Monthly Archives: December 2010

Most of us have heard of Fair Trade USA with its recognizable black and white label (seen at left). The premise of Fair Trade is something it’s easy to get behind: as an organized movement, it helps people in developing countries ensure higher prices and therefore better working conditions for their exports. Naturally, tea is on the list of exports sometimes given fair trade certification — you’ll see that Fair Trade logo on boxes of two leaves and a bud Organic African Sunset, our rooibus (or “red tea”) grown in South Africa. But it’s an interesting story how we ended up with this particular rooibus and how it got fair trade certification. The first thing you should know is that for many small farmers in developing countries around the world, the money needed to achieve Fair Trade certification isn’t necessarily … Continue reading →

Two leaves owner and founder Richard Rosenfeld was standing in a Whole Foods Market several years ago when an employee for the store asked him if two leaves ever considered adding a Gen Mai Cha to our line of teas. In March of 2010, that request became a reality. If you’ve never met a Gen Mai Cha before, you’re in for a surprise. What it is: Japanese style green tea, paired with actual grains of roasted brown rice. What results is the distinct, light and grassy flavor of the tea, layered with a toasty, almost sweet flavor from the rice. To some, this concept may sound really far flung — why mess with the flavor of pure green tea? — but it makes sense when you learn the history of this tea. Originally this tea was produced in Japan as … Continue reading →

Your tea line is the foundation of your entire tea program. If you don’t carry the right teas, you’ll never truly maximize tea sales and reach the full potential your two leaves and a bud tea program represents. We’ve spent some time in past articles giving some standard tips for choosing your tea line — but today we devote an entire article to this important topic. Step 1: Carry the Essentials Being strategic is smart — understanding your demographic and which teas they’re going to demand is clearly integral to planning the right tea line for your audience. The majority of people are going to want and need a core set of teas which we like to call “The Essentials”: Organic Assam Breakfast Black Tea Organic Earl Grey Black Tea Jasmine Petal Green Tea Organic Tamayokucha Green Tea Organic Peppermint … Continue reading →

We never thought we’d get many responses by asking one little question on our Facebook page, but we recently learned how passionate our fans are about tea. And as Martha Stewart would say, that’s a good thing. “What’s your number one reason for drinking tea?” we asked recently on Facebook, and 29 of our fans piped up to give us their answers. That’s without even a prize being offered for feedback — sorry to sound jaded, but some of us former journalists don’t do anything without the potential for free stuff. Well, when we informally tallied up the responses, you know what’s weird? The top answers completely contradict each other. Our fans either love that tea is calming/soothing/relaxing, or that tea has caffeine so it perks them up just enough during a drowsy afternoon, or when they’re supposed to be … Continue reading →

Let me just put it right out there first: There’s no right way to throw a tea party. No matter what Miss Manners says about the proper components of hosting your own tea party, we say if everyone’s having a good time, you’ve done something right. And we’re thinking about this now because lots of people throw holiday tea parties at this time of year. It makes sense — everyone is feeling festive and looking for reasons to get together, so why not serve some tea while you’re at it? I asked some coworkers what tips they’d have for throwing a good tea party, and the answers ranged from what kind of tea to serve (Organic Peppermint, or Mountain High Chai with a cinnamon stick) to holding a tasting of different brands of tea for your guests. That just shows … Continue reading →