brewing a perfect cup

I'm not sure if you've ever been to a Starbucks, but "The Least Perfect Cup" is certainly NOT a major deterrent to customers. I can count on two fingers the number of perfect cups I have ever received in my life, one espresso and one regular cup of black coffee. Sadly both establishments are now out of business.

I have toyed with the idea of opening a tea cafe for a few years, and in my initial research and planning stages the result is always the same, no one really cares. A nice quiet environment, quality tea brewed perfectly, cool Asian snacks, traditional music, special gong fu brewings, and local poetry/artists. Basically my personal t'ien. Who knows, maybe I'll take the plunge someday but for now signs don't point to success.

People want mediocre, fast, impersonal, loud, uncomfortable, and hurried. Maybe in NYC there are enough people to fill such niches but I'd imagine it to be mostly a fad following with a few regulars that would quickly taper off. Just my 2 pence.

- Dominic

Unfortunately, I think you are right. But I can imagine that a momentary tea fad could change expectations about what people serve as "tea", so that it would be possible to get something other than lipton at restaraunts. Maybe some day, getting a pot of hot water and some loose leaf tea at a restaraunt will not be so unheard of. I only say this while keeping in mind that in the early nineties, canned or instant coffee seemed to be more common than Starbucks in most places in this country. Starbucks, despite its imperfections, is better than what most people had before and I would guess that most people never thought of coffee details such as bean roast or geographic origin prior to the Starbucks era. I personally am not crazy about it, but I'll sure drink it over chock-full-of-nuts, or even an overpriced bag of lipton. I will also note that I have seen some coffee places (e.g. Caribou Coffee) offer looseleaf tea brewing if you look closely at their menu. Maybe a sophisticated brewing machine could aid the transition from tea bags to tea pots in non-niche markets outside of places such as New York or Seattle or Portland. This change could bring enough converts to tea so as to make more "hardcore" tea brewing restaraunts more financially viable in smaller areas.

Plain looseleaf tea doesn't have enough "flavor" to appeal to the masses. You kind of have to pay attention to what you're drinking to detect nuances etc. Most people dont/wont do that. They would take a sip and expect a !BAM! here's the flavors on your tongue! That's why RTD (USA) is mostly full of sugarized flavored bottled tea drinks; or they push the "health" aspects of tea. That's why most tea bars/cafes that "survive" have something more - bobo tea, or tea mixed with fruits etc, or "herbal tea".

The nicest chain tea experience i had at Peet's Coffee

That machine in the NYtimes article is a vacuum brewer (not "siphon"), and it takes more time to brew than usual , this info is BS: "its genius is in its programming,"

We are often approached by inventers with a new tea brewing idea, and occasionally have taken on development of their brainchild. Look however at the ratio of patents to successful commercial devices to divine the prospects of getting one to work acceptably. In the 1990s normally savvy Unilever perceived a market gap for the high speed tea bar and spent an unbelievable amount of cash developing the "T-Bird" auto brewer. Their Ch'a Bars had this glass and shiny metal monstrosity on the counter as "theatrical sight and sound display" that visually high-speed-automatically-brewed your tea before your very eyes ("Turbo brewing under two illuminated wings using a pulsing jet of water"). The Agony of the Leaves could be seen and possibly felt as brewing time was accelerated to match the consumers' impatience ("25 seconds from click to cup"). No baristas, Unilever had "highly skilled and well trained 'tipsters'". Walls and tables were adorned with quirky mock tea quotes and limericks manufactured by their PR company. The atmosphere was what I believe is known as "funky". In the UK at least Ch'a Bars failed dismally and when last I heard the T-Bird was "available to license". Enough said.

Nigel at Teacraft

On Jan 23, 2:02 pm, cha bing wrote:

coffee:

Guess what happened to the first "real" (i.e. knowledgable, honest, high quality & NOT foremost profit-oriented) tea-shop I found in Germany about 15 years ago? After having an eye-opening experience there with an outstanding Darjeeling I went back a couple of months later to restock and all I found was an empty store... It's a sad story that seems to repeat itself.

