STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 43 the spinning cone column Naturally cold brew & Full Flavour c re at e ready-to-drink co f f e e Visit us at drinktec - stand a3.140 companies conveying tea selection and preparation in the simplest possible terms to coffee professionals. I didn't want easy - I wanted right. When I first met the team at Jojo Tea, I recognized immediately that we were speaking the same language," he said. The alignment of a tea program directly with the values of the coffee program is a common theme that comes up for coffee professionals who enjoy a flourishing tea program. Nelson says that Thou Mayest leverages, "the same structure we use for our coffee, beer, and cocktail program: core products and flagships that are always avail- able for a reasonable price and easily accessible. Seasonals that change and keep the 'nerds' engaged, and microlots and one-offs that delight and surprise. "I love getting comments from customers thanking us for caring about tea and taking it seriously," says Nelson. Greater Goods is a roaster in the community of Dripping Springs, Texas, just out- side of Austin. Their impressive commitment to doing right by coffee includes having a team of certified baristas, roasters, and two Q-graders. Co-founder Khanh Trang also sees the very deep ways that tea mutually supports a quality coffee program – and that customers see this easily, too. "It was our coffee consumers who kept requesting a tea program that got our ball rolling," says Khanh. "I believe that the customers who seek out uniqueness of the different coffees will also go seek out specialty teas. They're looking for a different kind of sensory experience, just like that person who seeks out a farm-to-table dining experience." Nelson's company, Thou Mayest, works with Spirit Tea from Chicago - both are located in the Midwest, but not exactly the same market. In a similar example, if one browses at the "Our Partners" website listing for another boutique tea company lighting it up in the coffee world – Song Tea of San Francisco – you find roasters up and down the West Coast in their portfolio. Not just San Francisco. With so much emphasis on "local" in the craft food and beverage world, how do your neighborhood roasters explain their not-so-neighborhood tea? Or does it matter? Maybe not as much as one might as- sume. Spirit Tea, now three years old, has loyal customers far beyond the midwest. Pouring tea at Thou Mayest

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