Old School and the Tea Man Come to Call

Two people came into the cafe today, all with new wares for the GoNOMAD Cafe. It is interesting to me being on this side of the fence; for many of my years of working I've been the guy with the pitch and the samples. Now I buy the items for the business--and I like this side better.

First Oliver Rich from Teaguys came to call. Liz our manager is very enthusiastic about teas. She has been talking about getting more teas...and since the Daily Hampshire Gazette published the article about Oliver's business in nearby Florence, I was enthused enough to give him a call. He knows his teas...he spread out their handblended mixes in little metal jars and we eagerly sniffed. In one he puts in chopped up coffee beans, in others, it's raspberry, and tiny pineapple bits, and of course, the hoary teas themselves, pungent, curly, wispy. "We make tea lattes," he told us. "We use an espresso maker!"

So we'll begin including teas from this Tea-Man of Florence next week. We'll buy bags and put the mixes into disposable bags, and advise our customers that they need to remove the bag after two minutes, and give them water that's exactly 180 degrees.
And we'll have a new Tea Menu to solidify our place as South Deerfield's Tea Headquarters.

Then we met with Don Williams, who reps for Old School Baking in Northampton. He left off a huge rack of all of their fine artisan breads. Nice and fluffy, smelling like yeast and sourdough, and with some flourish...like their panini shaped rolls, and luscious raison dark bread. I love bread and these guys know how to bring it. We are gonna use it in sandies, but maybe we can sell loaves in the cafe? We'll see.