About us

You hear the phrase “Mom/Pop” often these days.  I used to naively think it meant more of a “back woods” type of business, but it’s anything but.  It’s a grassroots business that is a true startup—one where there is no franchise support, no committee to go thru before you make a decision, and one where your creativity and natural instincts for what people want and what they don’t want reigns supreme.  So… we are pleased to be a Mom/Pop shop!

And we are even more pleased that folks have grown to love our tea and come back for more of our tea!

Loose leaf tea has been around for over 6,000 years so it certainly isn’t trendy or novel.  Yet, because the tea bag offers convenience, loose leaf tea was shelved for many years.  It may be because there’s a process to steeping.  It may be because it takes a bit more time.  But the experience and enriched flavor of a pot of loose leaf tea makes all the difference.  At least we think so…

When our café was open in downtown Cedar Falls, Iowa, we employed 12 capable and wonderful TEAm members!  Today—we return to our roots and seek to provide exemplary customer service as we are a complete family business once more. My daughter Elizabeth packages all of the tea that is ordered along with organizing our space and keeps the inventory intact. I tend to be the glue that keeps the business moving forward. And Dave keeps us in line… or makes every attempt to do so.  He actually is our Project Guy—if there’s a project, he’s there.  Always has been. 

Our tea comes from plantations all over the world… we work with a gentleman from Darjeeling, India who provides us with Darjeeling and Masala Chai.  Our number one tea for ten years—Honey Almond—comes from the honey bush in South Africa.  Formosa Oolong comes from—where else?—Taiwan.  Fun Fact:  the minute I smelled Formosa Oolong in our “tea testing days”, the memory of my Grandpa (Opa in German) returned!  This was his tea!  This was the tea he taught me to drink as a little girl!  In fact, one of our customers calls it “Grandpa’s Tea” after he heard this story.

We welcome you to continue your tea journey with us.  Make memories.  Slow down.  Enjoy the good things in life.  Like real tea.  Because sometimes it’s the simple things that matter most…