When Sandy Williams and her partner were thinking about opening a coffee house, they wanted to offer something different. The Good Earth Coffee and Tea House opened in Oroville on Dec. 4. It offers organic and free trade coffee and tea.
"We're very proud of our product and what we offer the community," said co-owner Williams. "We feel it's very unique, and so do our customers." Coffee and tea that bear organic certification are grown and processed without toxic chemicals. The to-go cups at Good Earth are also made from environmentally friendly products.
Certified fair trade coffee and tea helps ensure living wages and safe working conditions for farmers in the countries around the world where they are grown. "It means that everyone, from the farmers to the harvesters, gets a fair price," Williams said.
Williams and her partner, David Schlanser, knew that a coffee house would have plenty of competition, so they took a lot of things into consideration before opening. Williams had two daughters who were experienced in the restaurant business, and they wanted to make it a family affair.
With that in mind, they chose Numi, a business owned by a brother and sister in the Bay Area, to supply the coffee and tea. Numi's vision is to inspire well-being of mind, body and spirit through the simple art of tea.
"Tea is liquid meditation, reminding us to enter a time and space to find our own thoughts and visions," according to the Numi brochure.
said they planned the house to offer several areas where people could enjoy a quiet, relaxing cup of tea.
The coffee house serves four types of flowering teas, which burst into a flower when put in hot water.
Flowering teas are made from a combination of tea leaves that are hand-tied into pods. Each pod makes three pots of tea served in clear pots to display the flower. Flowering teas include golden jasmine, dragon lily and sunset oolong tea. Williams said people often come in to share one pot of tea and relax and talk with family or friends.
The Good Earth Coffee and Tea House serves a variety of black, green, white and herbal teas, including a loose-leaf tea with a combination of berries and fruits. Tea lattes have been popular with customers, Williams said, and each month the coffee house offers different specialty tea and coffee drinks.
Yerba Mata tea, which grows on a small tree in the holly family in subtropical forests of South America, has also been a recent favorite because of medicinal properties. Yerba Mata is supposed to have an assortment of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. It's also supposed to be high in antioxidants.
The business subscribes to several newspapers, which are on hand for customers to read. Williams, who is a school teacher, also has a library of books to read, and people can bring in books to trade. Children's books are also on hand for customers.
Williams said they wanted to offer an extensive line of teas, because there aren't too many places to drink tea. "I drink tea, and a lot of my friends drink tea, so I wanted to have a place where tea drinkers can go and relax," she said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment