About the Host

John has never been the kind of person who stays in one place for long and tea has followed him everywhere he has gone.

After years of living in China and Taiwan, John developed a deep fascination with tea as a living cultural language. That fascination led him to Nepal, where a trek through the Annapurna Mountains brought mornings of chai brewed by host families, and a chance encounter with a tea merchant in Pokhara turned into a sudden burst of inspiration to create Traveler's Teahouse.

John's background in linguistics and years of foreign language teaching shapes everything about the Traveler's Teahouse experience. Teaching language taught him how to make the unfamiliar feel accessible — how to meet people exactly where they are and bring them somewhere new. That instinct is at the heart of every session at Traveler's Teahouse, whether you arrive as a seasoned tea enthusiast or someone who has never ventured beyond a teabag.

Traveler's Teahouse is John's answer to a question he has been living for years: What does it mean to be part of the world?