Small Business Spotlight: Chai Affairs

Being a first generation Iranian American was an interesting experience. While there were other Iranians in Maryland where I grew up, there were not a lot. It was quite normal for me to be the only Iranian kid in any given school I attended. When I was younger I didn’t understand why other kids didn’t eat the same foods, or speak farsi or celebrate Nowruz. At times It felt very isolating. Whenever I met another person who shared my same culture and experience it was so exciting. This still holds true and so I was overjoyed to connect with Mona and be able to relate to her!

Mona, like me grew up drinking tea and while I’ve chosen to share this passion through Tea Thoughts, she has started Chai Affairs! I was really excited to purchase some ingredients from her because she had things that reminded me so much of my childhood like limoo amani! This is also something I cook with and had never really tried brewing but loved make a tea with it! I also love that she is sharing this and some not as well known ingredients to non-Iranians!

Learn more about Mona and Chai Affairs!
Make sure to check out the Chai Affairs shop as well!

Can you introduce yourself and Chai Affairs? 
With pleasure! My name is Mona, and I'm the creator and face behind Chai Affairs. 

At Chai Affairs, I sell a variety of herbal ingredients that are quite popular in Iranian households but still unique for non-Iranians. The concept of my brand is to allow customers to experience these unique ingredients with all their senses, experiment in creating their personalized Tea blends, and share it with their loved one's. It's really an experience in a Box! Customers can choose to purchase our pre-designed Tea sets and also individual ingredients.

When was your first experience with tea?
Tea has been at the center of everyday life and every memory for me since childhood. It's been in my blood since infancy! In Persian culture, Tea is the first thing we offer to anyone visiting our home. When you wake up, your morning breakfast starts with Tea. If you're a guest, you're offered Tea before anything else. If you're in a stressful state, Tea is the first offering to relieve your stress…It's safe to say that if you enter a Persian household, no matter the circumstance, you will not leave without drinking a cup of Tea!

What is your daily tea ritual like?
I generally drink between 3-4 cups of Tea per day (but let's be honest, it can definitely go beyond that on some days!)

I always start my morning sipping on a hot cup of Black Tea, a habit that's stuck with me since childhood. I'm usually sitting on the floor in my work room, soaking up the morning sunlight. My morning Tea ritual is only a couple minutes long, but that time to myself allows me to be present, reflect, and set my intentions for the day. It makes all the difference in how I start my day.

I then prepare another cup of Tea before noon, usually a new Green Tea that I'm eager to try. This is often during a short work break, so it's more of a quick preparation and sipping away while working again.
I always end my work day with a cup of Tea, and my choice of Tea depends on how my day passed. I find that last cup so soothing and an appropriate transition into my personal time.

What was the inspiration to start Chai Affairs?
Chai Affairs was born from my love for Tea, a desire to build connections with people and cultures across the globe over Tea, and a yearning to explore a creative medium where I can connect to my Persian roots.

I'm definitely not a Tea expert and every day is a journey in learning something new about Tea. At Chai Affairs I want people to feel free in familiarizing themselves with different ingredients that they can add to any daily Tea they have at home to make it a bit more special for themselves and their preferences. 

The conversations I've had over a cup of Tea are some of my most cherished memories. I wanted to bring back this experience, especially in a time where we are more virtually connected, but also socially disconnected from one another. My vision is to have people engage in conversation while using my products, curating for themselves, and building deep connections over Tea.

The name 'Chai Affairs' was also born from this desire to instill deeper connections between people through conversations, just like they used to exchange ideas in 17th century Salon de thé conversations.

How do you weave aspects of your culture into your products?
I would say the whole vision and concept of how the ingredients are to be used is inspired by my Iranian culture and how Tea is prepared. Traditionally, Iranians will drink Black Tea as a staple, but to make their tea even more special, they will add complimentary ingredients (such as the one's found in Chai Affairs) to enhance the flavor of their brew. Through Chai Affairs, I try to bring this whole experience to customers through the customized kits.

Other intricate details such as the stationary and product packaging is also inspired by my love for geometric art and architecture, which is a common traditional art in Iran.

What do you have currently in the shop that you're most excited about?
My favorite product is definitely the pre-customized Tea kits since they include a nice variety of our more unique ingredients and it allows customers to get the full Chai Affairs experience in a box.

