About Tea at The Third Place
Hello there,
Did you know that only 54% of Americans over the age of 18 drink coffee everyday? That means that there’s more than 150 million people in the United States who start their day without a cup of joe in their hand. If you’re like Kseniia and coffee is your one drink of choice, life is easy. But for the rest of us non-coffee drinkers, however, an invitation to “grab a cup of coffee” with a friend induces a world of panic. What should you order instead? Water isn’t interesting enough, Red Bull is potentially toxic, and sipping fruit juice brings you back to your sippy cup days. Ultimately, there just aren’t a lot of classy, all-purpose beverages like coffee that can get you a morning buzz and a few likes on instagram.
Today I’d like to give some well deserved attention to coffee’s understudy–tea. Although it is easy to forget about tea in a country of caramel macchiatos and low fat lattes, it was man’s best beverage friend well before the coffee bean.
Believe it or not, tea became first began to appear as a medicinal treatment in China as early as 2750 B.C. According to legend, Emperor Shen Nung (now known as the Father of Tea) discovered it’s healing properties when some wild leaves blew into his pot of boiling water. After discovering that the mixture tasted a lot better than the cough syrup from his local CVS Pharmacy, he began urging the Chinese people to cultivate the plant for the benefit of the entire nation.
Europeans didn’t begin drinking tea until 1610 AD when it arrived in the Netherlands. A few decades later, it found its way to Britain, where coffee had already become a staple. But after an English Proprietor named Thomas Garway decided to start offering tea to the public, it quickly became Britain’s drink of choice. Eventually, people even stopped buying liquor and paying the associated tax, which was good news for the people (and their livers), but bad news for the government. As a result, a tea tax was imposed and tea became the luxury trademark of London’s upper and middle classes.
Today, tea isn’t just for London’s aristocrats–it’s for everybody. Especially, people like me who just don’t get the big fuss about coffee. At The Third Place, we believe that coffee drinkers and tea drinks should be treated equally. Whether you prefer the brew or the bag, we want you to feel at home with us. That’s why our beverage selection will include 5 varieties of the highest quality tea. So even if you don’t drink coffee, you can still have your perfect “cup of tea.” We hope that you’ll come enjoy it with us soon!
Cheers,
Vitaliy & Kseniia
