Changing the way we drink Tea; Rashi Sanghvi’s Venture Gardner Street Tea is making our Tea Time Special
The most interesting part of a start-up story is the inception of the idea. So when Rashi Sanghvi founder & “TEO” of Gardner Street Tea told me that she never drank tea till she moved to Boston for her MBA, I knew this was going to be startup story with a difference. Meet Gardner Street Tea and its founder Rashi Sanghvi.
The Tea Story
So how did this love affair with tea begin? “Despite growing up in Mumbai, I never was a tea person. It was only after I moved to Boston, that I discovered tea as an antidote to the cold weather. Loads of chai and hot chocolate to keep me warm.” Rashi adds with a laugh. But it was not just a sudden love for the beverage that she discovered. She began exploring different varieties of tea available in India and abroad. This was while she was doing her MBA in Entrepreneurship from Olin Graduate School of Business at the Babson University. She was also the VP (Events) of Babson Food, Beverage and Hospitality Organization and the Co-President of Babson South Asian Business Association.
“In the US Teavana and Argo Tea were giving a wide variety of options for tea drinkers. I also visited the Spice Bazaar during one of my trip’s to Turkey. It was interesting to see natural tea blends with rose petals, apples, Chinse flowers, etc.” Her tea curiosity followed her home when she came to Mumbai for a break. “I saw that there was a shift towards green tea, but for the most part, people had limited options to explore. Drinking good tea need not translate to gulping down something warm and tasteless. Tea needs to be flavor full and made with the best of ingredients.” To solve all our tea based conundrums, Rashi moved back after her MBA and set up her venture Gardner Street Tea in 2013.
The Venture
Let’s face it; our tea sessions are very important to us, and many of us do suffer from Tepidophobia. So it was very interesting for me to understand how we never experience tea to its full potential. “What most of us drink as chai is made out of dust tea, which is the lowest grade of tea. It’s not just the grade, even with whole leaf tea, flavors are sometimes artificially added”, explains Rashi. So when Rashi set to work on Gardner Street Tea, these loopholes are what she aimed to fill, “whole leaf premium tea that is healthy, tasty and made with the choicest of ingredients.”
The name Gardner Street Tea comes from the street Rashi lived in Boston when she discovered her love for the beverage. Packaged in attractive boxes their product range includes flavors such as “Lemon Aid” with lemon peels, “Berry Good”, “Flower Power” with rose petals and hibiscus among other options. The South African Rooibos Red Tea, Rashi explains is a great bedtime tea option. Free from caffeine this red tea is made from a South African Herb which the tribals used for its medicinal benefits, primarily to treat babies with colic issues. The nutty flavor and color of this tea make it an ideal dessert. Our very own Kashmiri Khawa tea is also part of the Gardner Street Tea product range. With cardamom cloves and rose petals, this tea almost sounds like a personal treat.
Behind this exciting range of products lies copious amounts of tea tasting and multiple trips to tea gardens. “As much as we wanted our products to be wholesome and healthy, we also wanted them to be tasty. We did multiple tea tasting sessions and even ruled out some interesting product ideas just because the final taste was not appealing. It’s an experience that we are giving people and not just a product.”
The Road Ahead
One of the biggest challenges for this venture was to get people to try their products. “Consumer education is definitely a challenge. To make people understand why we design our products they way we do, which also justifies our price range is not that simple. While there is a definite shift in our tea drinking habits, making people try our newer blends still needed some amount of explanation. On a positive note, once they give our products a try, they don’t hesitate to purchase them. A lot of people have approached us because they heard about our products from customers who have tried it and loved it.”
Gardner Street Tea is revolutionizing not just tea drinking but also gifting. Be it weddings or festivals, Gardner Street products, are gifts that spread a positive message. Their Facebook page also promotes an overall healthy approach, with information not just about their products but also about Yoga asanas and everyday health tips.
Rashi’s advice to future entrepreneurs is simple. “If you have a quality product that you believe in, then go for it. Work hard and put it out there. Show people your product can make a difference. It will be tough, but it will be worth it.”
Gardner Street Tea is your one stop tea shop for tea that is healthy, tasty and unique. You can look up their products on their brand new website. They deliver pan India. Don’t forget to stop by their Facebook page for product updates and related information.
Images Courtesy Of Gardner Street Tea