Do you have any upcoming products or projects that you want to share? 
Chai Affairs is still very young, and I'm very ambitious! I have a lot of plans in the pipeline which I hope can come to fruition soon!

Other than optimizing the current products and website to improve customer experience, I'm hoping to release my new Tea Blend this summer. Creating Tea Blends was never the goal, but I've received a lot of positive feedback on the blend I've been creating for myself and I would love to share it with the world!  

I'm also working on a few collaborative projects towards the second half of 2022, so more on that to be shared later in the year!

Small Business Spotlight: Tea Curious Water

I’m excited to share this next spotlight with you ! Rie, from Tea Curious is another wonderful tea person that I’ve connected with over instagram that has greatly impacted my tea journey. Nowadays, I think most of the discussion happens on discord but I remember watching many live videos on instagram of Rie asking the important tea questions that I didn’t always ask. These live videos always made me curious to experiment and enjoy tea the way I thought it tasted best. Rie and Steven have taken their Tea Curiosity to water and after years of experimenting are elevating our water experience! Water is so important to all aspects of life and tea is one of those things. Their innovative tea recipes can change your tea time and inspire your own curiosity. As I’ve always expressed, experimentation when drinking tea is so fun and also important !

Learn more about Rie & Steven and what they’re doing with Tea Curious Water!

Can you introduce yourself and Tea Curious Water?

Hey, we're Rie and Steven! We're professional tea nerds at Tea Curious, and we help people study tea through our online community and tea courses, workshops, and tours. And now we get to develop tools like Tea Curious Water, which has been a blast.

I actually met Steven while hosting a workshop here in Las Vegas, so we know first hand how much joy and connection can come from tea. And we work really hard to share that.

Anyway, Tea Curious Water is a tool for tea brewers who want more control and confidence when they make tea. It's basically a mineral concentrate -- you put a few drops in your kettle with purified water, and voila! You've made your own ideal brewing water.

This is important since certain waters can degrade the flavor compounds in tea. Just ask anyone who's ever had to brew tea with hard water, or see the difference for yourself:

You can imagine the difference in flavor, haha. There are two recipes:

• Original, which brings out more of the bright and zesty notes found naturally in tea (it's also amazing with old tree tea), and

• Autumn, which makes things nice and smooth, with a round sweetness, awesome for darker teas.

What first got you interested in experimenting with your tea water?

Oh yeah, when I was first getting into tea... You know how you sometimes order a whole bunch of tea samples because the tasting notes sound awesome? And then when you finally get to brew the teas at home, you can't really pick out the flavors they were talking about in the tea?

That happened to me when I mass-ordered a bunch of teas to try, haha, and when that happens, you don't know if there's a problem with you, or the tea, or the vendor. It was really frustrating, thinking I was doing something wrong even if I'd put in so much effort to brew the tea right.

Eventually I heard through the grapevine that water was important for tea, so I picked up a few bottled waters and did some side-by-sides with my teas. And my mind has been blown ever since, haha.

What did the process look like for honing your tea formula?

You know, at first we were really trying to find the Holy Grail, the perfect water for tea that we could share with everyone. But then we learned that just like everything else in tea, there is no one right answer -- it depends on your individual taste, and on the individual tea.

So we started by studying our favorite bottled waters, brands you hear about all the time in tea: Fiji, Poland Spring, Volvic, and so on. Then we'd formulate our own water with the same minerals found in those waters, making sure our DIY water performed just as well as the brands, with the same natural taste.

Then we'd test our water with as many teas as possible to see how it reacted with each tea type, from HK stored sheng to Jun Chiyabari autumn flush to gyokuro. Finally, from there we made tiny adjustments -- 0.01 grams more of a mineral here to take away sourness, or 0.02 grams there to reduce bitterness -- and we'd coerce family and friends into tasting the differences with us, haha.

Altogether it's been 12 years of experimenting with water on and off, and about a year that Steven and I spent almost entirely on water. Lots of late night experiments, lots of research papers, and lottttts of dishes. ;)

What inspired you to create Tea Curious Water?

