Retailer Spotlight: The Tea Girl

I’m excited to share another retailer with you! You can now find a selection of Tea Thoughts goodies at The Tea Girl! Read below to learn more about Sarah and her shop!

Can you introduce yourself and The Tea Girl? 

 Hello Tea Friends, my name is Sarah, but my friends know me as Sarah Teagirl! I have had this moniker for at least 15 years, much longer than the brand itself. Through The Tea Girl I create and flavour my own tea blends to sell online on my website, theteagirl.com, plus through local cafes and restaurants. Fun Fact, my license plate on my car was personalized as TEAGIRL long before my store was branded this way.

When was your first experience with tea?

When I was young, my family would visit my Grandma every summer. She always had an old Corningware tea pot, in which she would put at least three tea bags of Twinning’s Earl Grey. She would drink her tea black in a Corelle Livingware tea cup, along with a Rusty Nail cocktail from the night before. While I’ve had many more extravagant tea experiences since, this memory has followed me throughout my tea life.

What is your daily tea ritual like?

The only tea I cannot live without daily is my bowl of matcha! I enjoy all sorts of teas, but the matcha gets me going in the morning. Taking the time to start my day with a properly whisked chawan of matcha really sets the tone. I will often try the teas I am packing for the day as well.  It is a great way to randomly try something off the shelf and have some fun. If I’m sending out samples on the day, I’ll always try them as well to make sure the instructions are accurate. All the tea rituals here!

What was the inspiration to start The Tea Girl?

After college I had an aspiration to own a tea shop where guests would have a space to enjoy tea and companionship in a unique space. I was eventually able to take over an existing business and turn it into my own, branded as The Tea Girl. Running a brick and mortar shop gave me the opportunity to talk to people, discover what they liked, and I realized that no one in my city was creating their own flavoured teas. I moved online in 2019 to pursue the flavouring and blending aspect of the business and offer locally created tea blends to cafes, restaurants and the world wide web!

What is your curation process like when selecting teas for the shop?

Since I like to use flavours, I consider what blends well. Senchas, Yunnans, generally pick up the flavours best. I also think about what I’d like to put on a tea, and if it’s a unique blend. What’s seasonal is also something I like to ponder - what are people looking for in the winter? In the summer? I have a hypothetical “Tea Vault” that I put different flavours into, so they’re available year round, but when it comes to the shop I like to keep things current.

What do you have currently in the shop that you're most excited about?

Besides Tea Thoughts enamel tea pins? I have recently created an herbal blend with dragon fruit flavours. It steeps a deep purple, hence the name “Purple Rain” - because naming my teas is also half the fun! I’ve also collaborated with another Tea Girl in the city to sell my side-hustle project, Broken Dreams Jewellery - a handmade collection of pendants made from broken teacups and saucers to give them new wearable life!

Do you have any upcoming products or projects that you want to share? 

 I have a few flavour profiles in the works that I want to release for summer, including a Guava & Passion fruit & Pineapple blend. I also have a green chai idea bouncing around in my head. Creating some “how to” videos for social media is also on my to-do list, as I think tea education is as important as the enjoyment!


Countdown Box & Gift Box Previews for 2022

Another year is wrapping up nd I’m so grateful to have been able to put out more countdown boxes! This year was so incredible and I’m very happy with how each box turned out. As many of you are opening the last day of your advent/countdown to winter boxes and smaller countdowns, I wanted to share my thoughts for how next year will go!

In previous years I have done a valentine’s day countdown, spring, summer, fall, Halloween and the advent/winter countdown. While I LOVE doing the valentine’s day countdown I have decided to do something different for 2022.

The timing for these boxes is a little complicated especially since I love to be able to provide them to my tea friends in Canada! My ship out day needs to be 2 weeks or more before the first day of the countdown, and with Valentine’s day being somewhat at the start of the month, this timeline has been really stressful the last couple of times. Instead, I am going to do a box for valentine’s day but I will be more like a gift box!

2022 Schedule of Giftboxes

Valentine’s Day - Date Night Box for yourself or for you and a date! I haven’t decided if the box contents will be a surprise or not but it will include tea and teaware to be able to have a Valentine’s day session! The reasoning behind the valentine’s day box has always been my love of the holiday. If I’m being honest with myself, I don’t love the holiday because I’ve had romantic, sweep you off your feet moments throughout the years. It’s because I like the spirit of the holiday, showing people you love them. I often like to make cards and give them to my family and friends who are local and mail them out to those far away. I think love is worth celebrating in al it’s forms - love for family and friends, love for a romantic partner and love for yourself!

Release Date: A couple of weeks, in early to mid January! These will ship end of January to hopefully make it on time to father away places !

Norouz Box- Spring is an important time for me and Persians around the world as we celebrate New Year. I don’t always share about Norouz because I’m never sure how interested people will be but I will be attempting a small gift box for Norouz that will include tea, something to drink the tea in and probably a Norouz themed gift! This will release either at the same time as the spring box or a little later.

2022 Schedule of Countdowns

Countdown To Spring- Another reason I’m not doing a valentine’s day countdown is that it cuts it too close to the spring countdown which has never actually counted down to the first day of spring, except for this year! While you can open countdown boxes however you’d like the guidance will be to countdown to the first day of spring! This box is almost set and I’m excited to have a piece of teaware, yummy teas and hopefully a handmade item! Spring holds a special place in my heart because it’s New Year so I am excited for us to actually count down with a box! Spring is also a time for renewal so I hope to…RENEW… your love of tea with some interesting teas !

The Advent sold out so quickly so I will be adding a few more boxes to this batch :) I haven’t decided on a theme for the box decoration but will share previews as always when I have it down to one design.

Release Date: This box will hit the shop in Mid February and be shipped out in late February

Countdown to Summer: I will be doing another Countdown to Summer box and soon will start planning these teas. I think Summer is a great time for tea - hot or cold and I have some ideas on what to bring you in the box!

Release Date: The box will hit the shop in Mid May and ship out at the end of May

Countdown to Fall: Another Countdown to fall! In 2021, the Fall box replaced the Countdown to Halloween. While that box was SUPER fun to curate it was similar to the Valentine’s day box where it cut very close to the advent it it was stressful to get everything on time and done. I also want there to be enough of a break between boxes! Fall is such a wonderful time of year so I think this box will be another fun one!

Release Date: The box will hit the shop in Mid August and ship out the end of August!

Countdown to Winter/advent: In 2022, this advent will be my 4th Annual! I get so excited about this, planning started in Spring. I wan to do things a little different this year. While I’ve always wanted to do a larger countdown, I struggle with trying to keep it somewhat affordable so that it can be accessible to most! The boxes are extremely labor intensive from curation to packing to shipping, I don’t really factor in my labor when I should so I’m afraid a larger countdown for the advent would be too expensive. I may however try to add a day or two if I can to make it a little more magical!

Your Feedback:

I can’t guarantee that I will be able to deliver on everything you suggest because not every suggestion works for me but I am always listening and want to hear what you think! There are a few topics that I am especially interested in hearing your opinions on! Check them out below and feel free to leave a comment or email me - hello@teathoughts.com . Please note that the valentines, spring and norouz box are pretty much set.

In 2021, I started putting pieces of teaware in the box, do you want that to continue?

What kinds of non tea items would like you to see more of?

Would you like to see the advent box have more days in it?

What is your favorite aspect of the countdown boxes?