American history is steeped in tea culture. Our country was originally colonized by a bunch of rich, tea-drinking aristocrats and, more recently, a right wing political group known as the “Tea Party” has named themselves after the Boston Tea Party, an event which proved to be a flashpoint leading up to the American Revolution.

  When it comes to drinking tea, however, Americans are a bit behind, usually favoring coffee or energy drinks as early morning pick-me-ups. That all may change now that La Colombe Coffee, the renowned coffee roasting company based in the Riverwards, is now offering a line of eight highly curated teas and tisane.

  Tisane is another name for herbal tea. Two tisanes, five teas and one iced tea will be offered in custom designed tea bags or sachets. La Colombe and owner Todd Carmichael are known for sourcing some of the best fair trade coffee from places well off the beaten path. They’re taking the same approach for their tea and have teamed up with Rishi Tea, a company that sources teas and tisanes from some very diverse teas from all over the world, to do so.

  According to their website, Rishi Tea began in 1997 as a small company in Milwaukee. Founder Joshua Kaiser has turned his passion for travel and tea into becoming a global distributor of organic teas. According to Alexis Siemens, La Colombe’s tea consultant, Rishi Tea meets the standard of quality that La Colombe customers expect.

  “Rishi ended up being a perfect fit. They met all of our mission points in terms of organic direct trade traceability. Their quality is incredible…they’re well respected in the tea community,” Siemens said. “They were just as excited as we were.”

  According to Siemens, she was brought in as a consultant in January to design a tea program that meets the standard of quality and fair trade that La Colombe is dedicated to, as well as appealing to the palate of locals who may not be tea experts. “For the first month or two, I sat down with a team, went to cafes and tried to understand what is important to them,” Siemens said.

  Siemens says that caffeine was one of the considerations La Colombe made when choosing which teas would make up the collection. The company wanted teas that offered a range of caffeination levels so that they could offer a range. “They wanted to have options in terms of caffeine. They were aware that tea was a growing trend, and that if they were to offer it, they wanted it to match the quality of their coffee.”

  Siemens’ knowledge of tea is impressive and she takes great care in making sure the tea is properly brewed for the best experience.

  Spirit News was recently invited to a tea tasting at La Colombe’s tasting kitchen in Fishtown. The event was hosted by Siemens, who prepared samples of their tea and tisane with careful attention to water temperature and steep time.

  Siemens prepared batches of tea for a small group of media and “friends” to sample.

  We first tried two green teas. One had barley and the other had toasted brown rice flavor notes. Both blends tasted similar to sake, but without the alcohol. The rice and barley flavors shine through the light green tea. The teas pair well with a white fish or sushi.

  The golden turmeric tisane was our favorite blend. The bright yellow tea features flavor notes of candied lemon and the hints of turmeric and ginger make it a very refreshing drink. We tried it warm, but a glass of this on ice would hit the spot on a hot summer day, for sure.

  We also really liked the peppermint cardamom tisane. The bold peppermint taste is complimented by cloves and basil. It’s absolutely delicious and would be very soothing and comforting on a cold winter day.

  Siemens is confident that her hand-picked line of teas will appeal to everyone, but especially to people who know good tea. “I think people are going to enjoy our tea because the collection appeals to a variety of taste buds. Whether you want that strong robust cup, or something light and delicate, I feel that’s what Fishtown has to offer. I feel like the tea collection itself represents that multicultural, multi-flavor attitude.” •