INTRO

I first learned about Onyx coffee when I was on the hunt for a coffee advent calendar. Throughout the years, I’ve tried different coffees to try to get a taste for it but it’s not really my thing so I stick to tea. My partner however loves coffee. While he does drink tea with me and enjoys it, he prefers to start his day with coffee.

On the hunt for a coffee advent calendar in 2020, I cam across Onyx on Instagram. I liked the way they described their coffees and the information they gave about the beans. This is something I look at when I’m purchasing teas as well. There is also a story behind each coffee as well as impeccable branding. I was sold and purchased a sampler that my partner could use like an advent calendar, he raved about the coffee!

Fast forward to 2022, I started seeing Onyx post about tea! I got so excited because I felt as though this was a company doing everything right with coffee so they would probably be doing the same with tea. Something that I always find interesting is how when I meet people who only drink coffee, they think tea is “complicated” but in reality, a coffee enthusiast is looking for similar things when searching for good coffee that a tea drinker is!

INTERVIEW

After reaching out, I was put in touch with Ivana who is the Director Of E-Commerce and worked on the tea curation. We ended up doing a product swap which was really fun and I thought I would share more about her!

1. Can you introduce yourself and Onyx Coffee Lab?

Hello! I'm Ivana Chan, and I'm currently the Director of E-Commerce at Onyx Coffee Lab. I started as a barista at Onyx just wanting to learn all about coffee, coffee service and the overall supply chain, but I previously worked in corporate marketing and advertising for many years. Since 2020, I've had the opportunity to work on the e-commerce side of the business and some other projects including the curation and start of our tea program!

Onyx is a team of specialty coffee roasters seeking truth, quality and accountability in coffee. This translates to journeying around the world to find the finest and most unique coffee offerings, setting a high bar for quality from roasting to the final cup, and being responsible and committed in trade relationships with producing partners. Additionally, Onyx has always been very active in the coffee competition world, which keeps our team at the top of their performance across service, education and hospitality. Recently, Onyx has begun sourcing cacao and specialty tea, and it has led to new Terroir chocolate offerings and Onyx Tea offerings.

2. What does your daily tea & coffee ritual look like?

My day always starts with a coffee pour over using a Kalita Wave dripper. It's become a daily ritual that helps me frame my morning with positivity and gratitude. The manual elements of measuring, grinding, timing and pouring brings me peace of mind. In the afternoon, however, I turn to tea. I love that steeping tea can be less methodical. Tea time is a soothing reprieve from the work day to enjoy a fragrant, comforting cup.

3. There are so many wonderful teas and herbals out there, how did you decide on the selection that Onyx currently offers?

We wanted to offer a range of teas in the spirit of the "Traditional to Modern" scale (we use to describe coffee roasting levels/styles) with the hope that anyone can enjoy one of the Onyx tea offerings. Thinking through that and my own tea experiences as a Chinese-American person, I thought the Rose and Chrysanthemum herbal/tisane offerings could be a fun caffeine-free "modern" experience, while the Earl Grey tea might be considered more "traditional." The Sedogawa Sencha is a very umami-forward green tea experience, while the Ma Wei Moonlight white tea is simple, sweet and approachable. To me, the Long Kou Champagne is a beautiful expression of oolong tea at a 65% oxidation process with a great bouquet. I see it as somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

4. Do you have a favorite among the tea offerings?

Gosh, I find myself craving each tea on different days and at different times frequently, but I always recommend the Ma Wei Moonlight as a "must try" to my friends and family. It's super sweet and delightful, and it is an exceptional tea to share with someone through multiple steeps.

5. Something that really stood out to me was the packaging colors, not only are they beautiful but I feel that they really capture the vibe for the teas. Is this the goal?

Thank you! Jon Allen, our co-founder, and Jeremy Teff, our lead-designer are responsible for the overall brand & packaging design. The colors are definitely inspired by each tea, and the multi-color combinations are really fun and reflective of each offering inside.

6. Are there plans to expand the tea offerings in the near future?

Yes, we are planning to release some limited tea lot offerings and expand our current "staple" tea catalog, as well.

7. Anything about the current or future collection of tea that you want to share?

We're really excited to be offering specialty tea and highlighting tea producers in general. We hope you and others will enjoy the new tea offerings in the future!

THE TEAS

As a coffee lab that does a great job sourcing coffee, I can tell this has transferred over to their teas as well! I’m not super picky when it comes to teas but I can tell that they have some great choices and the quality is clear, I really enjoyed this collection and am excited to see what other teas they release!

The Chrysanthemum and rose are such lovely choices for the collection. I grew up enjoying rose in many things from food to tea and then later on my tea journey I discovered Chrysanthemum too. I have been enjoying these two flowers before bed! I like them alone but I also love to mix them together to brew them.

The moonlight white is my favorite tea of the collection! I discovered this tea a couple years back when I was starting to drink more white teas and fell in love! The Onyx moonlight white has a lovely aroma of honey that translates into a sweet liquor for the tea. It’s a light treat that is lovely hot but I bet would also make a great cold brew. I would love to try kouridashi with this tea, I think it would be interesting to see how the large leaves do with the ice.

Another treat in this collection is the Long Kou Champagne oolong. This is an oolong that you might have also seen be referred to as white tip or Bai Hao. You all probably know that I am an oolong lover so this tea was delicious. I felt as though it was a bit more floral that some of the other versions I have in my tea collection which was a welcome surprise because I love floral teas!

A classic Earl Grey! Or is it?! This tea is a staple for most tea drinkers and most tea drinkers have probably enjoyed many versions of this tea. What was so interesting about this tea was that the base of the tea is a dianhong! I thought that was a very interesting choice and it worked wonderfully for the flavor. This earl grey is also very aromatic. There are strong notes of grapefruit which I thought was a lovely aroma to take in while drinking. I did enjoy this plain but I also made a cocktail with it!

The Sencha is the one tea in the collection I haven’t tried yet but I have taken in the aroma a lot! I have less to compare it to since I don’t drink a ton of green tea but It is reminiscent of savory vegetables. I think as it gets hotter I will ice brew this to enjoy :)