Five years ago Haymen Daluz decided to venture out of the cell phone business and into the world of tea. He opened an Aroma Tea Shop in the Richmond district and last July he decided to expand with a second shop located on Polk St.
Aroma Tea Shop offers approximately one hundred different teas to choose from. With an inviting ambiance, Daluz extends his hospitality letting customers sample the teas before purchasing. With so many teas to choose from, I contemplate out loud how anyone could ever make a decision?
“People do come in and ask what teas we have for blood pressure and when they think of tea they correlate that to medicinal health remedies as opposed to drinking it for taste like wine,” Daluz explains.
However, Daluz says that some people do drink tea for the pure taste alone. “With tea you can really get into the culture, taste and seasons like wine,” says Daluz.
Daluz cites the most popular flavors being the fruity variety especially the apple-flavored teas. His personal favorites include the aged Pu Er teas. He explains that he usually directs people to certain teas after they explain what particular flavor or medicinal remedy they are seeking.
“The most popular flavor is the Blue People Oolong tea with ginseng and licorice. It is really sweet,” says Daluz.
Daluz admits that opening the Nob Hill location has been an experience thus far. He explains that he is unsure of how the store will do in a more mainstream location where most people are unfamiliar with tea.
“The difficulty of this store being in Nob Hill was trying to market to the average consumer. How do we sell tea to people that have no idea what tea is? Here you have more of the latte crowd,” says Daluz.
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