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/95647
I t's a drizzly Friday afternoon in New Westminster, B.C., near Vancouver, and the indoor River Market is half full of people wearing the requisite rain gear and swinging their shopping bags between fresh-food merchants and artists' studios. Giddy college students huddle on benches texting and chatting, while "New West" residents and tourists from the hotel next door stroll by, some slowing down to take in the live cello performance in the middle of the corridor. People also pause as they pass by Great Wall Tea Company, with its striking wall of 500-plus tea tins, each decorated with a photo of a different cup and saucer. "We collected teaware for a long time, and then hired a pho- tographer to shoot the pieces," says co-owner Lauren Bowler. It's not a doilies-and-bone-china type of place, nor is it Asia- centric. "We had traveled a lot and were always drawn to large gathering places that attract an eclectic mix of people," says Bowler, "so we knew we wanted our shop to be in a public market space." She considers Great Wall a "very global, casual tea bar. We like to deconstruct the uptight perception around tea." Bowler and her co-owner and boyfriend, Sean Smith, have 58 Tea Almanac 2013 After opening in 2010, Bowler and Smith quickly learned what their best sellers would be. Great Wall's number-one request is Cream Earl Grey (flavored with vanilla), which is stored in an easily accessed tin on the wall. also deconstructed the idea of a tea bar itself. When they leased the 150-square-foot space two years ago, their challenge was to create a functional and attractive-looking business in what is essentially a walk-in closet. They turned to local architectural designer Marianne Amodio, who envisioned a magnetic wall that the tea tins could be attached to. "Shelves seemed 'expected' and would actually take up valu- able wall space," says Bowler. The concept won both a Royal City Builders award and the loyalty of locals. Real estate in New Westminster is significant- ly more affordable than in neighboring Vancouver, and the area is quickly attracting families, entrepreneurs and artist types. They all come together at Great Wall, where the small space means that a handful of bar stools are the only seating option other than the benches in the market corridor. Those who want to linger must sit shoulder to shoulder—and they often end up talking. "We wanted to become a meeting place, a place for conversation," says Smith. "It really behaves like a watering hole," adds Bowler. Speaking of sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, Bowler and Smith,