The person behind Spanish Tea

Hi, I'm Montse Miñana

I've always been curious about people.

Looking back, I think that curiosity began when I was a child in Madrid, where I attended the Colegio Franco-Británico. It was a bilingual school that felt surprisingly international for Spain at the time, and growing up surrounded by different languages, accents and cultures made me realise, from an early age, that every language and every culture offers a different way of understanding the world.

I had always wanted to live abroad, so I moved to London, where I spent almost six years of my life and studied Spanish and Latin American Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. It was an experience that shaped both my personal and professional life. It's also where I met some of the people who are still among my closest friends today. While I was there, I volunteered interviewing Spanish people whose families had left Spain during or after the Civil War. Listening to their stories remains one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.

Long before I became a Spanish teacher, I had already discovered that what I enjoyed most was helping people learn. Over the years, I worked with children, teenagers, older adults and people with disabilities through theatre, outdoor education and creative activities. Later, I spent five years working in international business, where I realised how much I missed teaching. So I decided to return to university and train as a language teacher.

After completing my teacher training and gaining experience in language schools, I created Spanish Tea. I wanted to create the kind of learning environment I had always believed in: personal, flexible and centred on the individual. A place where people could feel comfortable enough to ask questions, make mistakes, have some laughs and gradually build confidence in Spanish.

My students come to learn Spanish, but I feel incredibly lucky because, through them, I get to travel the world without leaving Barcelona. They help me see my own language through fresh eyes, ask questions I might never have thought of myself, and remind me that every conversation is an opportunity to keep learning.