• Q|A Ravi Kroesen

    “The perfect cup of tea is one shared with others.” This quote by legendary tea entrepreneur Steven Smith adorns oak paneling of Smith Teamaker’s new café in Portland, Oregon. It’s a café with a tea twist — the plant-based menu features dishes and snacks infused with the company’s premium tea.

    Listen to the interview:

    Teamaker Ravi Kroesen on Smith Teamaker’s new cafe concept.
    Portland's Smith Teamaker Cafe Photo by Andrew Vanasse
    Portland’s Steven Smith Teamaker Café. Photos by Andrew Vanasse.

    A Plant-based Food Café where Tea Reigns Supreme

    The intent of the new café concept, says Smith’s head teamaker Ravi Kroesen, is to “develop foods that reflect our ethos of plants, as well as utilizing tea as an ingredient.” Culinary Director Karl Holl developed the food menu, at the new café working with Kroesen to develop a menu that includes snacks, lattés, and iced concoctions with full meals that demonstrate how tea and food can live in harmony from leaf to cup to plate.

    Jessica Natale Woollard: Beets roasted in jasmine tea; quinoa cooked in Sencha; croissants filled with peppermint tea-infused chocolate. These all sound divine. What are these culinary delights?

    Ravi Kroesen: These are items we have started offering in our new plant-based café up on Northwest 23rd in Portland, Oregon. The concept is to further being a plant-based company, to further the concept in terms of developing foods that really reflect our ethos of plants, as well as utilizing tea as an ingredient.

    Jessica: What flavor combinations of tea and food delighted you the most?

    Ravi: I like the sheep’s cheese, sourced locally, used to make our white petal cheese. We blended in our white petal tea, a floral, slightly fruity white tea, and it creates this incredible new experience.

    Fat, as you may know, works in this process called enfleurage where it takes on aromas very easily. The fat and the cheese brings in all the flavors you find in drinking the tea, so they’re expressed very cleanly. We use that process in a couple different dishes. There’s one in a bowl that is a delight to eat.

    Interior Smith Teamaker Cafe
    Interior Smith Teamaker Café

    The sheep’s cheese comes from a local partner, Black Sheep Creamery. Karl Holl, our culinary director, was very specific in terms of working with local partners, so chocolate, salt, baked goods, those kinds of things, were specifically sought out to have local partners.

    Jessica: I imagine the process of developing the menu was filled with experimentation in your lab?

    Ravi: Karl spearheaded everything and worked with my team in the Tea Lab to fine tune a lot of the concepts. He already had some of the dishes worked out, but there were some that needed some fine tuning, and with our help — guiding and offering suggestions on how to best achieve the final outcome of a really wonderful dish — we worked together to create a wonderful menu. My team was integral, but certainly Karl is the genius in this whole process and the driver.

    Jessica: You just opened the café a few weeks ago, but can you share what menu item has been a popular choice so far? And what you think it is about that item that’s attracting customers?

    Ravi: We have a turmeric noodle bowl. Turmeric is such a recognizable ingredient; we’ve seen a rise in consumption in turmeric-based teas over the last five years. There is an understanding in the consumer consciousness on a broader scale now for turmeric being a beneficial and healthy ingredient. Leading with turmeric as part of the overall makeup of that noodle dish allows people to immediately get what they’re buying. The popularity of that dish shows that people who are coming to buy food at Smith, as well as drink teas, are health conscious as well as looking for new and exciting experiences.

    • Smith Bowl
    • Smith Iced Teas
    • Garden Sandwich
    • Chai Spiced Morning Bun
    • Turmeric Noodles

    Jessica: What is your personal favorite item on this lovely menu? This is your chance to persuade us all to visit Portland!

    Ravi: I really do like the masala chai spiced cinnamon sugar bun. If you peel off the layers and eat them bit by bit, you’ll experience how well the masala chai is built into that baked good.

    I love to pair the morning bun with our black lavender latté, which is brewed using an espresso machine, or what we like to call a “teaspresso” machine. The machine’s high pressure combined with the heat creates a large amount of dissolved and suspended solids in the brew, which gives a much thicker, richer experience. That was the intention of espresso machines from the beginning, to create this quality of brew that you can’t quite get from brewing in other ways. We use a little bit of oat milk to top off the black lavender latté, and it is such a delight. It pairs so well with the masala chai morning button.

