By LEAH WEATHERSBY

A bona fide tea celebrity has just made my Darjeeling.

He could be making yours, too. James Labe is a businessman and all-around tea booster who has garnered both national and international media attention over the last three years. His latest news-making move? To buy Wallingford's Teahouse Kuan Yin in early April.

Though he is originally from Philadelphia and now lives in New York City, Labe does have Seattle ties. He stumbled upon the Teahouse Kuan Yin in 1991, about a year after it first opened.

'I fell in love as soon as I walked in," said Labe. "The tea was so good I asked for a job."

Labe had been working at the Alexis Hotel in downtown Seattle as a cook with an eye towards moving up the ranks in the kitchen. That day, it would seem, changed the course of his life. The Teahouse's original owner Miranda Pirzada gave Labe a job as manager. He stayed at the Teahouse until 1996.

"This place really expanded my tea horizons," Labe said.

After helping to start the Wit's End Bookstore & Tea Shop in Fremont, Labe ended up moving to New York in 1998 when his wife, Elizabeth, got a teaching job at NYU. There he worked as a tea buyer at Dean & DeLuca, a gourmet foods retailer until Michael Nischan, executive chef at Heartbeat Restaurant in New York, asked him to become the first "tea sommelier" in the country.

The title fits Labe's attitude towards tea.

"I'm treating tea as a cuisine," said Labe. "I've been reaching out to people who love fine food and fine wine."

The idea of a tea sommelier appealed to restaurant patrons, at least in New York. Labe's "big break" was a favorable write-up in the New York Times in February 1999. That was the beginning, he said, of a "wild ride."

Labe's book of press clips is proof enough of that.

Most intriguing? Japanese edition of Playboy magazine. Most impressive? Well, take your pick. The man throws out names like Bon Appetit, Time and Forbes all of which have written about Labe, his job or his tea.

Two years ago, Labe also became an entrepreneur. He started a tea company called Iron Goddess, which later merged with In Pursuit of Tea. Just a note to illustrate how much the Wallingford Teahouse means to Labe: the original name of his company was Iron Goddess, the English translation of Kuan Yin.

Labe and his three partners in In Pursuit of Tea will own the Teahouse together and Labe plans to spend about one week a month there. He says that while he doesn't plan to make any major changes to the business, they will most likely do some redecorating.

"We're going to spruce it up a lot," said Labe. "This is a gem we intend to polish."

Labe also plans to introduce a new, premium line of tea later this year. All this seems to fit well with Labe's outlook on the tea business, which he says is often about outreach and education.

"Our job," Labe said, "is to get people to enjoy tea."

The Teahouse Kuan Yin is located at 1911 N 45th St. (