I'm Francis Lamb, and this is the splendid table from APM.

So, I recently got to travel to Japan with my family, and it was an absolutely fantastic trip.

And while it's a little bit of a cliche to talk about,

it is just so true that so many people there have a real passion for what they do,

be it in ancient craft or making noodles the way that they were taught for generations,

or something as simple as helping you find

a pair of jeans you're really going to love.

And it made me think about my favorite kind of food people to talk to, the ones that are just

head over heels with what they do.

And today, we get to talk to two such people.

Later in the show, we'll visit with Nick Sharma, the former scientist turned

cookbook author, now living his best life in America's Test Kitchen. And first, we talked to the

wonderful Henrietta Lavelle, founder of the rare tea company, Henrietta started her shop in Britain,

but now finds herself supplying teas to the best restaurants in the world, including

Noma and Copenhagen and Cizan

in Tokyo. But what sets buying tea from her apart isn't just the delicate flavors, it's the

understanding that you're buying from farmers and true craftspeople. And her own craft isn't

connecting with those folks and understanding their work.

So hey, Henrietta, it's so lovely to see you.

Hello, Frances. It's lovely to see you and speak to you. Thank you so much. Yeah, same. So I'm excited for this because I grew up around tea, obviously my family's Chinese,

and I've always wanted to learn more about it. So every time I

have a chance to talk to someone who really knows about tea, I get really jazzed. Because tea

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