Fancy Some Tea?
It’s time to put the kettle on.
While tea has always been the world’s most popular drink, the average American drinks just over half a pound of tea per year, which is barely enough to crack the top 35 countries in consumption. In contrast to the elevated beard-stroking coffee culture, the humble cup of tea has been slow to brew. Nevertheless, more and more young consumers are choosing herbal beverages over coffee and soft drinks, and are developing an appreciation for the taste.
If tea bags were the first innovation, and the simple, organic Honest Tea and loose leaf teas the second, then the latest iteration is the obsession over provenance and process that is turning tea into a craft experience. At Samovar Tea Bar in San Francisco’s upbeat Mission district, scientific-looking glass infusion crucibles filled with direct-import loose-leaves line the white concrete bar. Portland’s Scandi-inspired Tea Bars brew golden-milk tea latte with organic Indian turmeric and stone-ground matcha made from leaves sourced at a small farm in Uji, Japan. One of New York’s favorite restaurants, Olmsted, offers an elaborate tea menu with cold-brew Taiwanese oolong and white tea buds from Nan Mei Valley in Yunnan, China.
“We don’t really hear about sencha (green tea) or hōjicha (roasted tea). Only connoisseurs do,” said Marie Roux, a tea enthusiast studying tea culture in Japan. While it may take time for US consumers to fully discover tea, they are surely on their way to find the world’s finest craft brews.