    This interview has been edited and condensed.

    Smith Teamaker Cafe
    Smith Teamaker Café

    Steven Smith Teamaker Café

    The café is located in Portland’s Northwest 23rd district, the same neighborhood where the company was founded in 2009 by the late teamaker Steven Smith.

    ? Jessica Natale Woollard

    Smith Teamaker Logo
    View Cafe Menu

    500 NW 23rd Avenue Portland, OR 97210
    (503) 206-7451

    Open 9am – 5pm daily
    @smithteamaker

    Tasting Room
    (503) 719-8752
    (800) 624-9531

    Email

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  • Q|A Amy Dubin-Nath

    Amy Dubin-Nath sees a bright future for specialty teas originating in India, “but I don’t think it is going to be a quick flip where people are only after high end teas.” Instead, the process will be gradual, following a path similar to fine wine. “Do I want to see the spectacular teas of India keep selling at a high price?” she asks, “Yes, definitely, as that elevates the perceived value, making it something precious. I believe that message should be spread throughout the world — including in India.”

    Listen to the interview:

    Amy Dubin-Nath
    Amy Dubin-Nath

    India’s Spectacular Specialty Teas

    Amy Dubin-Nath established Janam Tea in 2004 to showcase the rich array of teas produced in India, which she experienced firsthand during her self-guided travels. She began developing her palate as a teenager and came to tea appreciation by way of wine and whiskey. In 2005, she opened a tea shop specifically for single-origin Indian teas and in 2016 a tearoom in New York City.

    Dan Bolton: Are single-origin whole and broken leaf teas the future?

    Amy Dubin-Nath: Oh, that is that is such a fantastic question. I love talking about the future of tea. Because everything is possible in the future, right? When it comes to the future of tea, I see a broader range.

    We have tea at every level, the challenge is that we have been exposed as a society to teas of a certain style of a certain grade of a certain color. It creates a certain expectation.  If you like Lipton tea, great, drink it, I’m happy for anybody to drink tea, but there are other styles, there are other places that tea comes from, there’s other experiences that you can have.

    I think the near term future of Indian tea is in the excitement and curiosity around exploring India’s most spectacular teas. I foresee in the next 15 to 20 years, that people will have more facility with the language of tea and clarity around what they’re buying and be intentional about buying and be able to better discern what they want in the grocery store.

    I personally, in my professional experience, do not believe we’re there yet. It’ll take a little bit of time to expand people’s horizons, giving them more choices and some more opportunities to taste fine and specialty teas.

    Dan: The new president of packaged tea at Tata Consumer Products in April introduced a premium tea sold exclusively online and marketed exclusively to India’s domestic consumers. Tata’s 1968 tea in 50g tins sells for between 500 and 1500 rupees ($20 US). The company reports that sales grew by 59.6% in value and 23% in volume from January this year.

    Amy: The thought that one person has only one tea, and they only drink one tea 10 cups a day their whole life definitely does happen, but more and more people want different flavors, just like preferring to wear red one day or yellow another day. You just want novelty.

    However, I don’t know that you can attribute all of that to the desire for tea itself. Sometimes people want the best of the best just because it’s the best. And it doesn’t matter what it is. And sometimes people want something that looks posh, because it’s a really special gift.

    You can have the best, most gorgeous packaging in the world, and the best tea in the world, but that tea and the experience of tea are inextricable.

    Indians know what tea is, they already have a flavor expectation, they already understand what it is, but when it comes to long leaf, loose leaf tea, and whole leaf tea, most of that has been exported to Western countries.

    It’s hard to project success, but 1500 rupees for 50 grams in a handmade, beautiful, gorgeous wrapping, is still a tough sell, even in the highest end retail shopping centres in Delhi and Kolkata.

    Do I want them to keep selling at a high price? Yes, definitely because what it does is it elevates the value the perceived value of Indian tea as something that is precious, and it is and I believe that message should be spread throughout the world and including in India.

    The sustainability of our industry depends on getting consumers to wake up to the fact that tea is precious. The value should come up, the prices should come up so that our industry, as a whole, can come up.

    Dan: Will you discuss the pivot to online by tea retailers and the popularity of suppliers selling direct to consumers and share your expertise in marketing tea.

