First: See it. Hear it. Smell it. Taste it. Touch it.  

Then: Orient yourself in it. Navigate through it. Regulate yourself in response to it. 

Discernment requires us to first gather our data with integrity, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching to take in information to feed our body and mind. The context we need to process that information, those instructions, comes from the other three senses, our orientation and how we move through space and what our body does in response. 

A Matter of Taste work covers this ground too.  Our design of experiences focuses on how each participant creates a body memory of success and engagement.

When we talk about “Measures that matter” we’re defining metrics for success and prioritizing values. In the world of chocolate, we believe this boils down to respect for the earth, the farmer, the chocolate artisan. The way we demonstrate this in our chocolate tasting workshops is through the nuances of flavor… and by being honest with our own reactions, our first reactions and our second reactions.

Being specific about what you taste is showing respect to the maker. Trusting your instincts shows your respect to yourself.

A Lunar New Year story about American ginseng chicken bone broth, resilience, and how a “minimum viable meal” became the entire celebration.

This Lunar New Year, a planned dumpling night turned into something else entirely: a bowl of American ginseng chicken bone broth that became the entire meal. In product terms, the MVP shipped on time… and nobody asked for additional features!

2025 was our year of chosen community, putting what the past five years have taught us to work.  We have grown relationships this year that have inspired us in ways we had never thought. 

This is the year we truly tried and tested the full scope of our operations, established teams, refined offerings, and a came away with a renewed sense of purpose.  Overall, a fantastic year! 

How we use the metaphor of pickles and preservation to introduce the concept of “Clear-Grow-Deliver,” our proven method to transform overwhelm into a workable path forward.

The foundation of A Matter of Taste is collaboration. We are a co-founded enterprise, connected by our shared passion for the cultural roots of food and flavor, and inspired by the potential to affect real change with our work. We’ve learned first hand that the intentional co-creation of products and menus can boost innovation, deepen our knowledge, and cement great working relationships.

When the world finally slows, Quiet Mind herbal tea helps you meet the evening with softness.

This is a tiny, one-time microbatch — only 11 bags were blended.
When it’s gone, it won’t return in this exact form!

Where do you host one of Seattle’s top property management firms for a intentional holiday celebration? When a client team has already curated several of the most iconic buildings in our city… the top of Smith Tower is the only place that will do, of course!

I used the Star-Support-Splash steps to blend my way to a solid foundation.

When I was creating what is now our Ground Work blend, I wasn’t blending a floral tea infusion.  I was solving a problem. 

When we design tastings, workshops, or celebrations, we aren’t just creating flavor experiences. We’re intentionally building environments where awe can emerge—through light, flavor, ritual, and place. Because awe is what makes a moment memorable, and what makes a group more generous with itself.

When was the last time you paused before interpreting? Not just paused to rest—but paused to observe. To name what’s actually in front of you before jumping to meaning.

At A Matter of Taste, we help teams do exactly that—using tea as both metaphor and method.

Navigating what we need to thrive—individually and together—is no small feat. It never was. And in 2025, it feels like the rules have changed again. So where do we turn when we need direction, hope, or simply a place to catch our breath?

Experiences have layers, and learning—true collaboration—thrives on layers. When Joanna and I designed the A Matter of Taste leadership coaching approach, we reflected on past “bad meals” of learning: too much or too little information, pacing that felt off, content that lacked relevance or cohesion. Learning should be transformational—a dopamine rush of accomplishment and discovery.

What if, instead of planning a company event during a tight schedule of conflicting personal events and celebrations over the winter break, your organization’s celebrations were focused on dates of meaning for the organization? 

Instead, think of a meaningful cadence for YOUR organization to come together and create memories. Rethink what coming together means.

How do you know you are in the right place, with the right people, at the right moment?  You can just feel it!  We had that experience as part of a Seattle Creates agenda of amazing artists living in the intersections of design, architecture, culinary arts, and passionate engagement with our living and integrated world.  A Matter of Taste opened a deep design-thinking agenda that challenged ideas of space, experience, emotion, and engagement across the community of those who envision.

We believe that food is more than just sustenance—it’s a bridge to connection, collaboration, and creativity. By engaging in a multi-sensory approach to tasting, we create experiences that go beyond the plate, bringing teams together through intentional, shared moments.

A sense of place is a critical part of human existence, a feeling of home, relationships and connections that lays foundations for new learning and pride in performance.  Going specifically local with our ingredient choices and experience partners embeds community into our workshops and events.  We believe that collaborating better requires real experiences and real relationships to make positive memories that connect us.

We’re proud to be able to feature a wide variety of foods, tastes, and flavors in our public workshops and events- read on for our shortlist of experience partners and local artisans!

Taste is personal, specific, and informed not just by how your mouth works but also by how your life has informed how you experience flavor.  The unique circumstances of your existence on this planet have guided how much you enjoy hot chocolate, or pasta with marinara, or a spicy iced chai.

But there are things to learn and apply when you taste specific flavors or foods that can give you insight to WHY your mouth does what it does, and WHY your brain makes the associations that it does. Different types of acids do different things to the foods we eat.  Different steps in chocolate making impact exactly what texture, taste, and lingering flavors we can expect from a lovely piece of regional artisanal chocolate made by a local maker from plants grown in specific climates.

Chocolate has a unique way of bringing people together. Whether it’s a shared appreciation for fine dark chocolate or a collective moment of delight over an unexpected flavor pairing, chocolate tasting fosters connection.

We believe in sharing joy! In the past month, our team has worked with three different teams to do essentially that, share joy. Joy of discovery, joy of connection, joy of communication, joy of shared achievement, that’s what we’re actually doing. It’s not the vocabulary of the business world to put it that way, but that joy, earned that way, unlocks a team to resilience in good times, bad times, and times so turbulent they defy categorization.

It’s intuitive to a certain extent; when we are happy we get more done.  Digging deeper though, relationships formed in good times by definition share good memories.  That's the foundation for future collaboration and trust, empowering creativity and innovation. It’s a pretty direct route.  Maintaining the energy from joy takes work and opportunities- we provide those opportunities for teams.