wanting to start a small tea business and need advice
I am looking for some help, advice, basically anything to guide me in starting a small tea shop. The space is no bigger than a 20×20 area. I want to start small, in a unique location of my small town. There are 4 other small businesses in the same building. I have an idea from where I would like to purchase the tea, but I am not sure about how to store the inventory. I read about refridgeration for tea, but didn’t know that was the best way to store tea. Will light coming through glass jars have an effect on the tea? I am just wanting to sell a few tea items as well as the loose leaf. Many ideas, just need some real help with logic.
I would not recommend glass jars for your tea, especially since it will (most likely) be on display somewhere. There is a tea shop in my city that does this and I will not buy tea from them because I am concerned about the degradation from the sunlight they experience. I am sure that others don’t mind but some serious tea drinkers will turn away from shops for things like that. Or maybe it is just me.
Unless it’s a UV blocking glass, but I’d think that would be alot more expensive and hard to confirm than just using metal canisters with a sample of the tea inside displayed somewhere.
I like how DavidsTea has their tea, in metal canisters with a small compartment on top to look/smell the tea without having to open the entire container each time.
Somewhere on a thread, it was suggested to have samples of the tea in small glass jars so that people can see and smell the tea, but the large bulk of the tea would be stored in opaque cannisters behind the counter, on the wall, etc..
Of the four tea shops in my area, three have their tea stored in glass jars. The only one that uses tins is Teavana. So, it’s not ideal, but a lot of small tea sellers do it.
Refrigeration isn’t necessary
Glass is not ideal for keeping tea fresh, but it does look nice for display and many stores do it. You could store small amounts in glass jars for display and keep the main stock of it in a tin underneath the counter or something like that.
Also you mentioned that you’re in a small town; you should definitely consider whether or not you think you’ll have enough customers to keep it the business going.
Good luck :)
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