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!

Retailer Spotlight: Thésaurus Tea

As Tea Thoughts grows, so do the number of places where you can find my items! In the last year, I have expanded my retailers and wanted to share a little bit about them. Hopefully you will be introduced or re-introduced to a new tea shop.

I want to introduce you to Thésaurus Tea!

This is an online tea ship based in Canada! If you’re in Canada, they might be the best option to order a Tea Thoughts item to save on shipping! Additionally, Thésaurus Tea has a few items that I don’t have in stock anymore like the Camellia SInensis Necklace and Camellia Sinensis tea socks!

Learn a little more about Robyn, the owner of Thésaurus Tea below!

1) Can you give us a little introduction about you/Thésaurus Tea?

Thésaurus Tea is blended with dainty claws by a geeky dinosaur (that'd be me, Robyn), and then steeped in fandom! While I have all the usual classic blends (and more!) that one might expect of any tea shop, I also host an ever-growing list of original teas based on popular sci-fi shows, movies, books and videogames! On top of all this, I take special care with my impact on the environment: The majority of my teas come from fair-trade suppliers who also prioritize that their products are ethical, ecological, and economical.

2) When did you start drinking tea?

When I was a little girl, my father used to take me to a tea house (sadly long gone) called Franny's. Their specialty was cheesecake, but I loved it there for the tea. They had one that I THINK was called the Hobbit's blend, or at least it should have been. I always imagined that the softly floral tisane was surely what Bilbo or Frodo might have drank in the Shire, and was utterly hooked from then.

3) What inspired you to start Thesaurus Tea?

I had always thought I would want to open a tea shop after I retired, but when I was about to end my maternity leave, my husband asked me what I was waiting for. From there, everything came together very quickly. I suppose I had always had an image in my mind of what I wanted to do. I even had a dream about it, when I was trying to pick a name, and dreamed of a tea house run by dinosaurs...and thus Thésaurus. (Thé is tea in French, and as my fans know, I live for a good pun!).

4) What does your personal tea ritual look like?

When I take a moment to make tea for myself, I spend almost as much time trying to pick a tea cup as I do the tea itself. I have a huge collection of tea cups, stemming to back when my grandmother gave several to me. I've collected them ever since, and each one has a special meaning to me. That said, once I've chosen a cup, I will often match it to a tea, though sometimes I pick the tea, and THEN the tea cup to match. From there I suppose it is no different than anyone else, in terms of heating the water as needed, and steeping.

5) Do you have a current favorite tea?

You want me to pick between my babies?! I suppose I would have to say that the Silver Wolf and Leader of the Pack are my two favorites for the moment.

6) Where do you draw inspiration from for your blends?

Everywhere, but especially anything science fiction related. Most often, I will watch through a show, or a movie, or read a book, and ask myself what those characters or moments, or even songs, might taste like.

7) What do you envision down the road for Thesaurus Teas?

It has long been my plan to open a physical location for a real tea house, but the pandemic interrupted those plans. That said, once things are calmer, I still fully intend on moving forward, as I feel that having a place that I could host people for tea, as well as for the geeky community in general, would be a wonderful and fulfilling experience for me. I have so many ideas for events and I look forward to sharing them.