THE FOUNDER
Alexandre Nicolau grew up in France and studied chemistry and engineering. He worked in scientific and technical fields for many years, first in environmental pollution and later in the food and beverage industry.
He worked in Japan on several missions in the early 2000s and, after discovering a strong affinity with the country and its culture, decided in 2005 to spend time in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, to study Japanese.
After working for a few years in Singapore, he completed the Waseda–Nanyang Double MBA program in 2010, earning MBA degrees from both Nanyang Technological University and Waseda University. He moved to Tokyo in 2011 to work for Suntory Holdings, where he was responsible for open innovation, scouting new technologies and developing partnerships with academic and industry partners overseas.
Alexandre fell in love with tea in 2005 while working in China. Since then, he has studied the history of tea, its different types and production methods, and the Way of Tea, developing a knowledge and passion that he continues to pursue and share. At the same time, he realized that Japanese people were drinking less tea and that tea culture was not sufficiently treasured or promoted, despite the remarkable diversity of small tea farms and products that remain largely unknown to the general public.
He created MANDARACHA™ in 2019 and opened the tea house in Kyoto in October 2020 to share the world of tea with visitors to Kyoto. He embraced the opportunity to share Japanese culture and the close relationship between tea and Zen.
For all its more than 800 years of history and tradition in Japan, the true beauty of tea lies in simplicity and in appreciating how precious a shared moment over tea can be.
Alexandre is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Temple University and a practitioner of the Mushakōjisenke school of tea ceremony in Kyoto.