    Amy: So, to share with you a little bit about what’s happening in India in Assam alone there is something like 100,000 small leaf producers.

    Now there are also several smaller areas, gardens, where people are making tea and making experimental tea and some fantastic stuff.

    Amy Dubin-Nath
    Amy Dubin-Nath sampling a selection of Indian tea.

    People who are producing tea are aware that specialty tea is growing as a concept and that organic tea is growing as a concept. But expecting small growers and small producers to be attuned to the whim and whimsy of Americans in particular, is a pretty big ask.

    I would be very surprised to find producers who are rushing to meet the style demands of Americans. They make what they make and they know that their skill and their craftsmanship go into designing the best flavor, the best style for the leaf at that time, and they are trying to get the best prices for it.

    Aside from Janam Tea, TEAORB is the only outlet that I am aware of for small Indian growers. Their online marketplace and website is called TEAORB Marketplace. The site guarantees their teas to be fresh, and they get it to consumers, as close to direct to the from the producers as possible. It was established in 2016. There really isn’t anything that is perfect, pervasive, government backed, or the work of large organizations willing to step up to promote the teas from small producers.

    So far as I know, in India, TEAORB is ground-breaking. I don’t know of any other marketplace for small growers where you can find hand-rolled teas, dheki (mortar and pestle) teas and phalap (tea of Singphos).

    Tea Orb

    TEAORB Marketplace is a social entrepreneurship startup, working closely with small tea farmers and estates of India by providing a virtual platform in an effort to ensure a fair price for their high quality produce and to uphold the essence of sustainability by addressing real issues affecting people and the environment. ? Founder Jayanta Kakati, former secretary, Guwahati Tea Auction Centre.

    Dan: Tell me about your talk next week at World Tea Expo.

    Amy: This is going to be a very interesting week for me because I’m speaking at the World Tea Expo and the Global Summit for All Things Food, a completely separate show at the MGM Grand a couple days later.

    The World Tea Expo talk is all the things I love about Indian tea Indian tea, I feel has been a little bit underrepresented at World tea Expo, so my goal in going is to share with people how I got into it, how I developed my love for Indian tea over 20 years ago, how and why I changed my life to basically be a de facto brand ambassador for Indian tea in North America.

    People don’t realize they’ve been drinking Indian tea. They think of Indian tea as Masala Chai and are unaware that India produces so many different styles and types and varieties.

    Amy’s talk at World Tea Expo, Las Vegas, is titled: The Wild Expanse of Indian Tea: Hang on to your Tastebuds! at 1 pm Tuesday, June 29. Two days later at the Global Summit for All Things Food, Amy will accept an award as one of the 100 most influential food and beverage professionals.

    This interview has been edited and condensed.

    Bespoke Event Planning
    Janam offers bespoke event planning featuring specialty teas.

    Janam Tea

    Amy is now making plans to open her third business selling Indian tea, a tasting lounge and gift salon in Columbus, Ohio. Amy is a tea curator, host of afternoon tea and a tea educator. She offers staff training and consulting services, introduces fine Indian teas to both corporate and private clients through bespoke events (both social and outcome-driven), and creates custom gifts.

    ? Dan Bolton

    Janam Tea
    Janam Tea
    Meet with Amy

    [email protected]
    800-556-2806

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  • INFUSED Adventures in Tea

    “So I must warn you of two things. Firstly: be careful of drinking good tea; you might get hooked and be unable to stop. If the tea is really good, you might indulge deeply drinking and drinking until your heart feels close to exploding with pleasure and caffeine. Even those habituated to hard drugs and amazing tastes get swept away.

    And secondly: the pleasure might take away your inhibitions. Above and beyond the caffeine, the exquisite beauty of tea can turn your head and rob you of your normal control. Intensely delightful experiences are so out of the ordinary that our response to them can be similarly unexpected.” – Henrietta Lovell (Chapter 13, page 99.)

