Are you dreaming of creating a tea business?

Have you ever dreamed of owning your own tea business?

You imagine hosting friends and neighbors in your afternoon tearoom, serving your unique specialties. Or blending healing herbs and selling them at farmer’s markets in colorful packaging. Even traveling to remote tea gardens around the world to buy rare teas directly from the farmers. But, where to begin? There are many tea education programs but few to mentor and guide you through the beginning stages of turning that knowledge into a business.

The team organizing the Midwest Tea Festival know that many attendees come to festivals with these dreams and will be offering an affordable 2-day program for these dreamers. And they want you to help. They want you to be involved. Some of the most experienced tea people in the speciality tea industry are bring their expertise to the event. 

Now, it just needs a name! 

Whether you plan to attend or not, we would like you be get involved.

(1) Read about the plan for the class. (2) Consider the choices.  (3)  Vote with our short poll

Before you spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars creating your dream tea business, meet with some of the most experienced tea business pros to help you hone your ideas by answering questions that you might not even think of asking. Our team is steeped with global diversity, decades of experience and a passion to support new tea entrepreneurs.    CLICK HERE TO VOTE. 

More About The New Business Class

Description: 

Have you ever thought of starting your own tea business? Where do you begin? Who do you call? What books do you read? How do you know if it’s right for you? 

A 2-day program (1-day option) with an intense focus on most of the questions you should be asking yourself. And what are the best resources in the specialty tea industry for your kind of tea business? Think of this as a roadmap for how to know if you can (or should) become a tea entrepreneur. 

Saturday, October 21   8 AM – 6 PM.   &.   Sunday, October 22 8 AM – 5 PM

Options: 1 day/2 days

Full Program – 2-day Class  $199

• 2 Advance Zoom Webinars – “Exploring the Variety of Tea Businesses” & “Why Do You Want To Be A Tea Entrepreneur”
• 6 Business-focused Classes
• Additional Q&A sessions with tea professionals
• Unscheduled time to shop with the vendors
• Super Swag Bag – Industry tea samples
• Class Binder with pre-printed notes & resources (2 days)
• Networking Party on Saturday evening

Single Day – 1-day Class $129

• 2 Advance Zoom Webinars – “Exploring the Variety of Tea Businesses” & “Why Do You Want To Be A Tea Entrepreneur”
• 3 Business-focused Classes
• Additional Q&A session with tea professionals
• Free time to shop with the vendors
• Super Swag Bag – Industry tea samples
• Class Binder with pre-printed notes & resources (1 day)

Follow-Up Zoom Meeting: Saturday, Oct. 28

There are always questions you wish you’d asked. Every participant (1 and 2 day attendees) will be invited to join us for an open Zoom Q&A.

Sample Topics: 

These are a few ideas from which we will choose. 

• Taking Your Dream From Hobby to Business
• Crafting a Business Plan
• Getting and Keeping a Loyal Customer Base
• Content Creation for Social Media
• Basic Equipment & a Starting Tea Menu
• How To Establish Yourself As a Provessional
• Meet The Farmers 
• Open Q&A With Industry Pros

Sample of Festival Speakers 

These are some of the presenters for both general and for the business class. Final speaker lineup and full class descriptions will be announced soon.

• Nischal Banskota, Nepal Tea Collective
• Nicole Burriss, Taste All The Tea
• Babette Donaldson, T Ching
• Emilie Jackson, Emilie’s French Teas
• Sharyn Johnston, Australian Tea Masters
• Akiko Ono, Liliku Tea 
• James Orrock, Single Origin Teas
• Dan Robertson, The Tea House 
• Tim Smith, The Tea Smith 
• Cody Wade, The Oolong Drunk
• Dr. Sally Wei, Sally’s Tea Parlor