We want people to be able to experience their teas with as much flavor as possible. Maybe even the flavors that the teamakers intended. Because if a teamaker in Kyoto uses soft water to evaluate their tea, there's a lot getting lost in translation if we taste their tea brewed in the extremely hard water we have here in Vegas. And that's a shame if, at the last moment, after all the tea farmers, tea pickers, teamakers, and tea vendors have put in everything to make a tea great... the ball gets dropped because the water isn't quite right. That's why you'll find a lot of tea shops and serious tea practitioners rely on bottled water to keep their teas consistent. We made Tea Curious Water so we could stop relying on wasteful bottled water while still getting excellent results from our teas. No flavor left behind!

Are there any water issues that you want to share about or organizations that you find are doing good work to help with water issues?

Absolutely, since as you work with water in tea, you'll inevitably grow your relationship with water in a bigger way too. We should care about the water we use for tea, and we should care about these pressing water issues by listening to people on the front lines and taking action as directed by them.

For example, there's Emma Robbins from Navajo Water Project and The Chapter House, who talks about Indigenous water rights and the treaties broken by the US government, so that today 1 in 3 Navajo homes is without running water.

And the People of Red Mountain Paiute & Shoshone who are protesting a lithium mine in Northern Nevada that would use 7 billion liters of water a year in one of the driest regions in the nation. We also appreciate organizations like Waves4Water, and try to make sure to read not just the materials put out by the international admins, but what the people on the ground are saying, the local leaders like Jenica Dizon who work in their local communities and for whom the work is solidarity rather than charity.

Water affects every community in different ways though, so I hope people can engage with the water issues that are closest to them and in the way that suits them best. For us, we make monthly contributions through Tea Curious Water to various organizations (inspired by Tea Thoughts!) and that just works for us -- integrating what we love with what we should take responsibility for.

What do you see in the future for Tea Curious Water?

I'd love to see the day where friends from different places could bust out the same tea -- let's say the latest oolong from Mountain Stream Teas -- and then brew that same with the same water, so they could have a really similar tasting experience.

We've been testing this already in small groups and it's been magical to see the tasting notes converge between people thousands of miles away. You get the sense that we're really tasting the same tea, and we can learn together almost like we're in person. It's a really intimate feeling. At the end of the day that's what Tea Curious Water is for -- simply set the stage, then let tea be.

Small Business Spotlight: Fin Pin Shop

It’s March and Nowruz is almost here! I’m getting a bit of a late start but I wanted to share a few fellow Persian makers/creators with you this month. First up, is my dear friend Yasmin and her two women team you might have seen me share about on Instagram: Fin Pin Shop!

I met Yas through instagram and we instantly bonded as many do who share the small business joys and woes. We then further connected through our Persian heritage and love of animals. Yasmin is someone I can always count on to talk about our shops and she always finds the best cute animal videos to share with me! I admire her dedication and advocacy to the ocean and all the critters inside it. I’m so honored to feature her on my blog!

Check out more about Fin Pin Shop below!
Can you introduce yourself and Fin Pin Shop?

Absolutely! Fin Pin Shop is run by two women, Jaclyn & Yasmin, who advocate for marine life through ocean-inspired products. We are biologists who love ocean puns and promote an eco-friendly lifestyle. Our products donate to research and ocean conservation while tapping into important messaging, like respecting our oceans!

Diving deeper into who we are individually, Jaclyn is an avid ocean advocate with a Bachelor’s degree from Ohio University in Marine Biology and a Master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University in Environmental Education. She has worked as an aquarist, marine science educator, water quality technician, classroom teacher, expeditions manager, SCUBA instructor, and even a mermaid! She is a volunteer supervisor with her local sea turtle patrol and lives in Florida with her husband, son, and rescue animals.
When it comes to myself (Yasmin), I believe art plays a powerful role in fostering environmental awareness and I create our designs with that goal. I obtained my Master's degree in Environmental Science from Drexel University, and recently my Master of Business Administration, focusing on Data Analytics, from Florida International University. There's three things you learn about me pretty quickly: I love manta rays, cats, and turning everything into puns.

Jaclyn is on the left and Yasmin is on the right!

What first sparked your interest in animals and the ocean?

Oh gosh, well Jaclyn was pretty much a water baby from the start, always drawn to the ocean, even though she grew up in Ohio. Funnily enough we were both born in Ohio! We were destined to meet, for shore. The ocean has shaped a lot of Jaclyn's life, she spent years volunteering for aquariums and zoos, educating and caring for ocean animals.

