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A steady stream of customers is refreshed by your array of tasty frozen tea beverages, rejuvenated by an infusion of the latest herbal ingredients, and relaxed by a morning cup of Darjeeling tea. Slowly but surely, your tea business has grown to a point where you've come to realize, "Hey, the tea business can be profitable." So you set your sights on creating a truly unique tea beverage board, including hot, iced, and frozen varieties, without ever putting much thought into the real moneymaker — the tea accouterments.

Regardless of how well established your tea program is, an opportunity always exists to sell cups, pots, brewers, infusers, and more not only to tea-drinking customers, but also to those who are seeking gifts throughout the year. Every day offers a new chance to educate customers about all the necessary accessories for brewing tea.





For the tea purist, heavy porcelain, metal, or glass canisters with tight-fitting lids are best for storing tea (along with keeping it in a cool, dark place). But when it comes to serving, decorative tea caddies are a wonderful way to present the tea prior to steeping and a myriad of decorative tea caddies are available to showcase the tea during the tea hour. Because the caddy is a necessary component of the tea-serving ceremony, offer several varieties to fulfill all of your customers' design desires.

Describe the differences by telling the story associated with each caddy. For example, the Chinese caddies, which are most often made in square or hexagonal shapes, are great complements to the Yixing teapots (described below), and are often composed of the same clay. Japanese caddies are traditionally handed down from generation to generation because they are made of exquisite woods and therefore, are considered to be precious heirlooms. British tea caddies have their own designs and traditions — rectangular shape and quality craftsmanship. These sturdy caddies have several compartments in which to store different types of tea. Some have compartments to store green and black teas separately, while others have three compartments — two to store separate teas, with the third being used for blending.





Each preparation of the leaves has its individuality, its special affinity with eater and heat, its hereditary memories to recall, its own methods of telling a story." — Okakura Kakuzo in the classic The Book of Tea (Tuttle)

The tea ceremony is not just about the tea, but also the vessel in which it is brewed, and there are many, many different types of vessels in which to brew tea.

Teapots are collector items for many consumers. Beyond their visual attractiveness, much of the joy in collecting them comes from knowledge of their histories.

Yixing teapots, which date back to the Ming Dynasty, are made from porous clay found in the Yixing region. They come in many designs — some whimsical, others more traditional or elegant; their diversity makes them great collectibles.

The red clay used to create the Brown Betty — a traditional English teapot — is said to be similar to that used to make the Yixing pots. Both have excellent heat retention, permeability, and high plasticity.

Because of the porosity of both these teapots, tea experts suggest that each pot be used for brewing only one kind of tea as the clay will absorb the flavor of each tea, a great merchandising tip. Once customers learn this, it will be easier to sell them more than one teapot if they like a variety of teas. It is suggested that the user season the Yixing pots by brewing a strong pot of tea (of course, the type of tea you are planning on always brewing in it). Once the tea has steeped, empty the pot, rinse, and steep again.

In addition to the different materials used to make teapots, there are countless shapes and colors. Offer as many options as your shelves will allow, and tempt customers to purchase more than one for their homes.







Rivaling the teapot in collectible status is the teacup. The sheer number of different shapes and designs makes teacup collecting an exciting pastime for many. In many cultures, the cup in which the tea is served is as important as the pot in which it is steeped. For instance, green tea is best served in a light cup, often made of celadon, so that the variations in color and the liquor of the unfurling leaves can best be appreciated. The English teacup is integral to the English traditions that manifest themselves in the English afternoon tea made popular by Queen Victoria. English hostesses today are still proud of their tea-steeping knowledge. The hostess measures the tea directly from the tea caddy into the heated porcelain pot, steeping the tea for the appropriate amount of time. Using a strainer that rests atop the thin, nearly transparent cups, she pours the tea and then passes the cup to the guest.

The Chinese gaiwan teacup is traditionally used for drinking expensive or hard-to-replace teas. The gaiwan cup has no handles, is bowl-shaped, and comes with a lid and a deep saucer. Tea leaves are placed in the gaiwan, followed by the heated water. The lid is placed on the cup and left to steep momentarily. When the tea is ready to drink, the lid is slid slightly away from the edge — far enough to allow for drinking, but not too far as the lid is designed to restrict the leaves from being consumed.

Just as tea traditions vary, so do those surrounding the drinking of chai, especially throughout India where freshly brewed low-grade and broken-leaf teas are mixed with a fresh spice (cardamom or ginger) and milk and sugar. Particularly in Southern Asia, chai is sold in train and bus stations where the street vendors (chaiwalas) holler "Chai" to passersby. While the chai is brewing, the chaiwala makes the cups — kasoras — from native clay. After consuming the tea, the consumers throw the kasoras to the ground, breaking them, and allowing them to return to the earth.

