Zach Mangan

In 2010, Zach Mangan took a month-long solo trip to Japan and realized

that the freshest and most delicious Japanese tea products were not

exported. Driven by a simple desire to connect incredible Japanese teas

with an international audience, Mangan spent two years developing relationships

with several of Japan’s most notable tea producers. Thus, his

company, Kettl, was born.

Mangan is known throughout Japan as an authority on Japanese

tea. He has consulted for the Shizuoka Tea Association and studied tea

production extensively at origin with producers in both Fukuoka and

Uji. Mangan was a finalist and the first non-Japanese person to take top

honors in the Zenkoku Gyokuro No Umai Irikata Contest, a nationwide

Gyokuro brewing competition in Japan. Mangan has contributed to

radio, books, and magazines and has developed the tea menus for chefs

holding a combined thirty-nine Michelin stars.

Based in both Fukuoka and Brooklyn, Mangan continues to create

connections between Japan’s most distinguished tea producers and tea

drinkers throughout the world