While I have always loved animals, I felt my need to save ocean life brought on by a specific encounter in my early 20's. One day on a vacation in Hawai'i I found myself swimming next to a reef manta ray, the first one I had ever met! Unfortunately this sweet ray had a large, rusted, commercial fishing hook attached to her cephalic fin (these are head fins they use to scoop food into their mouth). Her fin was more than half gone and the hook looked so heavy. That was the moment that truly set me on this path.

What is your favorite cephalopod :D

Oh I love flamboyant cuttlefish! They are just so fun and fascinating with their color changes and I love when they lift their little arms inquisitively in aquariums!

How do you feel your Persian and Turkish backgrounds influence your art?

I think the perfect example of this influence is in our "lucky eye" designs! This is when I completely unleashed my culture into our designs. We have both a sticker sheet and an enamel pin with the lucky eye, called nazar bonçuk in Turkish. This blue eye symbol is regarded as a protection against envy and jealousy, to bring good luck and repel the bad. In Turkish culture, it’s worn as beads, jewelry, displayed as wall ornaments, and even found in mosaics outside of shops. I believe this is also prevalent in Persian culture as I've seen these blue lucky eyes on display in both my Turkish and Persian family member's houses growing up. I have had a lucky eye on my wrist or worn it as a necklace since I was a baby so this was something I was extremely excited to bring to Fin Pin!

https://finpinshop.com/products/lucky-eyes-sticker-sheet-sharks-rays-octopus-fish

https://finpinshop.com/products/lucky-eye-fish-enamel-pin

Where is your favorite place to find inspiration?

I am so inspired by what I sea in aquariums and out in the ocean! With Instagram being such a big part of my business, I also find inspiration from others around the world on that platform. I consistently stumble across the most FINcredible footage of ocean species which make me want to pick up my Apple pencil (wish I was sponsored, lol) and start drawing!

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

We just released a huge set of 7 sea turtle pins which donate 20% back to sea turtle conservation and research with Inwater Research Group! Each purchase of these pins support research and education programs critical to the continued survival of sea turtles today and for future generations!

https://finpinshop.com/collections/new-in-store-1

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

Oh gosh we are working hard on a new character, Munch, who is a Mola mola. This cute little fin (friend - I know we go hard on the puns! lol) has a little chunk missing, which honestly feels relatable to us in 2022. We went through so much the past couple years but still, we persevered. We are currently developing scrunchies and other fun products with this little fin we created, and we are so excited!

Here's our first Munch product! Soon to be on our website :)

Small Business/Creator Spotlight: Tea With Jann

Today, I am sharing a dear friend that I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with over the last few years, Jann! You all probably have at least seen Jann’s wonderful Youtube videos or gorgeous tea cup collection! Jann is such a lovely person and you can watch her videos and just feel the happy vibes!

Jann also recently started a shop where she sells her lovely designs and a wonderful Brew Kindness box. I was able to grab one in here last release!

Check out all the goodies I got: Brew Kindness Box

You can also check Jann’s shop and I highly suggest heading over to her Youtube Channel for Vlogmas! Jann is currently posting 2 videos a day opening and tasting teas from all her tea advents!

Check out the questions below that Jann kindly answered to get to know her a little more!

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

Sure! My name is Jann and I love creating a welcoming community while making videos about tea and sharing bits of my life on YouTube.  I live in a small town in Nova Scotia, Canada with my wife, Jeanette and our kitty, Gary. 

I have memory issues from a stroke, so often times it’s like tasting new teas all the time (silver lining) ;) 

2) When did you start drinking tea? 

I had consistently started drinking tea when I started working at an office when I was 17. I wanted the ability to take a break, while my coworkers would reach for coffee or cigarettes (wasn’t into either of those), so I searched out tea. Barely dunking a teabag into the hot water, but having that moment to leave my desk, watch the kettle boil, and wrap my hands around the warm mug was such a comfort. 

3) What inspired you to start Tea with Jann and the Brew Kindness Box?

I started Tea with Jann as a place to share my love of antiques, tea, and technology. I chose YouTube and video as a method for my need to be creativity and as a way to challenge myself, while looking for a place of community that anyone could feel welcome and comfortable. 

I have a collection of my own teacups, turquoise Aynsleys, and I love them. I also love searching out other teacups and wares. I love chatting with the previous owners, or imagining the cups life prior to me finding it. I wanted to bring those cups into the life of someone that would love them again. That would use them again. That would give them purpose again. 

