When Adelaide’s first tea salon opened on Gouger Street almost 20 years ago, few would have guessed that the small family-owned business would play an influential role in shaping South Australia’s tea industry.
But, two decades on, T-Bar has established itself as one of the most recognised boutique brands in Australia. With more than 120 varieties of tea, T-Bar now has an additional two franchised stores in Adelaide, and supplies tea products to retailers and consumers across the globe.
While T-Bar’s signature flavours have evolved to reflect their customer’s tastes, T-Bar owners Peggy and John Veloudos, and Kate and Tony George, believe it is their passion for creating quality blends from ethically sourced products that has seen T-Bar become a reputable brand people can trust.
“Introducing a tea salon to Adelaide (in 1999) when everything was predominantly coffee posed a huge challenge,” Mrs Veloudos said.
“It was a slow, yet fulfilling process of making the consumer aware that there was finally a real buzz about tea and all the different types of teas that were on offer.”
Yet Mrs Veloudos said establishing the first T-Bar store at the Central Markets on Gouger Street – the food bowl of Adelaide – was the perfect way to not only connect with locals, but also share T-Bar’s products with national and international visitors.
Today, T-Bar specialises in supplying a variety of tea – from single origin to blended, herbal, black, green and white teas; all sourced from the best producers around the world.
As consumers have taken a greater interest in the health benefits of the various tea blends, T-Bar have developed a range of teas to complement demand including chai tea blends, decaffeinated tea, fruit melange tea, instant tea, lapacho tea, mate, oolong, and organic teas.
“Finding the right tea producers has been interesting and very rewarding. It has given us the opportunity to travel and source reputable, ethical tea growers which is very important to us,” Mrs Veloudos said.
“We supply more than 300 outlets including the Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island, the Festival Theatre, SA Museum, Intercontinental Hotel, as well as various Bed and Breakfasts, yoga studios, health retreats, restaurants, hotels and cafes.”
Drinking tea has always been a major family tradition for the George and Veloudos family. As the business has grown, Mrs Veloudos said she has enjoyed learning more about the tea industry and trade.
“We are very pleased we started T-Bar because tea is a lovely industry to be involved in and the business has thrived as tea and coffee consumption has increased in recent years. There is so much to learn. Every time I try tea, I feel like I’m drinking the country it came from,” she said.
T-Bar stores are located at:
- 44 Gouger Street, Central Markets, Adelaide
- 77-91 Rundle Mall, Adelaide
- Flinders Centre For Innovation In Cancer, Flinders Drive, Bedford Park
T-Bar tea can also be ordered online from anywhere in Australia: www.tbar.com.au
Or it is available at selected stockists, for a full stockists visit their website.
@tbartea #tbartea
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