Another check mark. We DID take the plunge and did fulfill our dream of opening a teahouse here in New Zealand. Our vision sounds strangely similar to yours. And we found out... ... that your research is correct. Sadly. The fact that blew us away is that people DO want to be uncomfortable. We created the place as comfortable as possible. Seating choices ranging from floor cushions to sofas and regular tables. But it seems that people are intimidated by comfort and a peaceful environment. They also don't see the point in paying, say NZ$8 for a pot of highest quality tea. They don't mind, however, to spend NZ$40 every weekend on

The good news is that there ARE people who appreciate a space like the tea place you envision. They are VERY rewarding customers and we have met many great people through our business. Unfortunately, there might not be enough of them to sustain business. We have been in business for about 18 months now and have been struggling ever since opening.

Dominic, if you're ever down here in Kiwiland, please drop in and I'd be delighted to share some of our treasures with you.

Jo Ya-Ya House of Excellent Teas

PS: I memory serves me right, then I remember to read a post by Houde about not selling anything at some expo. Another proof that Western people might not be ready for the leaf (yet)!

Hey Jo,

Thanks for sharing! My background in business and logic tend to overrun my emotional side, I'm slowly changing that and would still like to do it at some point or in some way... I'm just looking for the right time and place. I have very close personal friends who live in NZ and I do plan on visiting there in the next year or two... so hang in there :) In the meantime I will gladly tell them about your teahouse (feel free to email me details of its location if you don't want to post them here)

I did some different research projects into it and exactly what you state is correct. I had tastings and questionaires at a coffee shop, and the only two teas anyone liked were a strawberry sencha and a ginger peach black tea. Both flavored teas. Even things like jasmine were passed over.

I keep hoping there is an angle I'm missing or an idea to showcase the tea while having enough other options to stay afloat. I don't want to do food (beyond basics), and my only other choices so far are an art gallery or niche book shop/filmhouse with cool indie films.

I wish you nothing but the best success, and keep at it!

- Dominic

Dominic,

I can't believe that people really want impersonal, loud, and uncomfortable. We all want calm, comfortable, and intimate, but many of us just can't figure out how to fit it in our lives. We're always in a rush.

I know a number of tea houses that seem to keep afloat, and they all have a take-out counter for quick daily-brews, loose-leaf teabags in paper cups, baked goods, and random novelteas (bubble tea, matcha smoothies, books, accessories). I'm sure it's the counters that pay the bills, but in the back there's a nice place to sit and relax, Louis Armstrong is cooing quietly, a gas fireplace defrosts your bones, and there are tables where small groups of friends gather. I think that, sometimes, even the frantic caffeine junkies up front need a breath of air, and when the do they look beyond the front counter and sit down for a moment with a cup of tea.

Tea is an acquired taste, and many will opt for the decaf caramel mango tango at first, but a teashop full of possibiliteas will definitely win some converts.

It's no starbuck's through..

Dominic, it is a very liberating step if you let your emotional side reign, but you'd need some backup options. We keep hoping that people DO care, but it seems that it's not even 1 in 100...

Since there is nothing I loathe more than aromatized teas (my homeland Germany seems to be dominated by this kind of "tea"), we made the decision to not carry any flavored teas (exceptions are a few traditional flower-scented chinese teas like high-end Jasmine pearls). We do have the odd person asking for a lime-sencha, but that happens rather rarely. I think, the problem is to get people to try something new (a rather inappropriate term in regards to tea, I know). If they do try it, they are almost guaranteed to be back. There is a strange misconception about what tea tastes like. Give them a good pu-erh or Darjeeling and it blows them away...

Like-mindedness? Your paragraph reads like a snapshot of our thoughts. We don't do food (beyond basics), which is a bit of a problem. And one of our ideas was to show "cool indie films". I hope you will come to New Zealand in the near future. I'd love to chat, watch some movies and drink tea...

I'll send you a private message about our teahouse (remembering the passionate discussions and flame-wars regarding tea merchants here in this group last year...).

Jo