Words and photos by Jenny Krane<\/em><\/p>\n At 20 years old, Bill Waddington was on an international quest. His goal? Find the perfect tea. The Minnesotan spent his formative years sending handwritten letters to tea growers, exporters and brokers. He sent letters to Germany, to India, to China. Inside each note, Waddington asked a simple question: Could he buy a tasty tea leaf grown in a foreign corner of the globe? <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cJust like there’s good, prize-winning chocolate and prize-winning olive oil, I figured somewhere in the world there has to be great tea,\u201d Waddington said. <\/span><\/p>\n To Waddington\u2019s surprise, the tea growers wrote back. The bonus: They often included pounds of tea leaves with their responses. Thus began Waddington\u2019s love affair with tea.<\/span><\/p>\n For over three decades, he collected as much information as he could, testing prize-winning teas from around the world and learning from people who had been in the business for generations.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI [thought], \u2018You know, if other people ever had a chance to try really good tea, it\u2019d knock their socks off,\u2019\u201d Waddington said. That\u2019s how his Minnesota company, TeaSource<\/a>, was born.<\/span><\/p>\n