Saint Graal Publicity Plan

What we say

The story is the model, not a superlative.

Every editor has read "the finest tea" a hundred times and discounts it. What they have not seen is a tea house run like a small wine allocation. These are the five things we lead with. All of them are already true and already on the site.

Finite lots, replaced not restocked

One expression, one box, twelve sachets. When a lot sells out the slot goes to a different tea. This is the line for the business press, the drinks press and the "release" culture writers. It makes tea sound like something that can sell out.

A whole harvest, bought outright

The first Sencha is a single-cultivar spring 2025 lot and we hold all of it. The source stays unnamed in public. That restraint is part of the telling.

The object

A rigid presentation box built to be given. Packaging press runs on exactly this and needs it photographed, not described. The reshoot decides when this hook is usable.

A 2012 Gongting pu‑erh in a sachet box

Aged tea in the format of gift tea. The connoisseur newsletters will argue about it, which is what we want from them.

Thé Saint Graal

The domain reads as French. We never explain it in a pitch. A writer who finds it will use it.

Register. Wine-education voice throughout. No health claims, no comparison to supermarket tea, no "best". The comparables are single malt, fragrance and single-origin coffee. The word "hype" never appears in anything we send.

How we work

Six rules.

Individual, always. Each email opens on something the writer published. No merge fields, no template, no list blasts. If it cannot be written for one person it is not sent.

From Rafael, at Saint Graal. Journalists answer founders and ignore agencies. Sender, signature and reply address are all thesaintgraal.com.

Two a day. The domain is new. Volume gets the whole brand filtered as spam, customers included. Slow is the only safe speed.

The festival goes through James. Nothing is emailed to the organisers. Press-list inclusion, a sponsor mention, print checks and introductions to the festival's media sponsors are all conversations James has in person.

Some doors are earned, not knocked on. Snaxshot says no PR pitches. Blackbird Spyplane refuses gifts. Vittles commissions writers, not brands. We get into those by being talked about elsewhere first.

Nothing is promised that does not exist. No samples offered until James confirms stock. No ship month until it is agreed. No fact in a pitch that is not on the site or in the fact sheet.

Calendar

Four phases, in order.

Now to 26 SeptemberPhase one · Seattle and the kit

Press kit. A one-page fact sheet and a press page on the site so every pitch is one link. Drafted, waiting on the decisions below.
Seattle press on the festival. The Seattle Times pick that ran last year, The Stranger listing, Seattle Refined, KUOW. Four emails, none of them offering product.
James and the festival. Ask whether anything goes to press before the 26th, whether we can be in it, and whether an introduction to Tea Journey or TeaTime, both festival media sponsors, is possible.
Photography. Sachets are being made this week. The cupped images and the box-with-tea frames are next week. Full-resolution originals to follow. The colour of the two green teas is settled with James's pick.

OctoberPhase two · The trade and the writers

Tea trade. World Tea News, Tea Journey for its November gifting issue, Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, Fresh Cup. Launch news and a founder interview, with James on the leaf.
Podcasts. Talking Tea invites guests on its contact page. Tea Biz runs spotlight segments. Monocle's founder show has editor addresses public.
Connoisseur newsletters. Leafhopper first. Then Short Little Steeps, Wet Leaf Dry Leaf, Between Leaves and Letters, Quiet Acts of Healing. The pu-erh and the oolong are the teas to talk about here.
Reviewers, only with product. TeaDB in Seattle and Tea for Me Please both publish review policies. Three boxes each. Held until James says the stock exists.
Packaging press, only with final photography. Dieline and Packaging of the World have free submission forms. Design Milk's daily November gift guides take submissions in October.

November to DecemberPhase three · Gifting, if we can

Gift guides need the box in October. Leafhopper's guide ran 25 November last year, Magasin's holiday spreadsheet, The Love List's hosts-and-gourmands guide, Sight Unseen's maker guide, Downtime, Add to Wishlist. All of them decide in October with the object in hand.
If press boxes exist: eight to ten go out in the first half of October, each with a handwritten note, each to a named writer who has run a tea pick before.
If they do not: we skip the guides this year and say so to no one. The trade and the writers carry the winter. Guides become a 2027 plan with a full year of lead time.
Launch release. To the trade only, on the day the first lot is genuinely available to buy.

Early 2027Phase four · Long form

Once a lot has sold out there is a story to tell that did not exist before. That is the moment for Monocle, for Eighty magazine, for Fresh Cup's long features, and for the design awards cycle at Dieline.
Gift guides 2027 planned from the spring, with samples ready by September.

Shortlist

The first twenty.

