BOULDER, Colo., U.S. — Maria Uspenski, founder and CEO of The Tea Spot, will host a special lecture on specialty tea during the Specialty Coffee Expo, which takes place April 11-14 in Boston, Mass. at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Uspenski’s session will take place on Sunday, April 14 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., and is titled “The Yin to Your Yang: Understanding Why Specialty Tea Is an Essential Part of Any Third-Wave Coffee Shop.”
The Tea Spot works to advance healthier living through the everyday enjoyment of whole leaf tea, and the Specialty Coffee Expo was designed to be the coffee professional’s one stop shop for everything they need to succeed in the coffee industry.
“Gone are the days where tea is an afterthought when curating a menu for a coffeehouse,” says Uspenski, who is also author of Cancer Hates Tea. “Having a specialty tea program that matches the caliber of the rest of your café offerings – one which is in alignment with the ethos of your mission – is not only crucial to remaining competitive and profitable but also a benchmark of quality.”
During Uspenski’s Specialty Coffee Expo session, she’ll cover why offering sub-par tea is an issue and a missed opportunity for many coffeehouses, and she’ll look at why consumers are demanding premium tea. She’ll also discuss how little it takes to elevate a coffeehouse tea program, and what to look for in a specialty tea partner.
“Getting started with specialty tea doesn’t need to be expensive or a big hit on a coffeehouse’s operations,” says Uspenski. “Starting out with three premium teas – such as wild tree black or pu’erh tea from Yunnan, a shade-grown Japanese green tea, and a functional caffeine-free herbal tea blend – will satisfy most customers looking for a tea option.”
In addition to the presentation by Uspenski, The Tea Spot team will exhibit at the Specialty Coffee Expo in both No. 1294, April 12-14. They’ll brew up some of the company’s top-selling whole leaf iced teas, present a special gongfu tea tasting every hour during the event, give away samples from their new collection of premium foodservice pyramid tea bags, and answer questions about elevating tea programs at coffeehouses.
The Tea Spot will also showcase its new Iced Tea Pouches, which feature six premium-leaf iced teas in extra-large tea sachets. The pouches were developed for brewing in commercial coffee brewers, such as Bunn.