    Infused by Henrietta Lovell
    Infused by Henrietta Lovell

    A Book to Reignite your Tea Flame

    By Kyle Whittington | Tea Book Club

    Wow! What a book! From start to finish Henrietta had me captivated, excited and enthralled by her world. A tea book unlike most, this is the very personal story of Henrietta’s adventures with tea, in tea, and all around tea. From her first fledgling sips out of dainty China Cups at Diana’s House as a child, we are taken along on a ride of reminiscence. With trips to far flung tea fields swathed in mist via the odd lightning strike or two, we zip off to tea tastings with chefs at some of the best restaurants in the world, accompanied by her little yellow suitcase and strange meetings on trains. To mention but a few of her adventures. 

    The extreme highs of Henrietta’s life in tea (which could otherwise have felt like so much name-dropping) are balanced by her battles with cancer. And yes, she really has been struck down by lightning. The realness and personality of Henrietta and her book comes through in these juxtapositions, making the book expressively and genuinely human. You really feel like you are sitting over a cup of tea with Henrietta as she regales you with her stories, the highs, the lows, and the off on a tangent. Oh, and the recipes! Dotted throughout the book are her teas and recipes, each connected with its own story. 

    This is not a book with sections on different teas, recipes, growing and history like most other tea books. But all this and more is woven throughout the stories that Henrietta tells. Like real life, we learn as we go along, picking up useful tips, ideas, and inspirations. 

    If you ever find yourself in a bit of a tea rut, drinking the same thing every day, then this book is sure to reignite your tea flame and get you trying something new. It certainly did for me. 

    INFUSED Adventures in Tea
    INFUSED Adventures in Tea

    And here is what some of the book club members had to say:

    I opted to get the audio book. It was so fun to hear her voice and her telling the stories. It was like I was there having tea with her!  – Shawn, USA

    It’s about her story and the experiences she has with those teas, and with these people. It absolutely gets you excited and interested in all these teas.  – Nadine, UK

    She makes it all sound so delicious. – Alison, UK

    I really enjoyed it, Henrietta is such a storyteller. I could hear more of her stories any day, she is just a very interesting character.  – Laura, UK

    I think it was very brave of her to share that part of her life, about her illnesses, that wasn’t easy. And she shared how it was in the beginning of her company and how it has transformed to what it is today. It’s really inspiring. – Kristine, Sweden.

    I like the way that she makes it fun as well. What she’s doing is a really noble cause, but she doesn’t make it heavy or preachy. It’s more a joyful experience and trying to celebrate and have joy. – Tran, UK

    Made me want to try different teas again. – Saunders, UK

    I really liked when she wrote about Malawi Antlers. As I grow tea myself, I have to try this; Swedish Antlers.  – Greta, Sweden

    Usually I’m not interested in blends, and I found it fascinating. The way she talks about how she creates these different blends for different chefs and different foods. With her little yellow bag. – Nadine, UK

    I connected a lot with this book. – Sean, USA

    When I read her book, I thought I would like to write my own stories or adventures with tea. – Brigette, Canada.

    If you’d like to join us for next read, visit teabookclub.org or @joinTeaBookClub on Instagram. 

    Henrietta Lovell
    Rare Tea Lady Henrietta Lovell

    Rare Tea Co.

    Henrietta Lovell is perhaps best known as the Rare Tea Lady, after her company “Rare Tea Co.” rareteacompany.com. Sourcing directly from farmers since the very beginning Henrietta has traveled the world and searching for rare and precious harvests of teas and tisanes. Her quest has taken her on many adventures, from the far flung and bizarre to those closer to home. She has worked with some of the most prestigious restaurants and hotels around the world, pairing teas and creating bespoke blends. Henrietta founded Rare Charity, which works to bring educational opportunity to young people in tea growing areas.

    — Kyle Whittington

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  • Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 21

    Tea Biz Podcast Logo

    Hear the Headlines

    | Inflation Dampens Enthusiasm Over Rising Tea Prices
    | India’s Tea Industry Under Duress
    | European Union Grants Rooibos GI Protection

    Tea Price Report

    While lockdowns continue, tea auctions in India resumed last week at all the major centers. In the Nilgiris, discussions on whether bought leaf factories can open are still underway.
    Read more…

    Features

    Tea Biz this week travels to Frankfurt Germany to discuss best practices in sustainable wholesale with Jan Holzapfel, owner of Ronnefeldt Tea, a 198-year-old company that is replacing its tea packaging this year with eco-friendly materials, embracing traceability, and reducing emissions by longer air freighting tea.

