drawn to the field after his mom died of cancer when he was 19 years old. He became fascinated with Eastern and preventative medicine as an alternative to Western medicine that failed to save his mom. Following his tenure at the Ayurvedic Institute, Schwartz traveled the world to meet with farmers in Asia, India, Africa, and the Middle East to broaden his knowledge of tea and learn how climate and terroir impact its expression and flavor. While he didn’t initially plan to start a tea company, after settling back in his hometown of Los Angeles, he began experimenting with blending different teas and botanicals in his living room. He developed an underground following and started making custom formulations for chefs such as Wolfgang Puck while teaching others the art of blending. As his enthusiasm for blending teas grew, Schwartz began honing in on a vision for the company that would become Art of Tea. He immersed himself in learning about entrepreneurship, initially through CDs on marketing & business strategy that he would listen to while traveling and driving to and from tastings. He took the leap to found Art of Tea in 2004 and has since grown the company from a small-scale operation in his living room to a world-renowned brand with a warehouse in Monterey Park, just outside Downtown Los Angeles. Steve’s passion for tea and ability to hand-craft the finest teas and botanicals has led to relationships with brands, acclaimed chefs, and restaurants such as Google, Vera Wang, #Slack, The Peninsula Hotels, Huntington Gardens, Wolfgang Puck, Adam Perry Lang, Rustic Canyon Group, Craft Los Angeles and more.