So, trying to get this tea business to be my main driver of income for the first year has had its share of challenges. Fortunately, I’ve found solutions to many of them, and frankly, the larger ones are more inherent to my business model. I am optimistic going forward.
If I place myself in the customer’s position – I start to disagree with the way I’m doing things. Perhaps the current model I have could work one day (if and when this shop becomes reputable and respected), but currently, since I have no reputation except by those I’ve served (whom alas, are a very small amount of people), perhaps it isn’t very friendly to newcomers.
One of the biggest changes I have planned for the start of the 2021 season is the arrival of ‘by the pot’ servings with instructions. This way someone doesn’t have to commit $40+ into a tea which they are unfamiliar with by buying it in a larger volume. In the same vein of ‘by the pot’ offerings, I will design curated sets of tea to teach history, aid meditation, cha dao, etc. With these by the pot offerings, I’d like to attempt to get into more retail shops and cafe’s. If you have any place’s in mind you think might be a good fit to carry my tea, I’d love to hear about it.
Frankly, packaging these sets is a pain in the ass, but again – if I ask myself ‘what do I want out of a tea purchase’ especially when traversing new (and perhaps untrusted) ground, it’s the chance to try as many things as possible for as low of a cost as possible. Once I know what I like, I can always go back.
It’s mostly with that concept in mind that I’d like to structure my offerings now. It was perhaps slightly naive of me to think that I could easily sell something like jin jun mei for 160 a jar to someone who has never had it.
I’d like to remind everyone that I’m working at Carino in Mission, every Wednesday and Friday (perhaps more days in the future, but those for now) and that any tea I have for sale (and a lot that I don’t) are on the tea list offered while I’m working there. So you can come to get some great food and try a great tea or two as well. You could even explore the concept of tea pairing. I’ve got a couple of really good things going on there pairing-wise.
Lastly at La Table Haute Pastry in Airdrie, Eric is selling some of my teas and giving away samples of a really awesome black tea to people buying things like pain au chocolat, though as of this video I don’t know how much he has left. Bye for now!
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