Nathan Wakeford

Founder and Director of Somage Fine Foods

Nathan Wakeford is Director of Somage Fine Foods, a leading Specialty Foodservice Company with offices in Melbourne, Australia, and Portland, USA. Considered by many to be one of the foremost authorities of tea, Nathan has traveled to more than 150 organic tea plantations worldwide including Japan, Korea, India, China, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Australia, and New Zealand.

Nathan's tea story began in 2012 when he founded the AustralAsian Specialty Tea Association. As founder and then president-elect, he united tea industry members to achieve a greater understanding and appreciation of specialty tea. In 2015, Nathan then went on to found the World Tea Championship, a tea brewing competition aimed at identifying the world's best brewers and tea tasters.

With his extensive industry and specialist tea knowledge, Nathan has gone on to become a regular keynote speaker and thought-leader at international tea events including Speciality Tea Pairing at Le Toile with Adriano Zumbo in 2009, World Brewers Cup 2015, World Tea Tasters Cup 2016, Fine Food Australia 2016 and NW Tea Festival 2017.

Nathan has also been relied upon to facilitate collaborative events on behalf of the World Tea Union, a leading international tea-evaluation association established 28 years ago, holding 11 tea appraisals throughout Europe and Asia. He is also an Envoy of Tea Culture for Guizhou Province in China, and a frequent guest of the China Tea Marketing Association.

On top of brewing up a worldwide tea craze, Nathan founded and became director of Somage Fine Foods. Somage was built with the aim of supplying and educating leading restaurants, cafes, coffee companies, and franchises across the globe including Andrew McConnell Restaurants, Vue de Monde, Bluestone Lane, and Google.

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