Opening a Tea Room
I was for some advice/comments on the best way to come up with a nice tea selection for a tea room. I’m looking into all loose leaf, but I want to be original (with the exception of offering favorites and classics.) I’m wondering if it’s best to buy wholesale and pre-mixed or if I should start from the raw ingredients and blend my own. Any ideas?
Well, if you want to be original then it would probably be best for you to create your own blends. This takes a bit of time to be good at. I found it best to start out with a small selection of teas and expand my selection over time. Have you sat down and wrote out a business plan? If not, it might be a good idea and might help you decide what you would like to focus on and help you organize your ideas. Also, search around and do some research that will help you decide what will work for you.
Thanks Butiki! I do indeed have a business plan set in motion now and you’re 100% correct, creating original blends is quite a task, I’m hoping it’ll be worth it in the near future :)
You might want to view and connect with Jolie Tea Company; they offer 70 varieties of loose leaf tea. They are independently owned retail shop and their website is
www.jolieteaco.com
They are somewhat comparable to Butiki Teas.
Again, good luck.
Defiantly and no shame to us all. Or how to say…You go and seek em out…they are on the snobby side of things. Master mixers of teas they are.
They are like Gods with their blends; so good luck.
I own a beverage shoppe in Western Canada and have been open for a little over seven months. Business is pretty good. I got my “menu” started by visiting other shoppes and asking questions about the popular products/infusions that seem to have a cult following and visited specialty stores and inquired about their high-volume coffees and teas. I then attacked the neighbourhood where I’m leasing the shoppe with my clipboard and asked people at random what their favourite beverages were. I offered coupons in return for their replies. EVERYTHING is location and menu. I blend nearly everything so it always has a certain staple of identification which makes it unique. I have a tea blend which I won’t name here which has developed quite a following. It’s a loose-leaf blend with a Ceylon base, some orange peel and two other secret spices. My wife came up with the idea and it’s my top seller among the house blends. If a fool like me can do it, you can as well. Cheers and good hunting!
Blending yourself is a lot of fun – but does involve trial and error. I’d suggest a blend (sorry for the pun!) of your own blends and wholesale products.
Also, you can always talk to other tea shop owners – lots of them are willing to share their success stories. Location and menu can matter, sometimes, but for the most part great quality and customer service go a long way!
Best of luck to you! Hey, I’d love to do a feature of your store on my blog – just lemme know! :) :)
Ah KeenTeaThyme, you’ve read my mind! The mixture of wholesale and original mixes with essential oils seems to be the key.
Thanks so much for your comment, I’ll definitely update you with information on our little shop once we hit the ground running.
I’ve enjoyed following you here on Steepster by the way!
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