Tea Biz News and Insight - September 9, 2022

HEAR THE HEADLINES – There’s Ample Tea for Sanctioned Russians: After six months of sanctions, the tea aisles in Russian grocery stores display few European brands, but the shelves are not bare | Kenya’s Tea Industry Suffers Collateral Damage Due to Sanctions | Tata Consumer Products is on the Hunt

| NEWSMAKER – Kevin Gascoyne, partner Camellia Sinensis, Montreal, Canada

| FEATURE INTRO – Tea Biz travels to the newly remodeled Camellia Sinensis tea house in Montreal, Canada, for a conversation with partner Kevin Gascoyne: Our stores have always offered options to smell the tea, he says, but we wanted to capture that special tasting moment and offer the possibility to take it further.

The Evolution of Experiential Retail – The Camellia Sinensis retail store has undergone many physical changes since 2001 when it first opened in a space adjacent to the established teahouse, but this is the most extensive, says partner Kevin Gascoyne, one of four master tea merchants who own the venture. The company wholly reimagined and remodeled its brick-and-mortar flagship after COVID-19 lockdowns forced the teahouse to close. The new design incorporates many time-proven aspects of tea retail – the most important of which is sampling. Gascoyne explains that clients appreciate the opportunity to select their tea sensorially. But he says, “despite continued popularity and regular lineups of clients eager to visit, the changing times meant that those precious moments of magic we created with such love and care barely paid the bills. It required enormous micro-management and many staff to offer such a complete experience to so many people. We are done with the impracticalities of the sit-down visit, but we wanted to capture that special tasting moment and offer the possibility to take it further.”

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