"Me" Tube

When the Capital Region Gourmet Meet-Ups group visited The Good Leaf a few weeks ago, Kathleen Lisson, the group organizer, was kind enough to tape part of my presentation and post it on You Tube. If you want to check it out, here's the link.

I shared a bit about the history and manufacture of tea, what distinguishes different types of tea, differences between true tea and other herbal or fruit infusions, and information about the health and well-being benefits of tea. Kathleen, the group organizer, is an oenophile and initiated an interesting discussion on tea and food pairings. When you think about it, tea and wine have many similarities including the many varieties that come from a single plant, the complexity of the product, and how well both pair with foods and socialization. And while I am a wine lover as well as a tea lover, I definitely prefer the tea hangover.

Anyway, we tasted about 6 teas and participants seemed to really enjoy my "tea sniffing station". All in all, it was a great time; I want to thank everyone who came out (or rather, came in) on that first beautiful evening of the spring season.

Vacation

The Good Leaf will be closed for vacation during the week of 4/14 - 4/21. We will not be shipping orders and the warehouse shop will be closed 4/19 and 4/20. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope to see you soon.

A New Location

Hurray! The Good Leaf Gourmet Tea Company is now a chain; perhaps the world's smallest chain, but hurray anyway! Our second location will be at 274 Lark Street, between Hudson and Hamilton, in Albany. It's a great block, a terrific location, and a cute little shop. If you're familiar with the area, Lark Tatoo was there for many years before they moved a couple of storefronts down.

Here's a bit about what I have in mind: The Lark Street location will be open daily, and will build on our At the Warehouse concept. There'll be a tea bar serving all our traditional and trendy tea specialties, bubble teas of course, plus some new additions like Rooibocinno (more on that later). Our opening menu will include baked goods and chocolates and will likely expand once we settle in. We'll have about four tables in the shop and cafe seating out front. The interior of the space needs some work, but I'm optimistically and ambitiously hoping to be open in just a few weeks.

The royal we is very excited and I'll keep you posted!