Kopius Teas (www.kopiusteas.com) ships wholesale to Canada. There are a few special points you may wish to keep in mind when placing your order.
1. Your teas will arrive via UPS Standard. The shipping calculator will include all customs and duties to your door. Prior to submitting your order, check the shipping subtotal. You might be better off ordering in larger quantities to offset the total shipping expense. Furthermore, it is better to order a few pounds extra of the blending ingredients, as we stock some of these items in smaller quantities compared to tea.
2. We encourage you to request samples at the time of your order. This makes it easier to include in a single shipment.
3. If you intend to purchase and resell Fair Trade Certified products, please select the Fair Trade option marked for CANADA. This reduced fee is extended because you are expected to submit licensing fees directly to Transfair Canada (www.transfair.ca).
4. You should allow 6-12 business days for transit, as customs may take several days to process your shipment.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Loose Leaf Tea in Corporate Cafeterias, Dining Facilities, and Break Rooms
Several corporate dining facilities directors have approached us with an interest in bringing higher quality loose tea into their on-site campuses - break rooms, dining facilities, and meeting rooms. As I have mentioned previously, tea is an excellent sign of health and hospitality. In a corporate / business setting, it is also an opportunity to discuss a neutral topic prior to getting onto business.
International business travelers will also enjoy the chance to sample something that either is of a quality similar to what they have at home or at the very least something that they typically encounter at an airport coffee shop. What a pleasant way to distinguish yourself and your organization from the crowd. Serving high quality tea is basically a very inexpensive gesture that will likely put your clients in a better mood, too.
On another business application, we know annual performance reviews can be quite challenging and contentious. Start the review by sharing a pot of tea between managers and staff. I'm sure you'll immediately notice a difference in attitude.
In England and elsewhere in the world, afternoon tea is a tradition, even in business settings. We have seen many companies use afternoon tea breaks for impromptu meetings or just bonding between work associates.
In short, there are many corporate settings which simply invite the tradition and graciousness of tea. At Kopius Teas (www.kopiusteas.com) we are prepared to discuss your corporate tea program for your on site food managers, as well as offering tea in your employee break rooms and corporate gift giving.
International business travelers will also enjoy the chance to sample something that either is of a quality similar to what they have at home or at the very least something that they typically encounter at an airport coffee shop. What a pleasant way to distinguish yourself and your organization from the crowd. Serving high quality tea is basically a very inexpensive gesture that will likely put your clients in a better mood, too.
On another business application, we know annual performance reviews can be quite challenging and contentious. Start the review by sharing a pot of tea between managers and staff. I'm sure you'll immediately notice a difference in attitude.
In England and elsewhere in the world, afternoon tea is a tradition, even in business settings. We have seen many companies use afternoon tea breaks for impromptu meetings or just bonding between work associates.
In short, there are many corporate settings which simply invite the tradition and graciousness of tea. At Kopius Teas (www.kopiusteas.com) we are prepared to discuss your corporate tea program for your on site food managers, as well as offering tea in your employee break rooms and corporate gift giving.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
CoffeeFest 2009 presentation on analytics
Ronald Eng will be presenting at the CoffeeFest Seattle on Friday, September 25, 2009 at 10am. The presentation will focus on the use of analytical methods, including scorecards and dashboards, to improve menu selection and profitability.
Premise: As a small business owner, how do we make informed business decisions when time and information are at a premium? What performance parameters are important to track and how can this information be summarized for rapid assimilation and management oversight?
Methods: Come to the talk for details!
Conclusions: Point of Sale systems are excellent instruments for data collection. This transactional information, when used in conjunction with financial statements, combine to provide an ongoing, visual monitoring of your business, both its recent history and projected future.
Premise: As a small business owner, how do we make informed business decisions when time and information are at a premium? What performance parameters are important to track and how can this information be summarized for rapid assimilation and management oversight?
Methods: Come to the talk for details!
Conclusions: Point of Sale systems are excellent instruments for data collection. This transactional information, when used in conjunction with financial statements, combine to provide an ongoing, visual monitoring of your business, both its recent history and projected future.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Restaurant Demand for Specialty Wholesale Bulk Tea
When speaking with friends or even business associates, we are frequently asked who our customers are at Kopius Teas. Mostly we explain the retail tea merchants, coffee roasters, coffee shops, restaurants, Internet-based tea distributors, and specialty applications where tea is packaged and used as a branding tool.
The one area I'd like to address today is restaurants. The restaurant use of specialty loose tea or tea bags can be a little bit more challenging than the other sectors listed previously. The main reason for this is because tea is one of many products that are prepared and served in a typical restaurant. While nearly all culinary professionals would agree that loose leaf tea steeped properly results in a beverage far superior to teabag tea, they're certainly an added hurdle of training and logistics required to ensure the proper amount of tea temperature of water and time of steep are optimized for the restaurant patron. Add to this the fact that the turnover rate in restaurants is typically higher, and you can see why many restaurant owners and operators favor teabags to loose tea.