The full list of eighty-four, with the article and byline each one was checked against, is a separate document. These are the ones the first month is spent on.

Outlet	Why them	The ask	When	Needs product
Leafhopper (Max Falkowitz)	Most-read independent tea writer, presenting at the festival, writes Saveur's tea gift guide	Conversation first. Samples only when they exist. He takes no commissions.	October	for the guide
TeaDB	Seattle. Runs a brand-exploration series. Pu-erh and oolong focus	Gongting 2012 and the oolong for a review	October	yes
Tea Journey	Trade voice of specialty tea, festival media sponsor, November gifting issue	Founder profile, finite-lot model as an industry story	Early October	no
World Tea News	The trade paper of record	Launch news and an interview with James on sourcing	October	no
Talking Tea	Long interviews with tea founders. The site invites guests	A founder episode on why lots are replaced, not restocked	October	no
Fresh Cup	Already frames tea like wine. Asks for stories, not topics	A pitch on tea sold as an allocation	October	no
Tea and Coffee Trade Journal	UK trade, runs premium launch items	Launch release	At launch	no
Tea for Me Please	Published review policy, prefers unflavoured and transparently sourced	Exactly three teas	October	yes
Seattle Times, The Ticket	Picked the festival last year	Context for a 2026 pick, sponsor line	This week	no
The Stranger	Lists the festival every year	Sponsor mention in the listing	This week	no
Seattle Refined	Heavy holiday-tea coverage, recent matcha piece	Festival tie-in now, December feature later	Next week	no
KUOW	Public radio, weekend event coverage	A guest on why tea is starting to be bought like wine	Next week	no
Monocle	Founder-story radio, editor addresses public	The Entrepreneurs episode	After the first sold-out lot	no
Dieline	Runs tea packaging constantly, free submission	Box feature, maker credited	When photography is final	photos
Packaging of the World	High-volume archive, backlink value	Gallery submission	When photography is final	photos
Design Milk	Daily gift guides 4 to 26 November	Submit for the culinary and splurge days	October	yes
Magasin	The shopping digest, holiday spreadsheet	Inclusion	October	yes
The Love List	Hosts-and-gourmands gift guide	Inclusion	October	yes
Sight Unseen	Amazon-free, maker-first gift guide	The box as an object	October	yes
Short Little Steeps	Serious pu-erh and terroir writing	The Gongting lot, wine language	October	yes

Who does what

Two people, two jobs.

Rafael

Writes and sends every pitch, and keeps the tracking sheet of sends, replies and follow-ups.
Builds the press page and fact sheet and keeps them current.
Handles the business, brand and model questions in any interview.
Prepares the design and packaging submissions once photography is final.

James

The festival relationship, in person: press outreach, sponsor mention, print materials, introductions to the media sponsors.
The leaf in every interview: sourcing, processing, why each lot was chosen. The trade will want him, not the brand.
Photography: the reshoot list, the full-resolution originals, the colour call on the green teas.
Stock: whether press boxes exist in October, and how many. This one decision sets the shape of the winter.

Decisions

Six things only James can answer.

Press boxes in October.Yes or no, and how many. Ten boxes in the first half of October opens the gift guides. None means the guides wait until 2027 and the winter is the trade and the writers. Either answer is workable. Not knowing is not.
Samples for reviewers.Two reviewers with published policies need three teas each. Same question, smaller number, earlier date.
The ship line.The site says "first run ships winter 2026". Pitches should not name a month until there is one.
The box maker.May we name Revere in press materials, and is the slate-grey soft-touch exterior with the gold chalice the final production spec?
The oolong.The live page describes a Tieguanyin from Anxi. The August roster names a Roasted Oolong and a Light Oolong from Shan Lin Xi. The fact sheet cannot go out until the page and the roster agree.
Names, titles, places.One line of background each and where each of us is based. The first reply from any writer asks this.

What we measure

Four numbers, none of them invented.

Mentions with a linkEach one raises the site's standing with Google as well as with readers. The festival sponsor page is the first.

Reserve-list signups by sourceThe site already tags every signup by tea and by the festival page. A press mention that moves that number is one worth repeating.

Reply rate per batchTwo a day for a month is about forty emails. The reply rate on the first ten tells us whether the pitch is right before the other thirty go.

Interviews givenThe trade and the podcasts are where the founders' voices establish the brand. Three by the end of the year is a good winter.

What this plan does not promise. No outlet has been contacted yet. No coverage is guaranteed by any of this. The plan's claim is smaller: that every email sent will be to the right person, about their own work, in a voice that sounds like us, and that nothing will be said that is not true.