Ottawa, Canada

A Cup of Tea and a Chat

ALOHA Trial: Tea Sampler Pack

Lisbon

Sencha from Japan!

50g from Nara Tsukigase
http://www.yu-nakagawa.co.jp

10+ Questions with Dax Miller of Tea Amigos

According to my Gmail inbox I have been receiving Tea Amigos tea reviews since March 2011. In that particular e-mail an Amazon Spice Tea was described as having the "aroma of a fighting champion". I finally got around to asking Tea Amigos co-founder Dax Miller to explain himself. (All questions conducted via e-mail).   

1)   For those who aren’t familiar with Tea Amigos, could you give us a rundown of the site?

Tea Amigos is the home to the most comedic tea reviews out there.  We keep it real on all levels, delivering unbiased, real-talk reviews of teas you’ve heard of, and teas that you’ve never heard of.

2)  When did you first come up with the idea for e-mailing tea reviews?

It started as just a joke.  Mike and I are marketers, and seeing all of the funny made-up phrases that people use to describe products needed a parody.  We decided that all the tea we drink on a daily basis would be great candidates to clown.  Then Tea Amigos was born.

3)  When did you first start sending them?

From day 1 we always had the email option for people that wanted to subscribe, and day 1 was sometime in late 2008.

4) Why tea reviews? Why not review something else?

We steep tea on the daily.  Having tried hundreds of tea, we know what we are talking about.

5)  Do most of your friends know about your website?

Most definitely.  People know what’s really good with the Tea Amigos.  They don’t even have to steep tea to appreciate the humor.

6)  There was a recent hiatus with your reviews. Would you like to say anything about it?

I started getting very involved with a personal project now turned corporation (namely The HOTH Corp), and Mike was traveling a lot.  TA got put on the back burner, but the love was never lost. 

7)  If you could choose three historical figures and/or modern day celebrities to read your tea reviews, who would they be?

Bo Jackson – I’ve been in his official fan club since a youth and I know that Bo Knows Tea

Morgan Freeman – His narration is unparalleled.

Ellen – We’d get on her show and run with it to the moon.

8) Why should people trust your reviews?

We let the tea do the talking.  If it is bad, we will say so.  If it is awesome, the world will know.  Plus, this is a labor of love.  We take no money from the mob nor any tea lobbyists

10)  Do you have a set routine for writing your reviews?

We steep the tea, take a couple of notes, then re-steep the same sachet to check the power of the leaf.  Lastly we steep again just to make sure we didn’t miss any mesquitability or something noteworthy. 

11)  Do you have an ultimate goal for Tea Amigos?

Our goal is to bring tea into the “cool zone”.  Many people don’t understand how great tea is and how many different types there are.   We are bringing the tea culture back!

12) Where do you live?

I currently live in Tempe, AZ, while Mike resides in a Chicago suburb named Buffalo Grove.

13)  Are there any tea shops and/or cafes near you that you particularly like?

In Chicago we really like DarkCloud.  Great people, great steeps.  Also, Wormhole in Wicker Park is the jam as well.  We do a lot of hothing there.

14) What’s your daily tea consumption like?

I’ve been steeping a lot of Yerba Mate lately, to the tune of 3 cups per day.  Throw in about 4 other random tea for the love or for the game and we are at about 6 cups of tea per day each.

We steep hella.

15) Do you have a favorite tea of all time?

Personally, my favorite tea of all time has to be Organic and Pure White Tea with Lemongrass.  This is a rare find and is only available in random grocery stores in Chicago.  Peep the reviews on Tea Amigos and you’ll see exactly why this mystical blend is a mainstay in my pantry.

16) What do you envision for the future of tea drinking in America?

I see either us, or another figure in the 20-35 age market making tea cool again.   I envision people showing up with full teasan status, whipping out their own tea bags at cafes.  It will get gangster.

17)  Is there anything you’d like to add?

Thank you for this opportunity to put more people onto Tea Amigos and our reviews.  Shout out to thehoth.com and lookout for GroupHug (grouphugapp.com) that will most likely change the internet as we know it.  Steep on…

David Mitchell on Coffee

Mitchell tells it like it is.