CONVERSATIONS WITH FOUNDERS: EMILIE FROM GOOD & PROPER

Words by Rebecca Magee

To put it simply, why tea?

It’s something I’ve mentioned a lot, but it all started because I didn’t drink coffee. I can definitely appreciate coffee and its culture, especially now we work with so many talented roasters. But I felt left out. I wanted to drink tea, yet I was having such a lackluster experience compared to everyone else enjoying their coffee. Whenever I’d meet a friend for a coffee, I’d order tea, and it just wasn’t a good experience. They’d have this incredible cup, and I’d be stuck with something uninspiring. Over the years, that’s improved, but I still felt like tea was being overlooked. What frustrated me was paying as much for tea as I would for coffee, but not getting anything innovative in return. I also spent time in India when I was younger, where tea was a big part of daily life in my family. That experience made me realise that tea could be so much more than what I was finding here.

I love the recipes on the G&P blog. Where do you take inspiration from?

Tea’s versatility has always excited us. It’s such an amazing ingredient that cocktail bartenders we’ve met over the years have said they love to experiment with. A lot of our recipes are either cocktails or non-alcoholic alternatives because tea has so much colour and flavour, making it a perfect base.

We also realised early on that iced tea is a fantastic summer drink. We’ve championed it over the years, and there have been summers where I’ve spent entire days testing and refining recipes, drawing inspiration from cocktail culture – balancing sweet and sour notes, and finding ways to incorporate tea into that. Now, we’re fortunate to have hospitality partners who test new recipes using our teas, which is really exciting because it means others are starting to get creative with it, too.

What’s your secret behind starting a successful business?

My advice to anyone thinking about starting a business would be to just start. Don’t worry about creating the whole business in one go. Instead, break it down into small, manageable steps. Don’t think ‘I need to create a business today’ – think ‘okay, I need to order paper cups’ and order paper cups. Start with the basics, and keep moving forward step by step.

Another piece of advice is that building a business is a roller coaster. It’s such an unpredictable journey, and that’s what makes it interesting, but it also means you’ll face extreme highs and lows. The key is knowing that both the highs and the lows are part of the ride. You’ve got to be resilient and accept that there will be times when you feel deflated – it’s okay. The energy will come back, and the good moments will always outweigh the tough ones.

What’s your favourite part of being in the Sandbox spaces?

As we’ve grown, it’s been great to have the opportunity to move into different spaces with Sandbox, especially with our soon-to-be-ready tasting room. But more than that, working with the Sandbox team makes us feel supported. It’s reassuring to know you’ve got our back, particularly as we scale.

The community here too – it’s full of like-minded businesses, and at different stages of our journey, each one of them plays an important role in our story, whether it’s for advice, collaborations, or just sharing experiences. When you’re a small team, being surrounded by a supportive community like this is invaluable.