People who drink a lot of tea every day tend to be on the chattea side, if you know what I mean! In this case it pays off well because George Grossman of Happy Lucky's Tea House shares his wealth of tea knowledge with us in the latest on-location interview of The Real Brian Show. Whether you hate tea, casually drink tea, or consider tea one of the major food groups, we hope that this episode will be enlightening as to what the big deal is around the most popular beverage in the world.
The interview in this episode takes place at Happy Lucky's Tea House, nested in downtown Fort Collins, CO. If you can't map your next road trip through Fort Collins, try taking the virtual tour on their website! Brian sits down with George Grossman, founder of Happy Lucky's and tea aficionado, to pick his brain about the many health benefits of tea, what makes teas so distinct, and understand what drove George into the tea business in the first place.
If you fall into the "tea is gross" camp, chances are good you haven't properly tried a cup of tea. Like cooking, there is a method to the madness. Brian and George talk about some of the key aspects to brewing tea, including how (and how long) to steep tea and how to develop and train your palate. I like to compare drinking properly brewed tea to the difference between canned asparagus and fresh asparagus. Have you ever had canned asparagus? Apologies if it's your favorite, but honestly, in my opinion it doesn't hold a candle to the fresh stuff. When I first tried fresh asparagus, the vegetable suddenly made sense to me. It was delicious! But the differences between canned and fresh makes them nearly incomparable.
A lot of the pre-packaged stuff you can buy in the stores is actually quite tasty, but if you want to get a taste for tea the way it ought to be drunk, we'd encourage you to find a tea house near you and have someone, like Andy from Happy Lucky's, brew it for you. If you're in Minneapolis, I'd highly recommend The Northern Lights Tea Co! If you're neither in Fort Collins nor Minneapolis and are uncertain of where to go, leave a comment and ask for recommendations!
Photo Credit: Vee O