    … and then to London where Tea Biz Reviewer Kyle Whittington has a single word for INFUSED, a book by Rare Tea Founder Henrietta Lovell that describes her adventures in tea: “Wow,” he writes, “You really feel like you are sitting over a cup of tea with Henrietta as she regales you with her stories, the highs, the lows, and the off on a tangent.”

    Jan-Berend Holzapfel
    Jan-Berend Holzapfel, owners Ronnefeldt Tea

    Sustainable Wholesale

    Sustainable best practices at tea gardens are well established, but the rest of the supply chain offers significant opportunities to protect and conserve resources. Listen to the latest Tea Biz Newsmaker Q|A as Jan-Berend Holzapfel, owner of Germany’s Ronnefeldt Tea, discusses sustainable wholesale.

    Read more…

    Henrietta Lovell
    Rare Tea Lady Henrietta Lovell

    A Book to Re-ignite your Tea Flame

    You really feel like you are sitting over a cup of tea with Henrietta

    By Kyle Whittington | Tea Book Club

    Infused Adventures in Tea

    Wow! What a book! From start to finish Henrietta had me captivated, excited and enthralled by her world. A Tea Book unlike most, this is the very personal story of Henrietta’s adventures with tea in tea and all around tea. From her first fledgling sips out of dainty China Cups at Diana’s House as a child, we are taken along on a ride of reminiscence. With trips to far flung tea fields swathed in mist via the odd lightning strike or two we zip off to tea tastings with chefs at some of the best restaurants in the world, accompanied by her little yellow suitcase and strange meetings on trains. To name to mention but a few of her adventures. 

    Read more…

    Food Inflation
    Food Inflation

    Food Inflation Dampens Enthusiasm Over Rising Tea Prices

    By Dan Bolton

    In the US and Asia, an energetic post-pandemic recovery is underway. Demand is quickly rebounding as consumers spend down their savings and make up for the lost time. Consumers in the largest economies amassed $2.9 trillion in savings since March 2020, according to Bloomberg Economics.

    Now they are eager to spend.

    Retail sales in the US are projected to approach $4.5 trillion in 2021, according to the National Retail Federation. The NRF, which initially estimated 6.5% growth, increased its full-year GDP projection to 7%, the fastest rate in decades. In China, household income grew 13.7% during the first quarter of 2021.

    Widespread inflation is dampening that good news.

    The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reports inflation in member countries is at the highest level since 2008. Globally, food prices rose for the 12th consecutive month in May, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. The FAO’s Food Price Index was 40% higher in May 2021 when compared to May 2020. The Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index, which tracks price changes across a range of metals and agricultural commodities, has jumped roughly 60% in the past 12 months.

    Food prices, including the cost of tea, are rising on demand. Tata Consumer Products, Nestlé and Unilever all announced price increases across their ranges in response to commodity inflation.

    Rooibos plants
    Rooibos Plants, South Africa

    EU Grants Rooibos GI Protection

    The European Union this week awarded Rooibos, which is also known as Red Bush tea, status as a protected geographic indication affording the same protection to products such as champagne and Irish Whiskey.

    The registration allows South Africa’s Rooibos industry to display the EU Seal if the tea consists of 100% Rooibos that is either cultivated or wild-harvested from local municipalities of the Western and North Cape provinces.

    The South African Rooibos Council welcomed the news. Council Chairperson Marin Bergh said that while it is important that nobody else use the name Rooibos “it also gives a certain status about quality, reliability, and sustainability – all those things that go together with a GI.”

    India’s Tea Industry Under Duress

    While the peak of the horrific second wave has passed, India’s tea industry remains under duress as the coronavirus simultaneously strikes down workers, limits plucking and processing, halts inter-district transport, and forces the early-day closure of restaurants and beverage stalls.

    The government estimates more than one million workers, mainly women, are losing productive days and wages due to the pandemic and inclement weather with the arriving monsoons.

    The delivery of 235,000 doses of vaccine this week halted a steep increase in Coronavirus caseloads in Assam’s tea gardens. Daily average infections in June are now 4,000 per week, down from almost 6,000 per week in May. Positivity rates remain high, forcing an extension through June 16 of lockdowns and a daily curfew from 1 pm through 5 am. Shops and restaurants must close by noon and inter-district transport is prohibited. The state reported 450,000 cases and 3,600 deaths. The seven-day average for new cases is 7,400 in West Bengal and 9,000 in Kerala.