On the other end of the spectrum, iced tea is the most popular tea in the U.S. Delightfully decorated glasses with a matching pitcher reawaken a sense of summertime fun in all of us. Nothing says summertime better than the gentle pinging of ice in a glass filled with iced tea.

Elsewhere, the cups used for iced tea have greater meaning. In India, for example, copper cups lined with stainless steel are used to serve iced tea. It is believed that the copper vessels provide health benefits, while the lining maintains the preferred cold temperatures.

Tea sets that include the pot and the cups also make for great accessory sales and can be used to highlight the rituals of tea service. For instance, Kung Fu sets include a small Yixing pot that holds no more than eight ounces of tea, a set of small cups (without handles), and saucers. In the associated ritual, a bit of boiling water is poured over the leaves in the pot to rinse them, then is poured off. Once the water returns to a boil, it is added to the tea and the host takes four deep breaths before he/she pours the tea.

The pouring of the tea is considered the most important part of the ritual. The host pours the tea in a continuous stream by rotating the pot over the cups until everyone has the same amount. This process symbolizes equality, since not only are all cups evenly filled, but also the strength of the tea in each is equal. The same leaves may be used again to steep additional tea, as superstition has it that the more times the leaves are reused, the luckier the drinkers will be.





"[The] three most deplorable things in the world: The spoiling of fine youths through false education, the degradation of fine paintings through vulgar admiration, and the utter waste of fine tea through incompetent manipulation." — Lichihlai, a Sung poet

There are many ways to manipulate water to make it arrive at the proper temperature for steeping tea. The traditional teakettle, which heats water on a stovetop, can range in price from $15 at the low end to over $100 at the high end, and comes in dozens of styles, shapes, colors, and designs, with all sorts of bells and whistles.

For a slight variation to the top-of-the-stove kettle, the practical and utilitarian British favorite — the electric kettle — is gaining popularity. Both in design and color — from classic to bright blue, there is an electric kettle to fit anyone's style. The number of bells and whistles on electric kettles continues to grow, creating a need to continually educate consumers about the category.

The samovar is an ornate brass urn used for preparing and serving tea, a process that is an integral part of Russian life and one that is still used throughout Europe. The urn is filled with cold water. Once the water begins to boil, a strong tea is brewed in the stainless teapot that is placed atop the urn. To serve the tea, the strong tea is poured into the cup and diluted with water drawn from a spigot on the urn.

Glass teapots with filters offer added visual appeal in the tea-serving ceremony, along with convenient preparation. Loose-leaf tea is placed in the filter and water is poured into the pot. The filter is then placed on the pot and the tea steeps. Since the filter contains the tea leaves, pouring a leafless cup of tea is very easy.

The French press is another popular method for brewing, steeping, and serving loose-leaf tea in the same pot. The French press also provides great visual appeal at the table.





The abundance of tea accessories retailers can offer to customers can be daunting. What may be perfectly clear and straightforward to you might be slightly confusing for your customers. Take tea infusers as an example. The styles of infusers range from the tea ball to the strainer that sits atop a teacup. The latter is a commonly used method of the English, as well as the preferred method for steeping green teas as the strainer allows the tea leaves to unfurl better than they will if they are placed in a tea ball. Take a step back and try to see things from your customers' points of view, then plan the proper merchandising approach for your tea accessories.

Other notables related to tea include:

Scales: The perfect way to determine the proper amount of tea for brewing.

Thermometer: Proper water temperature is essential for achieving the perfect pot of tea.

Digital Timer: The tea section is another area in which you can promote these indispensable kitchen tools. The digital timer is the perfect device for timing the proper length of time to brew a pot of tea.

Tea Towels: Made of terrycloth or linen, tea towels may be used to wipe up any water that has dripped from the pot or cups.

Tongs: For serving sugar cubes.

Thermal mugs and carafes: For entertaining or on-the-go consumption, thermal carafes and mugs keep tea hot for an extended period of time.

Tea Cozy: To keep the pot of steeping tea warm during service.

Tea Filters: Can include the permanent filter or the convenient disposable teacup and pot filters that are hung by a flap over the side of the cup or the pot, then are easily discarded.

Books: Create a collection of tea books, including The New Tea Lover's Treasury by James Norwood Pratt.

A few simple, explanatory words about the history and lore behind tea accessories will entice customers to purchase — and hopefully inspire them to add to their tea accessory collections as hungrily as they did to their coffee accessories.