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Ever since those crates of tea were infamously thrown into Boston Harbor, it's been tough to get a good cup of tea in this country. In fairness, those colonial revolutionaries had good cause -- taxation without representation and all that, but couldn't they have chosen a different commodity? After all, tea is one of the most civilized of beverages, carrying with it the traditions of many different cultures and enough variety to suit any taste. Tea is a welcome friend throughout the day, as a bracer in the morning or a calming restorative in the afternoon and evening. Tea also pairs well with food, either as an accompanying beverage or even as an ingredient, and its healthful properties have been much extolled of late, further adding to its mystique and subsequent allure. Centuries of international trade and marketing have resulted in unique graphics, packaging, and accouterments that appeal to our retro-loving modern culture. One can say nothing bad about tea, and yet in a nation of coffee drinkers, tea has received short shrift, both in its serving and in its merchandising. Even in some of our finest hotels, it can be difficult to purchase a properly brewed cup of tea, not to mention having to choose from the often less than inspiring selection available. One can still find restaurants that describe every nuance of ingredients on the menu, have forged relationships with local producers, and feature wine lists to rival the caves of Taillevent, and yet upon ordering tea, one is served a pitcher of tepid water and a generic tea bag, the contents of which have more in common with the stuffing of your favorite teddy bear than the flavorful processed leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Many retailers fail at tea merchandising too, allowing dust-covered boxes to languish on the shelves and instead lending all of their attention to their coffee selection. But now the tide of tea is rising in America and retailers and restaurateurs alike need to rethink how they sell, select, and serve this noble and aristocratic brew.

Put the Kettle On
Of course, many retailers and foodservice operators do get it, and tea cognoscenti are increasing in numbers due in large part to the recent trumpeting of tea's healthful benefits. Tea -- both black and green versions -- has been shown to possess extremely high amounts of antioxidants, higher in fact than almost any other food. Green tea naturally contains more of these disease-prohibiting, age-defying agents simply because it is not oxidized during the processing, and while black teas contain less due to their method of production, they nonetheless have significant amounts. So for the antioxidants alone, we should all be consuming a few cups of tea every day. Even if java is your customers' brew of choice in the morning, suggest they try having a pot of green tea or a soothing and delicious oolong in the afternoon. Also, make sure your customers are aware of tea's tonic capabilities as well. It will be good for them and for your tea sales.
Brewing tea is perhaps the simplest recipe you'll ever encounter, as it calls for only two ingredients -- tea (either loose leaf or tea bag) and hot water. The instructions are equally simple, although two steps are often misunderstood or missed altogether. First, the water needs to be quite hot. For the best results, the water should be freshly boiled. Now, one could argue that not all tea types should be steeped in boiling water. Green teas, for example, should ideally be brewed in water that is well below the boiling point, from 165 to 190° F (at sea level, water boils at 212° F), whereas black teas are best when the water is heated to 205° F, which is still lower than the boiling point. For most of us though, the idea of brewing at exact temperatures is highly impractical, even at home where one can stand and watch the kettle. Also, although it may not be perfectly correct, you won't ruin either a green tea's taste or its healthful benefits by brewing it in boiling water, and anyway, efforts would be better spent monitoring the brewing time (around three minutes for green tea and about five for black).
Another important consideration is how you heat the water used for tea brewing. In far too many situations, the water is drawn off of a coffee-brewing machine. This would be fine except that the water temperature on most of these machines isn't set high enough to properly brew the leaves, especially in the case of black tea. Also, depending upon how much tea you serve, if you leave the water sitting in the tank all day, it can end up tasting stale. That is because it has lost most of its oxygen (yes, that's right, oxygen. How do you think fish breathe?). Ideally, you should boil the water to order. This can be done with an electric kettle that will bring the water to a boil in about a minute or two. Today, several excellent brands of kettles in different styles and price ranges, cordless or not are on the market. Contingent upon how frequently you serve tea, you can have as many kettles as necessary. Another way is to simply adjust your coffee urn so that the water is hot enough for tea, or have a separate heating tank just for heating up water for tea. Whichever method you choose, try testing the actual temperature of the water dispensed to gauge its accuracy.
An important step that is frequently omitted is preheating the pot or cup in which the tea is to be brewed. No matter how hot the water is, if you pour it into a cold cup or teapot, the temperature will plummet, and sort of like throwing too many fish into the fryer, the result is a bit insipid. Always use a bit of hot water to heat the pot or individual cup. Rinse it around, feeling with your hands when the vessel is warm enough, and then toss out that water, add the tea, and then pour in fresh hot water. True, it's not as quick or as easy as pulling the spigot and filling a cup with coffee, but if you want to attract tea drinkers, this little bit of extra effort will pay off. Also, when using electric kettles, make sure you add fresh water each time rather than just reboiling the leftover water. Once again, by boiling out all or most of the oxygen in the water, you will diminish the flavor of the brew.
Certainly, all of this is for naught if you are using bad or stale-tasting water. Make sure the water you are using is pure, either spring water or that derived from a filtering system, a more practical choice for commercial use. You are no doubt already using filtered water for brewing coffee, and if you aren't, you should be. Such caution is not necessarily because anything is wrong with your water supply, but because too many minerals and other impurities can affect the flavor of the tea or coffee. As a rule of thumb, next to the tea itself the water is the most important consideration in the brew. The Chinese, for example, take the quality of their water very seriously. According to The Oxford Companion to Food, the same character is used in Cantonese slang for both water and money, and many references abound alluding to the importance of water, especially as pertains to its purity and healthfulness. In this regard, it might be wise to heed the musings of the culture that gave the world tea in the first place.