    India reported fewer than 100,000 cases for a fifth day and while daily death totals are high at 4,000, this average is expected to decline as the drop in new cases continues. During the peak of the spring infections, from April 1 to May 6, India recorded 926,000 news with a positivity test of 26%. Testing continues at the same pace, but positivity has declined to an average 4%. Active cases are now at 1 million, according to the Union Health Ministry.

    Buyers at auction are finding it difficult to arrange for transport despite the fact tea is listed as an essential commodity. Drivers are in short supply and enforcement of restrictions that prohibit inter-district transport is inconsistent. The immediate impact is a spike in retail prices above records set in 2020. Buyers at auction are spending an average of INRs211 per kilogram in Assam and INRs125 per kilo in Tamil Nadu.

    Biz Insight – There is no slack in demand for tea. Tata Consumer Products reports that revenue from its beverage segment (which includes coffee) grew by 59.6% during the period January-March 2021. Volume was up 23% largely due to an increase in at-home consumption. India’s packaged tea market is estimated at $2.26 billion. An additional $1.3 billion is spent on tea from unbranded suppliers, according to ICICI Securities.

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  • Q|A Jan Holzapfel

    First-flush teas flown to J.T. Ronnefeldt Tea’s blending and packaging facility in Frankfurt Germany account for only 0.02% of the company’s offerings by weight, yet in a single season “flight tea” generates more greenhouse gas emissions than the millions of kilos transported by ship, says owner Jan Holzapfel. He acknowledges that for a premium tea supplier, abandoning expedient air cargo after 75 years is a significant step: “however, we have a responsibility towards nature that we take very seriously.”

    Ronnefeldt Mood Tea

    Sustainable Wholesale

    Sustainable best practices in the tea gardens are well established and often third-party certified. The tea supply chain links that follow also offer significant opportunities to protect the environment and conserve energy resources. Costs vary by origin and distance to market but middlemen add 20% or more to the cost of delivering tea to retail. Jan Holzapfel, the owner of 198-year-old J. T. Ronnefeldt Tea, has for five years published a sustainability report that clearly states the company’s goals and measures progress toward achieving these initiatives. In 2021 Ronnefeldt is replacing its tea packaging with eco-friendly Teavelopes, embracing traceability, and reducing emissions by no longer air freighting tea.

    Dan Bolton: Ronnefeldt eliminated air cargo in favor of sea transport and will complete its conversion to sustainable packaging materials by year-end. The company is also trading some of its gas-powered vehicles for electric and hybrid-powered vehicles. Will you share with listeners your vision of sustainable wholesale in tea.

    Jan-Berend Holzapfel: Tea is one of the most natural products that you can find on earth. So we as tea producers and tea suppliers must do everything we can to ensure that we continue to have great teas from around the world.

    It is a tradition to have the first flush season teas from Darjeeling transported by air to Germany and Europe, but we stopped this year. Anybody out there waiting for his first flush will have to wait maybe six or eight weeks longer than normal.

    We want to make sure that we get the tea here in an as environmentally friendly way as possible. That is the reason why we have stopped air cargo completely.

    I think it is the right thing to do.

    Another of the many, many steps that we have taken is to eliminate all the traditional packaging materials. We are well on the way to meeting our 2021 goal of fully sustainable packaging materials.

    Teavelope made of sustainable materials
    A Ronnefeldt Teavelope made of sustainable materials.

    It’s not that easy I have to say. Supply is always an issue.  

    We want safe and customer-friendly packaged material, of course, our team has been doing great work here and found all the different packaging materials that we need so that all will be sustainable by the end of this year. 

    For the last five years, we have been publishing our Sustainability Report to show our commitment to sustainability along the entire supply chain from cultivation and transport to refining, packaging, and shipping.

    Here are the company’s five sustainability goals at a glance:

    • 100% sustainable packaging materials
    • Increase training hours per employee
    • Procure tea from small plantations
    • Increase share of organic teas on offer
    • Transition to electric, hybrid, or fuel cell vehicles

    Dan: You mention that Ronnefeldt is also increasing the proportion of organic tea in its range.

