Keeping up with the Linvers’

Here’s what’s new:
1) Part time job at Carino
2) Sommerier Tea Selections finally stocked with everything it needs to succeed, no more excuses!
3) High Tea and Catering Events taking off
4) Possibility to add Darjeelings to the tea collection
5) Hiking and drinking tea in the mountains
6) Possibility to team up with Sought x Found Coffee Roasters

1) So as very few of you know, I took a part time job for Friday’s and Saturday’s at a restaurant called Carino. It’s a Japanese and Italian fusion restaurant, very different from the level of service I am used to providing and demanding a lot more thinking and organization than I am used to doing — but I’m adapting. I learned I’m actually a pretty shit server and that I have a lot to work on to get better. Fortunately I have identified what I need to do, and I’ve had some success with working on my issues. Also.. the customers expectation of what I am there to provide is set at an extremely low bar. In that regard I’ve had some fun nights. I know that I told many of you who might be reading this that I’ll keep you up to speed on where I’m at — I have my reasons for keeping quiet about this. I think you expect me to be good — let me get good before I let you see me again. It’s just a matter of time.

2) On the sommerier tea selections front, I’ve had a mental barricade that I couldn’t succeed until I established a ‘brand’ — as good as my tea has been, and as much as I can wax poetic about it, selling an aluminum bag of tea with its name sharpie’d on it … really held me back … I think. I decided to put some money into branding and had boxes and jars created with a fun, eye catching, and very personally appealing design. I am pumped to get these out there in the world.

3) I’ve been fortunate that with Sean and Nick at ‘Evoke’ we’ve had a few events together. On my end it still only amounts to 1 event per month, but I feel a lot of buzzing in the air. Especially going into the holiday season, I am hopeful that we’ll be quite busy. The high tea side of things has been interesting. I should post some pictures. So fancy.

4) Some of you who know my recent history with tea would know my goal with getting deeper into Darjeeling fell flat. I joined a facebook group which connected me with a couple promising people in India. Once I have some free income to add to my shop, I think I’ll try to pull in a few world class Darjeelings (if they actually exist).

5) Throughout my life I’ve had tea in the mountains only a handful of times. Most recently I discovered an incredibly easy hike with a wonderful ambiance at the end. It’s called Troll Falls in Kananaskis. The upper falls have a little platform with easy access to water rolling over yellow rocks (if you’ve read my primer on water, yellow rocks indicate a high quality water source in the world of tea). After doing the hike just as the trees were starting to become yellow, I thought it would be a great opportunity to show people the ‘tea in the mountains’ vibe about a week after when the trees are yellower. I’m sure it will be an amazing experience for anyone who would join me. I plan to be set up to make tea on October 3rd (Sunday) at the Upper falls from 2pm-5pm. I’d love to see you!

6) I had a very positive meeting (at least I felt so) with a cafe called Sought x Found. I really like their coffee and would be honored to be supplying their tea (at least in part). People have come to expect great things from coffee in Calgary because of cafes like this, and perhaps it’s time for people to feel the same about tea. Here’s hoping it works out.