One of the things I’ve always found slightly strange about the speciality coffee world is how much care goes into coffee, while tea can still sometimes be treated as something that simply needs to be there.
Coffee shops will spend huge amounts of time choosing roasters, grinders, espresso machines and milk. They’ll debate extraction times, water quality and cup sizes.
Then tea gets reduced to a handful of bags in a box.
I think that is a missed opportunity.
Tea customers might not shout as loudly as coffee customers, but they are incredibly loyal. If they find somewhere that serves a genuinely good cup of tea, they remember it.
And the market has changed enormously.
Customers are much more interested in quality, provenance and choice than they used to be. They are drinking matcha, hojicha, chai, green teas and fruit infusions alongside more traditional black teas.
That means tea can now become a proper part of the drinks menu rather than an obligation.
The answer isn’t necessarily to offer more.
It is to offer better.
A strong breakfast tea.
A proper Earl Grey.
A clean green tea.
A couple of good caffeine-free options.
Then matcha, chai and perhaps hojicha to give the menu something more contemporary.
That is already a far stronger proposition than a huge list of mediocre teas.
There is another benefit.
Tea has great margins.
It is relatively simple to serve.
It requires less equipment than coffee.
And it gives cafés the opportunity to appeal to customers who don’t drink coffee without making them feel like the second choice.
At Jeeves & Jericho, we have always believed tea should sit comfortably alongside speciality coffee.
Not beneath it.
The two can absolutely coexist.
A good café should be able to serve an excellent flat white and an excellent pot of tea.
Customers shouldn’t have to choose which one you care about.