    Jan: We are not an organic company yet, but we try to increase our tea selection in our organic range on a constant basis. The good thing is that tea gardens in Asia, but also in Africa, are turning to organic manufacturing methods and therefore we find more and more selection of organic teas. And we are happy to put them Into our range.

    As far as we can see our customer side really appreciates organic, it’s a small proportion of the market, but it’s growing, especially with the younger people.

    Dan: What is your view on traceability and public disclosure of source gardens?

    Jan: I think it’s a very good idea. We see that a lot of customers are really keen and really interested in finding out where the tea is coming from, how it has been produced, how it can be used, and sometimes they are even interested in corporate social responsibility programs at these tea gardens. We are looking for a way to put traceability information online. I think that is the best way because sometimes tea gardens and supplies are changing quite often during the year. If we do it, for example with a QR code and website so that we can really provide up-to-date information about all the specific teas that are available.

    One thing we are also trying is to promote new tea growing areas. 

    There are some fantastic teas from New Zealand, Columbia, Mozambique, Korea, you name it and we are really trying to promote them and help them to grow so that we don’t have to rely on the big tea-producing countries in the future. 

    Dan: Will you discuss your commitment to education and the return to face-to-face instruction beginning in July.

    Jan: Quite often you find that service people in the hotel business all know how to handle the coffee machine, which is quite easy. They might be very interested in wines and make perfect recommendations, but tea seems to be a little bit more difficult. So we have set up different levels of education depending on the outlet, the style of the restaurant, or the cafe in the hotel. 

    We provide anything from a quick 40-minute training with the iPhone or Google app, or up to two days with our team. The gold standard is our seven-day trip to the tea gardens in Sri Lanka.

    We are very happy that we are going to restart face-to-face training in July after the lockdowns. It has been a really, really long time. We can educate about tea, but one key element is really tasting the tea and the interaction with instructors and peers. That is something which can really be only done face to face. 

    Dan: Ronnefeldt supplies upscale hotels in more than 80 countries. How is the recovery progressing?

    Jan: We already see a lot of hotels booking our training programs, our education programs. Before the pandemic, we trained 7,000 hotel staff members each year and that is where we want to come back to as soon as possible. 

    We have seen that since January and February business is picking up in hotels and restaurants in Asia, for example, in China, Korea, and Japan. These are now hot markets for us, but there’s one issue — it’s local tourism now, so it’s the Koreans visiting Korean hotels. There is no international tourism yet.

    In the Middle East hotels are starting to be filled up, but again, it’s local tourists. Europe got a late start. We see restaurants, cafes, etc., being filled up since May but again, international tourists, for example from China or from the United States, are still not here.

    I’m optimistic. I think that tourism will return in summer, maybe early fall. 

    We already see that the hotels in the countryside, real tourist destinations, are already filled every weekend here in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

    What will take much longer is business travel to trade shows, conferences, etc., which might take until next year. City destinations still have a lot of capacity to fill.

    Ronnefeldt Tea Academy
    Ronnefeldt Tea Academy

    Ronnefeldt TeaAcademy®

    There are more than 20,000 graduates of the Ronnefeldt TeaAcademy® a program established in 2000 to increase the number of tea experts among beverage professionals so that they can offer the best service for their restaurant or hotel.

    Frank Holzapfel, who created the academy, wrote at the time that “High-quality tea alone is not enough, the tea needs the right preparation, the perfect handling, and the creative staging on-site in the hotel and restaurant by competent and trained employees.”

    Taught in Frankfurt, the two-day Silver-level training is for junior managers in food and beverage with at least one year of professional experience. Apply in writing using the link below and Ronnefeldt will confirm your eligibility in a personal interview.

    Ronnefeldt TeaMaster® Silver certificate holders seeking to bring their tea expertise to perfection may apply for an in-depth seven-day immersion at origin in Sri Lanka. The gold-level program is designed not only to build skills and master techniques but also to achieve a higher level of personal development with individual coaching. Graduates are certified as TeaMasters.

    ? Dan Bolton

    Bernard-Maria Lotz

    TeaAcademy® Head Bernhard-Maria Lotz

    Apply

    TeaAcademy® “graduates” are true tea experts who can answer any question your guests may have on the topic of tea. The exciting training courses teach practical skills and are designed to be fun.

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