Tea Country (The Tea Lovers' Paradise)

Welcome to Tea Country, a place to relax, stimulate the mind and taste buds, and enjoy a healthy life. What's nice is that you don't have to travel to get to Tea Country; just enter our address (www.teacountry.com) into your browser and Tea Country will come to you. However, it would be even nicer if you’d pay us a visit at our teashop in Philadelphia ( 6722 Old York Road), the Tea Cafe (1601 North 15th Street) or at one of our other affiliated locations.

Our Mission

Our Mission is to provide our customers with some of the finest Loose-leaf specialty tea from around the world, at a competitive price. In doing this, we will provide a community within which our customers may obtain "The Real Tea Experience".

In addition, realizing that we've been blessed, we will pass those blessing along by operating a values-led organization, emphasizing fair treatment of employees, concern for the community, and doing what's best for our customers.

The Story of Tea Country

Once upon a time (in 1999) there were three wise men (Richard, Duane, and Howard) and one wise woman (Holly). They set out on a very challenging journey, to complete an accelerated MBA degree program at Eastern University ( St. Davids, PA) while holding down corporate management positions. Along the way, they were given an assignment to decide on a business venture they would like to pursue, research the industry for that business, and develop a viable business plan. Then Richard said, "how about tea". And the others said, "that's as good as anything else; after all, we're only doing this in partial fulfillment of the MBA requirements."

Well, what a surprise to learn that tea consumption was growing at a faster rate than coffee; that got the team's attention. The rest is history.

The team became thoroughly immersed in the true tea spirit for about two years and developed an "A" class business plan that brought tears to their project advisor's eyes. They launched their business, with a focus on loose-leaf tea and a vision of a tea lovers' paradise, a place called Tea Country.

The company started as an e-Commerce business (in 2002), doing business exclusively on the 'Net, and then opened its first bricks-and-mortar teashop in the East Oak lane section of Philadelphia (in 2004). The next phase of growth included opening a café and other retail locations, refine those models and then replicate those models (as company owned or franchised entities). In the meantime, keep a close eye on Tea Country and observe its transformation into a tea community that you will really appreciate.

There are a number of other tea companies out there in cyberspace, as well as in tea shops, tea rooms and tea stores, which have been around longer than Tea Country; but, none could be more dedicated and committed to creating what we call "The Real Tea Experience" than we are. Our extensive research and location of quality tea providers assures us that it won't be long before Tea Country will be the household phrase on the lips of tea lovers everywhere. And more important, we've decided to make customer service our company's core competence.

Tea Country is also committed to educating the public on tea. In this regard, the owners have received professional certifications from the World Tea Expo (formerly Take Me 2 Tea Expo) and The Specialty Tea Institute.

Our creativiTea, sensitiviTea and qualiTea will transform your mind from realiTea to fantasy.

We appreciate your business and we welcome you to Tea Country, the tea lovers' paradise.

Howard, Duane, and Richard
(By the way, Holly decided not to do the business; she just wanted her MBA degree.)