Nick Boehm said

Bicylce Operated Tea Cart

I have a question for my fellow tea drinkers. Any help is much appreciated.

Have you ever encountered a bicycle operated tea cart? Similar to a food truck but primarily serving iced tea in the summer months.

If you have, what was your experience like? Good, bad, okay?

If you have not, would you ever consider purchasing tea from one if you were out and about?

This isn’t really a business idea, more or less a hobby idea. I understand there is legal aspects that need to be considered, but I was hoping I could get some constructive feedback on this idea. I live in a pretty liberal area of the USA (Colorado) if that helps at all.

17 Replies
Riley-NZL said

Can’t really comment (it doesn’t get warm enough here for ice tea), but if you do go ahead would love to see some pictures.

Nick Boehm said

I think I will make this a long-term project for next summer. I will certainly be sending pictures if I green light this project. Thanx for the support.

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SarsyPie said

I’ve never seen anything like that in my area, but I’d buy some if we had one!

Nick Boehm said

Awesome! Good to know. If I go ahead with the project I will just have to bike to your town so you can try some ;)

SarsyPie said

I’ll bet that if you started a kickstarter for a nationwide tea cart where you biked across the whole country, peeps would totally give you money. :)

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cookies said

Honestly I probably would. I used to live in SF (so another liberal area) and people were always selling food on the streets/in parks. Everybody buys from them. I bet you would do well in the summer months.

Nick Boehm said

Thank you for your valuable input. I LOVE SF!

Best,
-Nick

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If I would have ever run into something like this growing up in the South I probably would have wept for joy!

Nick Boehm said

HAHA! I think I would have wept for joy to see you weep for joy over my tea bike :) Thanx for the input.

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This is a really cool idea, but personally I don’t have any experience with any type of bicycle operated food carts. I live in an area where even ice cream trucks are strange and exotic creatures. They’re like unicorns. As soon as you hear camp town races in monophonic, you’re caught between wondering if your childhood dreams have finally come true and the possibility that behind the magical facade of the ice cream truck there is a maniac waiting to disembowel you. Or maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, college campuses are probably the most open places for selling tea. I would buy tea from you, as long as your cart doesn’t serve a dual purpose of storing cold tea and bodies. Since bodies are only composed of 50-60% water, they don’t work as well as ice cubes.

You might do even better selling hot tea in the colder seasons. I looked up tea carts, and it seems they’re fairly rare, but also, they all seem to focus on hot tea. I found a fundraiser for a gongfu cha tea ceremony type of cart, a hot tea cart in Philadelphia that serves hot tea for free, promoted on the steepers wordpress blog and found on their tumblr blog hotteacart, and then there’s the chai tea cart in San Francisco that sells hot chai tea on the street corner. There is this store called traveling tea, but contrary to it’s name, it isn’t a traveling company – just a locally owned store in Maplewood, MO. In any case, you probably know all of this already.

Nick Boehm said

Wow, thank you for the lengthy reply! I promise I wont use it to carry bodies. Hot tea is a pretty good idea too!

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Skysamurai said

What a cool idea. I’m sure you could even build the cart if you’re feeling adventurous.

Nick Boehm said

YES! I am feeling adventurous. I have been looking up plans and general ideas on how to do this. I am very DIY oriented person and I love art. However, sometimes my carpentry skills are lacking haha. Practice makes perfect right?

Thank you for your input!

-Nick

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Good luck! Keep us updated!

Nick Boehm said

thanx, I will!

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My friend operates one in Kansas City. Would you like me to put you in touch with her so you can ask her more questions? You can email me at [email protected] to be introduced.

Nick Boehm said

That is awesome! I sent you an email. Thank you so much for your help!

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