A tea taster whose taste buds are worth £1 million

What is the cost of your taste buds? No, this is not an absurd question. Let me introduce Sebastian Michaelis, a philosophy graduate from the University of Sussex, who tastes hundreds of teas daily, and thousands in a week.

That doesn't mean he actually drink much tea. But, yes Michaelis had tasted about 500,000 teas during his tenure at Tetley in the UK since 2005.

When asked about his work, Michaelis, 32, said: "We brew the tea incredibly strong to ensure we pick up all the finer notes and flavours and then we use a dessert spoon to slurp the liquid and spit it out. It has to be seen to believe, but tea tasting is a very noisy affair." A Tata Global Beverages spokesperson said its blenders have over 900 years of combined tea tasting experience and that they taste 40,000 cups of tea every week.

The person added: "The palate of our blenders is so refined that they can identify a variety of teas from any tea garden from across the globe.To achieve the best blend, their taste buds are extremely important for our business. Our blenders travel the globe in search of the finest ingredients before they create the finest quality cups."

Therefore, it is no wonder TGBL has insured Michaelis's taste buds for £1 million.

Michaelis is happy about the insurance. In an e-mail interview, he said: "The insurance of my taste buds is a reflection of the amount of time and effort the company has invested in my training, and the importance it places of ensuring the best quality blends."