The hardest part about picking a place to grab a cup of coffee in Milwaukee is deciding which of the five cafes within walking distance you'd like to go to.
The hardest part about finding a tea house in Milwaukee, is, well, actually finding one. That's not to say there aren't any, but when Brew City Tea opens up in the Third Ward on Feb. 1, it's safe to say that it's a welcome addition to a fairly untapped market in Milwaukee.
Brew City Tea is a bulk tea shop and café that occupies the quaint, 780-sq. ft. space at 140 N. Jefferson St., the former home of Bon Bon Café.
Much like specialty wine shops, entering the world of bulk tea without an education on the subject can be somewhat intimidating. Here, ordering a cup of tea finds you facing some serious decision making: Green? Black? Herbal? Flavored? A Blend? And the fact that most of your choices for each category look nearly identical certainly isn't helping.
This is where owner Jean Vitrano's enthusiasm and savvy comes into play.
"I don't want Milwaukee's tea experience to be Lipton," she says. "I want to be a tea educator."
Backed by a tea specialist certification from the Specialty Tea Institute in New York, Vitrano has hand selected 65 tea varieties to offer her customers. To help the tea drinker in training navigate her shop she's complied a helpful handbook that references and describes in detail each tea she sells, down to its specific steeping time.
And for the tea drinker who prefers trial by taste, Vitrano is planning her in-house tea tasting nights, which she says will double as mini classes.
"I'd like to keep them small," she says. "Probably six people at the time, and we'll taste six different teas and learn about them."
Brew City Tea is for sale by the cup ($2-$3.50), pot ($3.50-$5) or in bulk by the ounce ($2.50-$10) and every tea can be served iced upon request. The shop is small -- it's able to accommodate about 15 to 20 people inside, and more when the weather allows for outdoor patio seating -- which creates a comfortable, intimate setting where Vitrano hopes people will sit and read or engage in a game of chess or two.
"I'm not doing any wholesaling or anything -- that's Rishi's niche." Her niche, rather, is more for people to come in to buy a pot or a cup of tea and relax, or learn about tea.
In addition to traditional teas, Vitrano carries what she's calling "children's tea," which by definition isn't actually tea at all, but rather a tisane, which is an herbal infusion of various herbs, dried fruits, flowers and berries. Some tisanes come stocked with high amounts of vitamin C and other nutrients that parents can feel good about.
"I wanted to get something for the kids to get them interested in drinking tea a little bit," she says. "They are a bit sweeter, but are also good for you."
Brew City Tea does not have a full kitchen, or even anything close, but there will be a small yet tasty selection of snacks, including desserts -- cheesecake, scones, muffins -- paninis and tea sandwiches.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
