Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/46786
The shop has only six seats at the bar, two facing out the window and two on the patio, because her shop is mainly for retailing. She does well with this niche, and it's because she knows how to source and get great tea at a good price, she says. "A tea might be bought from booth A, and they buy it from booth B, who buys it from booth C, who gets it someplace else," she says. "You don't want that. Your tea's going through a lot of hands." The more people you cut out, the fewer people you need to pay. Also, buying closer to the source lets retailers get a better feel for the quality of the tea—or at least the qualities of the importer. Duda's had good luck getting tea from India and Sri Lanka direct from the growers because they sell the vast majority of the tea in those countries at auction. Other countries—such as China—are trickier due to complicated international trade laws, Duda says. So she just gets to know the importer well. For example, her source for Chinese teas has been importing from China for 20 years. That importer has dozens of relationships it would take her years to establish, she says. "It's all getting to know there people, building these relationships," she says. Infini-tea Antioch, Ill. community theater. Her shop blends the Victorian feel of the tea shops popular for mom-and-daughter lunches and red hat women outings with the mismatched, anything-goes clutter of some of the bohemian coffeehouses. This fits the neighborhood perfectly. The area is full of other independent businesses, like the Chinese restaurant next door, or the home-decor place on the other side. In the shop's seven years, Ferguson's inspections have served her well. Each tea should have a certain color depending on the region it comes from and the time it was harvested. Take green tea, she says. She has a poster on the wall in her work area with photos of ideal specimens of the leaf based on harvest season and the region—some are darker, some are lighter. With greens, you should always look for long leaves and a strong scent. Each tea has its own tell-tale signs of quality. Oolongs, for example, should be rolled into tight balls, but aſter it's brewed a few times, it should unravel into big, unbroken leaves. "When I brew, I want to see the leaves open up into their full glory," she says. Some of the same rules go for black tea. She looks for big, unbroken leaves, which shows it was harvested with care. When she finds teas that pass her inspection, they go on to tea-tasting sessions with her employees and customers. Inspections help weed out the bad ones before the tastings, though. "There are some that don't even make it to the tea tasting because they're so horrible," she says. SOUTHWEST To sort the good from the bad, Tea Master Lorrie Ferguson gives her leaves a close visual inspection. Looking at and feeling the tea leaves can give away a lot about the product's quality, Ferguson says. She opened her tea shop, Infini-tea, seven years ago in a red brick building in the shady downtown area of Antioch, Ill., about half a block away from the The Tea Exchange Manhattan Beach, Calif. Freshness is the key behind The Tea Exchange's best beverages, says owner Ginny Durand. She eschews better prices in favor of fresher products: "Freshness is so important in tea." She runs two teahouses: a 1,600-sq.-ſt. shop in Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles 34 | November 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com County, and a 1,000-sq.-ſt. shop about two hours east in a mountain town called Lake Arrowhead. Durand could save a lot of money by ordering in bulk, but she wants to make sure her inventory's fresh. "We would definitely get a price break if we ordered more, but we just won't do that," Durand says. Each shop has a tea wall about five feet tall with shelves carrying dozens of glass jars. She does a lot of business in retail, but her Manhattan Beach shop is also popular with the local health food junkies. A bicycle path winds past just a few yards from the door, and sitting only two blocks from the beach, it's a hot spot for morning cyclists, joggers and surfers. The shop is as unconventional to the teahouse world as its customers are. No lace doilies or floral Victorian serving platters here. The stores look more like a corporate coffee shop, with plenty of natural light, gender-neutral decorations and stylish, modern fixtures. This break from the norm makes sense considering its offerings. One of its signature items is the tea latte, which they make exactly like a café latte, but with tea instead of espresso. Durand's latest project is blending tea and coffee to make something she calls "The Healthy Cafe." She plans to market it this month, she says. NORTHWEST PACIFIC The Teacup Seattle, Wash. Tastes are a funny thing, says Elisabeth Knottingham, owner of the Teacup in