Adventures with Tea began when barista and cafe manager Alan Arnold noticed that artisan teas were getting more and more popular. He began educating customers on how these new teas were totally different from the ones they grew up with - grocery store teas. He and his wife, Marlys began to fall in love with the creative tea blends that featured fruits, spices and other fun and interesting ingredients.
Alan loved hosting tea tastings and workshops and he and Marlys were always looking for new and clever flavors to try. The dream of opening a tea business had been a goal for Alan, and when he lost his job as a barista in 2009, he decided to make his dream come true.
“We actually had begun investigating tea suppliers just a few weeks before his job ended,” Marlys said. “The first samples arrived in the mail the day after he was let go, and within a couple of weeks we started hosting tastings with friends who critiqued and voted for their favorites. Two months later, we had a selection of about 20 flavors and began hosting private tea tastings in people’s homes.”
They had chosen the name, Adventures with Tea, to reflect the idea that there’s so much to explore. They don’t believe that tea is boring or limited, and most of the flavors they sell are what they call, “not your grandma’s tea,” with options like coconut, carrot cake, or even chocolate and popcorn.
“Alan is the chief tea guide since he has a broad knowledge of the history and processing – although I’ve learned so much over the past couple of decades,” Marlys said. “My role as chief tea marketer means that I’m the one who typically designs the labels and creates much of the social media and website marketing. But Alan helps out there too, we really share many of the roles within the business.”
After many years of thinking of drinking tea as old-fashioned and not very exciting, tea has made a comeback over the years, and is the most popular beverage in the world.
“Tea has gained so much ground since we launched Adventures with Tea,” Marlys said. “In the beginning, it was challenging sometimes to convince people to try our teas because they’d had bad experiences in the past. But now you can find tea in so many places, in creative forms – bubble tea, bottled teas, and even tea-infused cocktails or mocktails. Most people have discovered it’s more than a bag with a string or a jug of sun tea on the porch.”
While tea flavors come and go, the Arnolds currently offer about 25 flavors in black, green and white teas, plus herbal and rooibos blends, (rooibos grows in South Africa).
They also sell several seasonal flavors that return each spring and fall.
The health benefits of tea are numerous. Tea is high in antioxidants and polyphenols, which can help reduce damage to the body’s cells. Tea has been used in Asian countries for centuries to improve many health issues. China’s use of tea dates back to 2737 BCE, and it is referred to as ‘the elixir of life.’
“Most people are shocked when we tell them we cook with tea,” Marlys said. “Probably because they’re thinking back to their childhood memories of bad tea. If they’re familiar at all, it’s likely the idea of matcha powder (matcha is finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea leaves traditionally consumed in East Asia) mixed into ice cream or baked goods. But there are so many fun and simple ways to incorporate tea into everything from main dishes to dessert.”
The Arnolds began offering cooking classes many years ago and have developed hundreds of recipes. Choosing a favorite for Marlys is, she said, “kind of like asking someone to pick their favorite child.” The dishes they make at home most often include tea-poached meat in the slow cooker, tea-infused cakes or rice, and as fall approaches, they love to make pumpkin squash soup made with pumpkin pie rooibos.
Although the Arnolds have lost count of how many teas they have tried over the years, it’s not unusual for then to sample a dozen flavors to come up with just one or two to bring into their line. They have had the privilege of sampling teas from all over the world at the tea expos they have attended over the years.
Marlys’ personal favorite classical tea is Nilgiri from India, but she also enjoys Nepali teas. Alan prefers a slightly heartier tea from Assam (also India) or a Sencha green tea from Japan.
When deciding on teas they want to sell, it gets hard to narrow down their favorites.
“Sometimes we have a specific flavor profile in mind, and have to wait several years until we find ‘the one’ that aligns with our vision,” Marlys said. “For example, we had the idea of Saturday Matinee after seeing a tea with popcorn in it. We had the idea of combining all your favorite movie treats into a hearty black tea. The final selection includes hazelnut brittle pieces, coconut, popcorn and sea salt. Other times we just know the moment we taste a sample from one of our vendors, like our newest flavor, Berries & Blooms, which was the feature flavor at this year’s Platte City Friends of the Arts spring fund raiser. (It features hibiscus, blueberries, strawberries, rose petals, and blue cornflowers in a white tea blend.)”
While top quality teas, herbs and spices often spark people’s interest in exploring more and more novel teas, best sellers depend on the season and what’s new.
“Like this year, Berries & Blooms has been a huge hit because it’s new, and Snowflakes & Jingle Bells always sells out during the holidays,” Marlys said. “But over our entire history, An Apricot in Damascus and Vanilla Spice Chai are probably the top sellers.”
The couple eventually created the Tea Explorations Journal because they needed a way to record all the teas they had tried.
“It was so hard to remember them all – what was the name of that tea and did we like it?” Marlys said. “So we designed a tool where people can record not only the details about a particular tea, but also why they liked it (or not) and who they experienced it with. We also added in some tea history and trivia, and even a few tea-themed word puzzles. It was first published in 2016.”
When they began the business doing in-home tastings, they found that most of their requests were to teach classes or provide samplings at local stores and events. Many of the cooking classes they taught were at Hy-Vee in Liberty. They have also been the featured tea at the Platte City Friends of the Arts spring fund raiser from the beginning in 2016.
“We’ve also taught classes at the Mid-Continent Public Library branches: Tea Around the World, Cooking with Tea, and this fall we’re debuting Tea & Chocolate,” Marlys said.
“Obviously these past two years decimated our local events opportunities, so we developed ways to host classes and tastings online. We’re working on converting several of our cooking classes into self-paced online classes (‘Cooking with Tea: Dessert Please!’ is the first one available).”
The Arnolds are ‘foodies’ as well as tea lovers. In 2013, they launched their Adventures with Tea eMagazine, and published quarterly for three years, until Apple eliminated their Newsstand.
Each issue featured articles on topics ranging from cheese to exotic grains to Mardi Gras, with several tea-infused recipes to accompany each article.
“While we’re no longer publishing the eMagazine, we still have all the issues available as PDFs, plus many of the recipes have been repurposed on our blog,” Marlys said. “We also have some of our cooking videos and gadget reviews up on YouTube. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll publish a cookbook.”
Inspiring new things was the Arnold’s mission in starting Adventures with Tea, whether it be new tea types or flavors, or incorporating tea into their favorite recipes.
“Bottom line is there’s no one ‘right’ way to experience tea – experiment until you find the ways you like it best,” Marlys said.
The Arnolds are very happy with the tea path they have chosen. They love seeing people get excited when they discover something new about tea, a quirky bit of history, a new flavor, or a new way to work it into their daily menu.
“And we eagerly await the next tasting ‘adventure’ that’s out there for us to discover as well,” Marlys said.