If you’ve been visiting us regularly you know we’ve added quite a few teas and new tea wares in the past year or so. Being able to open the shop floor up has improved cash flow and provided the funds to bring in more of what I hope you want to see and Share. Several new teas this year are a result of Customer Requests – Peaches and Cream, Buckingham Palace Garden Party, a Green tea Chai (custom blend), Earl Grey Crème (hitting the racks next week), to mention a few.
The celebration of our country’s birth seems a fitting time to announce that we NOW Have USA Grown Tea IN The Shop, and on the website, from Great Mississippi Tea Company. We are Very excited to finally be able to Share This with You.
Great Mississippi Tea Company (GMTC) planted their first tea bushes about the time we were opening in Maplewood and Kateri has been following their progress.
It takes at least 5 years to be able to harvest enough leaf to be commercially viable, and they have been adding tea bushes and learning and growing their farm, and garnering awards at tea competitions over all this time. The teas are sustainably grown without the use of pesticides or fungicides. GMTC is at the forefront of encouraging and helping to educate other farms and individuals who want to grow tea in the U.S.
I missed out on wholesale purchasing last year – because they have only what they can harvest and process in a given year. The 4 options of teas you can purchase from us right now is new 2024 harvest, made into a black, green, oolong, AND a yellow tea.
Good Yellow tea is hard to find outside of China – and truthfully, I have not yet tasted it and I am still learning about how it is made and what makes it different. The teas just arrived Wednesday. We will brew some up for sampling this Saturday, and are looking forward to learning more about it along with you!
I brought in only 1oz packages to start, as an introduction. Pricing is comparable to other of our farm direct, hand-crafted teas. Give us a week or so and we will be breaking down 1 or 2 packages into our usual Trial Size offerings for those of you on a budget, because Everyone should have an opportuni-tea to enjoy Good, Real tea.
Visit the Comings & Goings page for more New tea info
We’ve also come up with two more specialty matcha flavors – Chocolate Mint, or Ginger. We originated these as a latte, and they take a few minutes to prepare (like our Butter Beer, if you remember that one). For the freshest, tastiest experience we brew everything to order.
