When given a choice of beverage, away from my parents’ and older sibling’s vigilant eyes, I opted for green tea. Up until that point, I had only known tea in the form of bags. Despite the prevalence of its oxidized variety on supermarket shelves, steamed green tea became my little secret in a world full of other stimulating drinks or sweetened choices with complex flavors.
Growing up as an obese child, I sought solutions everywhere and naturally turned to my new habit for answers. It was my first self-directed, multi-week research project, and I learned about the fat-regulating properties of this plant and the role of water in extracting its flavor and nutrients.
What started as a little secret became a life principle that continues to this day. I shared it with my mother and some of my closest friends, who didn’t have my curiosity but were equally struggling with weight issues. They were happy to receive this impactful advice. According to a Japanese proverb, "one kind word can warm three winter months,” and years later, I would discover that they were thankful for this. They passed on this knowledge to others, amplifying this purposeful young age discovery further.
University brought more knowledge and research—and frankly, purchasing power—which led me to the world of high-quality loose-leaf teas. The variety of cultures and cultivars, the role of water, as well as the growing and preparation methods, were a fulfilling surprise and a granary for the soul.
Tea is a marvelous plant and the processing method among different cultivars yields a multitude of flavors, that’s why there are countless types of Sencha for example.
Between green, black, white, red and fermented types produced in different parts of the world, there are over three hundred choices. Due to the laws of compounding, and human curiosity, the number of teas available surpases fifteen thousand if one were to include botanical blends.
Purity and quality were always a priority for me. I was fortunate to travel multiple times to tea-growing countries and try different teas firsthand, but most importantly, I witnessed and cherished the joy, skill, and deliberation with which farmers, merchants, and artisans spoke about one tea.
The most memorable moment took place in a tea market in Osaka when I was twenty-five.
I tried single cultivar tea —not just any one, but a very rare and limited cultivar of Japan's most prestigious tea. It was an electrifying, time-freezing experience. The bustling market, the soundtrack of the day, faded away, and a completely different world of tea opened up—a world of exceptional Japanese tea.
There was always a visceral feeling—a compulsion— to turn this life passion, and specifically this hidden gem of a drink, into a life calling and work. My parents, with their cautious optimism grounded in experiencing limited means growing up in an agricultural family, felt this was an endearing but unsafe choice. For the next decade, I pursued a career in technology and a PhD but continued to learn about tea at every turn—on weekends, at tea conferences, and during extended tea-picking learning holidays.
At this point, dear reader, you might think that the story ends. And indeed, it does—the story of my cerebral career came to an end. After a decade of working away from tea but almost two of learning about it, I took a multi-week trip through the tea fields of Japan to connect in person with farmers whose tea I’ve been drinking for years.
Until then, I had known them only by name from the tea I drank, but now I traveled to learn from them and procure the best teas before they were sold domestically or internationally.
Extending the leaves’ freshness, using my research and science based background in identifying the most sustainable mineral count for flavour and getting an opportunity to be a vessel for sharing Japan’s non-alcoholic sophistication with the world, is my purpose and pursuit to which I’m fiercely dedicated.
But deep down, there’s a warmer, more heartfelt reason for starting Circadian. To introduce the world— as I did with my closest people in the past—to a healthy, flavourful drink, prepared with love, to help attune to life's fleeting moments of joy.
Thank you so much for reading till the end.
— Mahmoud