4) What does your personal tea ritual look like?

Hmm, that can change everyday, so perhaps it’s not so much of a ritual. Sometimes it’s a quick morning cup with breakfast, others it’s a cold brew with lunch, or an evening cup to sooth my thoughts. 

Perhaps the only ritual is the first sip.  

5) Do you have a current favorite tea?

I have three tea containers that are on our kitchen counter for the daily drinking favourites. One is dedicated to my wife’s tea, the other two for me.  While one of mine is always the same, the other one switches to my current obsession. For the past year it’s been The Silk Tea Co’s romantic floral blend called Desert Rose. It’s so soothing and calming for my evening cup. 

6) Do you have a process for curating the Brew Kindness Boxes? 

Since they are still a very new part of Tea with Jann, I do not. I’ve been thinking a lot of what I want to accomplish and how I want people to feel, and what that means to me. 

7) Is there anything upcoming for the holiday season or beyond for Tea with Jann that you're excited about and want to share? 

For the holidays I’m focussed on my Vlogmas series on my YouTube channel. Each year I have filled a box, adding a new tea or tea related product every day from December 1st to the 24th as an annual giveaway prize to my viewers. This year I’m excited to be working with tea business to fill a giant Brew Kindness Giveaway box for vlogmas!  I think I need a larger box, haha! 

As for the new year, I have a few ideas, but I think I need a hot cup of tea and some solo time to allow my ideas to steep. 

Small Business Spotlight: The Tea Practitioner

The Tea Practitioner is a Canadian Based Tea Company serving up a variety of teas! I have always wanted to try their teas and I finally made a purchase recently. You can see the teas that I bought below plus some zhang ping shui xian and and I was also gifted one extra tea, a ceylon silver needle. My absolute favorite of these teas (even though they were all yummy) was the yellow rose cliff tea. A lovely roasted tea that is perfect for the cooler weather. I reach for any tea that I think tastes good in the winter but there is something so nice about a more substantial tea that is more like a meal and that roast does the trick for me!

Please check out their interview below and also their shop!

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

The Tea Practitioner is made up of two like-minded food and beverage focused individuals - Sierra Joseph-Quon and Brendan Roth. With Sierra’s certification as a Tea Sommelier through the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada and chef background, as well as Brendan’s vast knowledge of Food, Beverage and customer service, together, the pair wants to share their enthusiasm for one of the greatest beverages in the world.

2) When did you start drinking tea?

Sierra: I started fairly young, about 10 years old. Tea is such a huge part of Chinese culture, and my dad would always share pots of Jasmine green with me growing up.

Brendan: I've been drinking tea the English way, black tea with milk for as long as I can remember, but discovered the vast world of single origin teas a few years ago.

3) What inspired you to start The Tea Practitioner?

I've always wanted to start something that puts my passion for tea to the forefront, all the while curating a menu, and testing and sharing recipes utilizing my professional food and pastry skills. This was the perfect platform to merge the two together.

4) What does your personal tea ritual look like?

On most days I'll start by drinking matcha. Either hot, over ice, or with some sparkling water. It's just a great routine to practice, as well as a huge mood booster to start my day off on the right foot. In the afternoon or evening, I'll have a cup of oolong or white tea, prepared gong fu. At night, I drink herbal tea. Lately lemon ginger or hibiscus.

5) Do you have a current favorite tea from the shop or outside of the shop?

Yellow Rose Cliff Oolong has been my personal favourite. Such great mineral quality, and so floral and sweet. We also really love drinking the Hira Hoji Bancha. It's such a nice fall tea, and the tea leaf material is very reminiscent of the autumnal season; fallen leaves crunching under your feet!

6) Do you have a process for choosing the teas you offer?

Our primary objective is sourcing directly from producers around the world, highlighting their regional specialties. We try to curate a diverse selection of teas for Torontonians, Canadians, and North Americans alike. A lot of this is a reflection of our personal tastes as well.

7) Is there anything upcoming for the holiday season or beyond for The Tea Practitioner that you're excited about and want to share?

We've got a collection of gift boxes that we've just curated, as well as a new blend called Spiced Hibiscus Punch. It's a blend inspired by the Caribbean, traditionally drunk during the festive holiday season. It's great with some brown sugar and rum over ice, or on its own. It's a great holiday punch bowl beverage.