Over the past 10 years the emergence of pure see-through teabags containing larger leaf teas and herbal tisanes has brought greater awareness to the premium nature of a whole leaf product. Mighty Leaf, Revolution, Two Leaves and a Bud, and many other provide viable, quality options for restaurant use. Furthermore, these products are individually wrapped, attractive, and enjoy strong, brand recognition.
On the other hand, if a restaurant is interested in building its own brand, representing natural, unique, novel concepts and dining experiences, then they might consider putting the effort into serving whole loose tea at their establishments. And if restaurant management decides to pursue this leve of quality, I would certainly encourage them to develop their own custom blends and offer them as private label, branded teas. Tea is associated with health, rejevenation, and a soulful meditative state of well being. The products store well and can be packaged to desired specifications. Compared with t-shirts, mugs, and other branded products, I would suggest that specialty tea when brought home or share with others, can help enforce the values of a restaurant's target dining experience.
The one area I'd like to address today is restaurants. The restaurant use of specialty loose tea or tea bags can be a little bit more challenging than the other sectors listed previously. The main reason for this is because tea is one of many products that are prepared and served in a typical restaurant. While nearly all culinary professionals would agree that loose leaf tea steeped properly results in a beverage far superior to teabag tea, they're certainly an added hurdle of training and logistics required to ensure the proper amount of tea temperature of water and time of steep are optimized for the restaurant patron. Add to this the fact that the turnover rate in restaurants is typically higher, and you can see why many restaurant owners and operators favor teabags to loose tea.
Over the past 10 years the emergence of pure see-through teabags containing larger leaf teas and herbal tisanes has brought greater awareness to the premium nature of a whole leaf product. Mighty Leaf, Revolution, Two Leaves and a Bud, and many other provide viable, quality options for restaurant use. Furthermore, these products are individually wrapped, attractive, and enjoy strong, brand recognition.
On the other hand, if a restaurant is interested in building its own brand, representing natural, unique, novel concepts and dining experiences, then they might consider putting the effort into serving whole loose tea at their establishments. And if restaurant management decides to pursue this leve of quality, I would certainly encourage them to develop their own custom blends and offer them as private label, branded teas. Tea is associated with health, rejevenation, and a soulful meditative state of well being. The products store well and can be packaged to desired specifications. Compared with t-shirts, mugs, and other branded products, I would suggest that specialty tea when brought home or share with others, can help enforce the values of a restaurant's target dining experience.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Kopius Teas at CoffeeFest 2009
We will be attending CoffeeFest 2009 in Seattle, WA. Ron will be giving a talk on the use of analytics in tea menu selection. The talk is scheduled for Friday, September 25, 10am. Please visit www.coffeefest.com for more information.
Kenya Tea Auction featured on NPR's Morning Edition
NPR’s morning edition featured a podcasted interview at the Mombassa Tea Auction by Gwen Thompkins – In Kenya, Tea Auction Steeped In Tradition, Gentility.
This gives you a feel for the traditional method of auctioning teas, which has occurred weekly for many years.
While many teas from Kenya are CTC, they do offer some limited, high quality, whole leaf tea, including oolong and black teas. Kenyan teas are bold and distinct from teas from India and Sri Lanka. In our retail environment, we felt it was beneficial to offer teas from a variety of countries to demonstrate its true international appeal and heritage.
Kopius Teas (www.kopiusteas.com) has brought in some excellent Kenya oolongs and blacks. We think the oolongs are quite rare and would make a good talking point at the point of sale.
Another resource is the Kenya Tea Board.
This gives you a feel for the traditional method of auctioning teas, which has occurred weekly for many years.
While many teas from Kenya are CTC, they do offer some limited, high quality, whole leaf tea, including oolong and black teas. Kenyan teas are bold and distinct from teas from India and Sri Lanka. In our retail environment, we felt it was beneficial to offer teas from a variety of countries to demonstrate its true international appeal and heritage.
Kopius Teas (www.kopiusteas.com) has brought in some excellent Kenya oolongs and blacks. We think the oolongs are quite rare and would make a good talking point at the point of sale.
Another resource is the Kenya Tea Board.
Searchable Knowledgebase
We are continually improving the content of our Searchable Knowledgebase at www.kopiusteas.com. The searchable knowledgebase can be found on the left navigation panel. In particular, we are constructing a series of FAQ's to address many of the more common questions we encounter among start-up tea programs. These are collected not only from our wholesale experience, but our direct experience as retail store owners. If you have questions of general interest that do not appear, please let us know by commenting on this entry.
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