Afternoon Tea

We found an organic baker, Oh My! Bakery in Glendale, and we are now serving afternoon or some call it high tea. We have a full afternoon tea that is a real meal or a mini tea that is sweets only. Both afternoon tea choices come with an organic pot of tea. Really excited to see if people respond to this & want to see if we get any feedback on doing afternoon tea in downtown. It's a bit different than what the Biltmore offers, so not sure if that is what people are looking for.
Tonight there is another show at the Orpheum so will have a later closing than usual to accommodate the crowd.
Also on a crazy note, we were recording when the slow dude (a guy who walks around downtown extremely slowly, more like a shuffle) passed by our storefront. We had him coming by between 3 & 4pm and then he was not seen for 3 weeks. Now you may think we just missed him, or he came at another time, or we were busy when he walked by, but let me just say that he walks so slow, it takes almost 5 minutes to clear the front, and we think one of us would have seen him. Plus we were on the look out to record his time, so we thought maybe something happened to him. As the weeks passed we were getting concerned about his absence. Well happily he returned on Wednesday & everyone who works at siptea let out a cheer! So he is alive & well and still walking slowly around downtown.

The Mayor of Los Angeles

Celebrity sighting here at siptea! Antonio Villaraigosa came in today to have a pot of green tea & a meeting with Jessica McLean of the Bringing Back Broadway Project, along with his bodyguard. I used the opportunity to mention the green roofs project that the Mayor of Chicago started and that we should use some of the green stimulus money for putting green roofs in downtown LA. He was interested in the build out of the space & I told him we followed LEED standards, but couldn't afford the certification, because you had to have an on-site LEED representative to certify your project. Too large a cost, $25,000 to $50,000, for a tea house. He said that was something the city should look into for small projects and small businesses.
He also got a kick out of the bathroom & the fact that I put Councilmember Jose Huizar's plaque up in the restroom.
Some of the customers texted friends of the Mayor sighting. Overall very cool & receptive to the place & what we were trying to do as a green business.

Techno

Okay so the issue is the modem, maybe? Everything is working but I can't get on the internet in windows mode, only Mac mode, which is cool with me. Hopefully next Monday will solve the problem, getting a new router.
Looking to get some new teas, people have asked for something with ginger, still looking for that one, but found a great tropical green tea. Also want to get a kukicha, japanese twig tea. Need to get another pu'erh and more oolongs. Any other suggestions?
So here is the scoop on the frequent buyer card. We are holding onto it, it has the customer's name on it, so you don't have to remember to bring it in, just remind us to stamp it when you get a tea so after 12 you get one free. Some people are already a quarter of the way there!
Made some apple crisp in the crock pot that worked out.
Looks like we have an organic baker, so in March we will start doing high tea on the weekends.
Not sure if anyone reads this, but have been surprised by people mentioning things from my blog, so I guess someone does.
Our new green tip: If you buy bulk tea from us, bring back your pouch & get 75 cents off your tea refill. Another way to reduce/reuse/recycle.

Bad Techno Day

Ok, so usually I'm not a complete dunce when it comes to technology. I do have to admit to not really understanding all the geek talk, but most things make sense. Full disclosure, I use a Mac. Today everything technical seemed to go haywire. I couldn't get the printer to print out some labels for my new postcards. Got around it in a really strange way. I have to have my Mac in Windows mode to run the cash register, ended up emailing a pdf of the menu & labels to print them in Windows mode, because Mac mode wasn't able to print. Then the cash register (pos) system went down, wouldn't run credit cards, then wouldn't respond quickly to the touch screen, took forever to get an order in, literally 3-5 minutes to type it in, hopefully without any errors. Arrgh! Don't know what is wrong with technology & me today, maybe it is something in the air.
Then the tech problems seemed to spill over into other areas, someone took my compost bin from the alley & they didn't send the replacement like they said they would. Had an event at 'Pussy & Pooch', doggie tea party, we provided the tea. Try to find a place to park after 3pm over at 5th & Main, yikes! Got the stuff to them after a 1/2 block walk, carrying everything at once, only to get a call from siptea saying I forgot the pump for the airpot & so drove back to Pussy & Pooch to give them the pump. Double Arrgh!! I just want the day to be over so nothing else can go wrong. (by the way the labels didn't work with the printer after all, they were labels for a laser printer & the ink jet just smeared :( so had to hand write the coupon on the postcards, not very professional double frowny face :( :( )
Here's to a better day tomorrow.
So we are starting a frequent buyer card, buy 12 teas, get one free! Come in & ask us about what else we have coming up!

To Go or Not To Go?

So that is the question we ask people when they order from siptea. Is that for here or to go? Most people answer with what they are going to do. But we do have the occasional person who says "to go" then sits down & eats the whole thing in house & throws the box & utensils in the compost (thanks at least for doing the compost part). This is because they think they are leaving or might not finish everything and want to take what is left with them. Okay, that's nice, but the amount of energy & resources that go into the to go container, is so much more than our dishwasher uses. Also if they don't eat everything, we have smaller to go containers that are less trash & also happen to cost us less. The urge I have every time is to tell the individuals that are doing this, that they are wasting compostable containers and we would much prefer to give them a plate/glass/cup and wash it & maybe even give them in the end a to go container for the remainder of their meal/drink, then give them one in the beginning. We don't have many people ask for doggie bags, so if you think you want to stay, but might have to leave early, still say "for here" that is the better choice.

Updates

So the tree was hit by a UPS truck, if you didn't read the comments. I don't know if it is being replaced, but sounds like the Eastern wants it replaced.
We are going to have paintings by Todd Becraft up for Thursday's Downtown Artwalk. Stop by & also check out Gary Leonard's new gallery 2 doors down from us. He will also be open til 9pm for Artwalk.
Friday Night Flights are lots of fun, slowly catching on, we are hopeful people will get into them & tea as much as we are. This Friday we will be open to 11pm for a Poetry reading event. More details to come & will post links too.
Just wanted to let people know what we are up to!

Trees Cut Down on Broadway

So this morning I get to work to see one of the ficus trees in front of the Eastern Columbia building, is now in pieces on the ground. Within a few hours the tree was chewed up & gone. I don't know the reason, roots in the sewer? The trees were just trimmed a few months ago, at the buildings expense, and now the city cut the tree down. The stump is still there & if I know ficus trees that thing will be a crazy looking bush in a matter of months & I don't know if the city will remove the stump, but if they don't the roots will still be an issue. What gives LA? I thought we were suppose to be planting trees not cutting them down.