It's in the Bag
A highly contentious matter among tea connoisseurs is the debate for and against the employment of tea bags. We've all heard the disparaging stories about tea bags filled with the tea dust that is swept up off of the floor each night, and many staunch tea drinkers insist that good tea can only be made from loose-leaf tea. Today, this is largely untrue, and the convenience of being able to brew a single cup of tea outweighs any drawbacks that tea bags may or may not have. The quality of the tea in tea bags now is extremely high. All one has to do is examine a tea bag from a reputable tea company to determine the quality and size of the tea leaves within. Many tea blenders in our industry today have scrutinized every facet of the tea bag and its function, including the leaves' quality, the type of paper or cloth used, the packaging used to keep the tea fresh, and even the means by which the bag is to be removed from the cup. Tea bags have an added advantage in that they completely remove the act of measuring from the server. This is a real bonus when you have high turnover behind the serving counter and as a result, you don't always have time to thoroughly train every employee in the art of serving tea.
Another evolution in tea bags is in the selection available. One's choice of tea used to be rather limiting if one was going to use a tea bag. But that is certainly not true anymore. As the overall selection of teas and tea blends has grown over the years, so too has the choice in tea bags. Most manufacturers offer all their teas in both loose-leaf and tea bags, and the consumer is assured of enjoying the same quality tea no matter which type they choose. One good rule of thumb would be to use bags for individual cups of tea and loose leaf for brewing by the pot, but by all means offer both for sale on the shelves.

Tea on the Shelves
Whether you are simply selling teas at retail or offering tea service, don't do it as an afterthought. Your selection and service in the tea department should be as well planned as that of any department in the store. For packaged teas, allow for a section of shelving that may be easily seen, and more importantly, read. Hone your selection so that you really know what teas you are selling. If customers are continually met with "I don't know, I haven't tried that one" every time they ask a question, they will either go back to Lipton's or seek out another establishment in which to purchase their tea. Every day, set out a different tea for tasting and try to have samples on hand to brew up for inquisitive buyers. At Upton Teas, a mail order retailer in Massachusetts, they routinely include small sample packets of loose tea when they ship orders to expose people to new kinds of tea. You can replicate this in the store. Each week, assemble packets of a particular tea that you wish to feature and give one to everyone who makes a tea purchase. Be sure to include the name and price of the tea.
"We give samples to anyone who's not sure when they are selecting tea," says R.D. Bird, owner of the British Pantry in Tecumseh, Michigan. "We also have descriptions on our menu of every type of tea offered."
The challenge you must overcome when displaying loose-leaf tea is that light and heat are the enemies of fine tea, and yet you want the tea to be seen and appreciated. The solution is to store them in small glass jars that will hold a sufficient quantity of tea so customers will be able to see and sniff the leaves, and hold the rest of the tea in airtight, opaque containers where it is safely sealed away against light and odors. Some tea retailers simply use spice racks for this purpose or have something custom made. Use signage to explain as much about the tea as possible, such as where it is grown, what a blend might contain, descriptions of the taste and body, and any bit of romance or lore thrown in that you can discover. Make it look like you are seriously in the tea business even if you carry a small selection, and if you do have a small selection, make sure it's a good one.

An Air of Civility
For many tea drinkers, tea is more than simply a beverage and is really more of a lifestyle and even a state of mind. For the past decade, the rise in specialty teas" has been attributed mainly to people who already drank tea but were upgrading from generic tea bags to finer tea blends. A whole new generation of tea drinkers, younger people for whom tea is a healthy option amid caffeine-crazed campuses and the workplace, is coming up however. Tea drinkers tend to appreciate the apparatus that naturally accompanies the tea service -- teacups, teapots, infusers, caddies, and books about tea. Provide a venue for all of this -- both in tea service at the coffee bar or café -- and in full- and self-service retail sales.
"It's all about atmosphere," insists Bird, "just sitting in a nice place with nice china, strainers, and good service. It's about being relaxed and a little bit pampered. It's civilized."
Whether or not you are able to offer tea service or you only sell tea at retail, try to create an atmosphere that speaks tea, and cross-merchandise in order to capitalize on the whole tea spectrum. At Mrs. Ticklemore's, the tea room inside of West Point Market in Akron, Ohio, teapots, cups and saucers, and other tea accouterments are handsomely but subtly displayed in a case at the sales counter, behind which are the containers of their various blends. Don't forget to stock other tea-related items like tea towels, books on tea, and a myriad of infusers, cozies, and tea bag receptacles.
The tea wave is only beginning. Taste alone will sway many people over to the delights of tea, and as the health issues continue to make themselves known to the general public, it will doubtless increase even more. It is doubtful that tea will ever put a serious dent in America's coffee business, but by positioning your store as a tea-buying haven, you can rally the tea drinkers in your community and become a destination tea source. The sales of specialty teas and accompaniments can be a nice addition to your coffee sales. How civilized.