Tea in coffee shops

[wucha]

I was wondering what your experiences selling tea was like, if you sell tea, or anything else that comes to mind when you think about having tea alongside coffee in a shop, espresso bar, or Cafe.

I personally love good tea and also love good coffee. I am pretty put out honestly at how often I can get one but cannot get the other anywhere I go. Thoughts?

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Tea is a natural for a coffee bar. One thing to keep in mind is that there is an emerging third-wave-esque following for tea that parallels the third wave phenomenon in coffee. It might become more difficult to convince consumers that you are an expert in both, although that just depends on the focus of the business...focus on coffee with a nice selection of tea, or focus on tea with a nice selection of coffee (which would then be a tea bar, not a coffee bar!). Starbucks even has hot cider in many locations, not coincidentally in colder climate areas.

 

[ensoluna]

Yes, I completely agree with you, Doug.
Most of my customers (green bean importers) also carry wide selection of teas since most of their customers also carry teas in their shops.

However, this can not be generalized because in the case of China, Tea shops do not carry coffee and vice versa, of course, Except Starbucks and other foreign chain coffee stores.
Also, in case of Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador which are major coffee origin countries in Central America, it is very difficult to see any of coffee shops carrying much of Teas at all. Their coffee cultures are so strong that teas in coffee show is not well accepted nor exist much. (vice versa for China) Actually, I have not seen any Tea shops in Guatemala at all. if someone wants to buy some tea, they need to go to local supermarket and buy the cheap, packaged teas....

 

[helloWorld]

I was wondering what your experiences selling tea was like, if you sell tea, or anything else that comes to mind when you think about having tea alongside coffee in a shop, espresso bar, or Cafe.

I have not opened yet, but I plan to do a few things that might help the tea drinking experience.

First, all tea cups have white interiors. Ever try to figure out how dark the brew is with, say, a nice dark brown interior? Ptui.
Second, all tea cups never never never have coffee in them. If you've ever tried to get tea on an airplane, you'll understand why: coffee lingers and ruins the tea flavor.
Third, I'll be promoting the teas with lengthy descriptions and have jars for people to smell first. What better way to know if it's to your liking up front? For iced teas, I'll give free samples (as I used to do covertly when I worked in a coffee shop prior) as iced tea doesn't have enough scent to judge.

Tea is good for 1 to 2 years, depending on type. I estimated the (low) number of cups I expect to sell, the number of cups I'll make from a pound of tea, and figure I might go through about six varieties in a respectable time. Anything more extensive means I'll likely be tossing out tea when I reorder.

I'd love feedback from folks who actually know what they're talking about.

 

[DianaScott]

Not a lot of people that I know like coffee and tea at the same time. I personally love coffee myself, I'm not a tea drinker...never been

 

[PinkRose]

Third, I'll be promoting the teas with lengthy descriptions and have jars for people to smell first. What better way to know if it's to your liking up front?

When I visit establishments that have open jars of things for people to "sniff" to sample the aroma, I've often stood back and watched the "sniffing" that was going on. You'd be amazed at how many people take a sniff, and instead of exhaling away from jar, they breathe their air back into the container. After seeing how often that happens, you couldn't pay me to sample the aroma of teas or anything else, any time anywhere.

 

[chast]

Tea and coffee go together in a shop. We have been selling fine loose leafed teas along with our freshly roasted beans for the past 8 years. Teas have to be fresh and the person behind the counter needs to be properly educated. Fishing Teas, MEM teas and Harney are the best to purchase from. I have to agree with rose, I would never allow anyone to stick there face in a jar of tea leaves that was going to be sold. You will have customers come in that would prefer a tea over coffee if you have it. Offer the best of both worlds. I drink coffee in the morning and many cups of tea later on during the day. Once again, knowledge for both coffee and tea is essential to being a successful shop.
JMO

 

[erinchelsea]

what it would be coffee flavored tea? what it really exist?

 

[bstcups]

my suggestion is tea and coffee together in the shop, because different customers have different appetite, you can choose by themselves