Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/71652
THE WHOLE LEAF continued from page 57 Q: Most coffee companies don't focus a lot on tea. Why does Intelligentsia? A: Intelligentsia was started from the very beginning to be a coffee and tea company. I know that Doug is of the mindset that if you're going to do something, you should do it well. And I think that both our coffee and our tea reflect that, and really if it weren't for his ideas and then for me being able to watch how Geoff operates and purchases things, I don't think we'd be where we are. Obviously we don't do as much origin work, but we do spend a lot of time cupping, doing quality control, and looking for better and new products. We're very obsessive about how we source our stuff. Q: Because tea accounts for a smaller percentage of sales than coffee at Intelligentsia, do you ever feel like a forgotten arm of the company? A: I think the things that are popular right now in the tea world—people focusing on flavored teas or finding more convenient ways of preparing tea—show that the tea indus- try in the United States is very, very underdeveloped. We appreciate tea right now the way that people appreciated coffee when I was growing up, when people were doing things to mask the flavors. I think what we're doing at Intelligentsia is on the forefront of what's going to be popular, which is focusing on single-origin teas, different processing styles and getting people to understand that all these different leaves can taste different. So I don't really think of myself as being pushed aside; I just recognize that the industry isn't as developed. 58 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com Q: A: What would help change that? Awareness. I think it's important that people start to move away from consuming tea bags— because that's a convenience product, in my opinion. The amount of time it takes to measure out some loose-leaf tea and put it in a cup or a teapot with hot water isn't much more time than pulling a tea bag out of a box. There's nothing wrong with tea bags per se, but if people really want to appreciate tea, these loose-leaf teas can provide a completely different experience: more potent aromas, deeper body and more depth of flavor. Things are going to change if cafés and restaurants start to make loose-leaf tea a priority. If people don't promote these things and don't prepare tea properly, then I don't think the industry can move forward. Q: Does it sometimes feel like tea lacks coffee's coolness factor? A: I think that's kind of changing, though I'm cer- tainly not the one who's changing it. A lot of our baristas are really into drinking tea. And I think that them showing enthusiasm toward tea to our customer base is the best thing we can be doing. From what I'm hearing and based on our tea sales, I think there's this hipster crowd that is starting to adopt tea. Our Silver Lake store [located in a stylish L.A. neighborhood] sells the most tea out of any of our stores. I do think that the attention and appreciation that's starting to be brought to tea will be what develops the tea industry and makes it more promi- nent in our culture. TIM BREEN