Jump to content

teafan91

participating member
  • Posts

    6
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by teafan91

  1. Hmm, well to answer your original question, what is wrong with tea?

    For me it is usually just not strong enough. I like tea, but I like it strong. I like strong flavors, and too often when I order tea out it is watery. No substance or flavor or CAFFEINE! A well brewed tea is IMO the equal of coffee, but so often they are pale shadows. This has led to me ordering only coffees when dining out, and brewing tea my own self.

    There seems to be a recurring theme here...the tea available isn't good or personal enough, whereas the coffee is fine. Do people agree with this?

  2. There was a tea bar I used to frequent here in Dublin that I thought did a very good job. They had a massive (almost bewildering) selection of tea stocked on shelves all around, and each one had its own little sample jar so that you could examine and sniff and touch and feel and compare and contrast before the tea was even brewed. The staff themselves were incredibly knowledgeable and were able to explain differences between first flush and second flush, etc., and really tried to guide you to the right choice. There was a certain reverence to the preparation, and that extended to different pots for different styles of tea and, needless to say, cups that were designed for tea rather than coffee. They sold other tea-related stuff, including tea-flavoured sweets and other tea accompaniments, and they also served a small but very tasteful selection of sandwiches at lunchtime. It was, all told, a brilliant place.

    Of course, it closed after a few months.

    The problems?

    For starters, they were too slow. The reverent approach was great the first few times, or when you were in a position to relax and genuinely enjoy it, but at peak times it all just took too long. Waiting 10 minutes for the tea to arrive at your table just doesn't cut it when you have to get back to the office. Since the place only had 4 or 5 tables (it was tiny) the slow speeds meant that tables didn't turn quickly. If you weren't there at the start of lunch hour, you weren't getting in at all.

    Perhaps as importantly, they didn't serve anything for the "normal" tea drinker. My typically Irish parents love tea, and they drink gallons of the stuff daily from what I can tell, but whenever I tried to bring them there they correctly assumed that they'd feel uncomfortable. They wanted normal Irish tea, they wanted to put milk and sugar into it, and they didn't want this fancy-pants stuff. As a consequence, despite being big tea drinkers, they never went to this place. I'm 100% sure there are many others like them.

    Best of luck with the venture.

    That's really helpful, thank you! I think there is a gap in the market where I am, but it sounds like I'll need to be really careful. It's important to find out what people actually want, and it sounds like a balance...no easy thing!

  3. Hi all,

    I'm looking at starting a new coffee/tea bar and I could really do with your help! I want to focus on a large variety of high quality tea, instead of focussing on coffees, like most other places do. Having said that, I love coffee too and will also be serving the usual americano, cappuccino etc.

    Tea is the second most popular drink (after water) in terms of amount consumed per day, yet costa and starbucks etc serve much more coffee than tea. What I would like to know is what would make you buy a tea (or derivative of tea) drink, or what's wrong with tea?

    Thanks!

×
×
  • Create New...