Tea Grotto - A Delightful Alternative

The Tea Grotto, a Utah tea-house pioneer, has opened a premium tea and tonic bar in its Sugarhouse location. The Tea Grotto’s owner, Rebecca Sheeran, a long time Women’s Business Center client recently arrived home from tea plantations in India, bringing a plethora of world-class teas for the tea-bar.

Located at 2030 South and 900 East, the successful Tea Grotto is a premier modern tea cafe',  generating considerable buzz about the tea-bar experience while awakening Salt Lake City residents to a refreshing coffee alternative. Since its 2004 opening, the Tea Grotto has quickly become one of the hottest meeting places on the East Side, attracting people from all walks of life, from busy moms looking for an afternoon escape to hip teens searching for new ways to kick back after school.

The tea bar provides a unique sensory experience and is a great opportunity to taste and learn about tea.  The bar features premium Chinese teas steeped as in the Chinese Gaiwan Ceremony, including White Dragon Pearl, Pi Lo Chun, Heaven's Formosa, Iron Goddess, and an aged Pu-erh tea—some of the finest-quality teas commercially available in Utah.  The tea bar also includes an array of Matcha drinks, a powdered green tea from Japan that has three times the antioxidants of other green teas.
 
Rebecca brings her passion for tea to the Tea Grotto. She has been certified in many levels of tea through the Specialty Tea Institute, has trained in Japan Town and China Town in San Francisco, has traveled around many other tea rooms in the States, and, most recently, has explored the most famous black tea region in India: Darjeeling.

“The Tea Grotto has teas from Japan, China, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka - - all over the world," Sheeran said. "For people who are used to drinking tea from a restaurant or from tea bags, this is a completely different experience. It's all loose-leaf tea, which is a better flavor than you'll get in a grocery store."
“One cannot appreciate or imagine the effort that goes into producing a cup of tea," she adds. Black tea goes through a process of hand-plucking, withering, rolling in two stages, oxidizing, firing, and sorting.  While on the plantations in India, Rebecca walked through the green-tea fields and spent time with the pickers by a waterfall.  She also visited some shipping factories in Calcutta, tasting dozens of teas and continuing her tea education while fulfilling her passion.

Commenting on the growing popularity of Tea - "People are rediscovering it," she said, "after throwing it in the ocean at the Boston Tea Party."

The Tea Grotto's tea and tonic bar, fashioned after San Francisco and Seattle tea rooms, is open Monday through Saturday from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm. (The Tea Grotto is open Monday through Saturday 9:00 am– 9:00 pm; Sunday from 12:00 noon-5:00 pm).

The Tea Grotto is so successful that Rebecca wants someone to partner her passion, responsibility and work. If you are interested in becoming a partner call Rebecca Sheeran at 801-466-8255.

The Women's Business Center is a public/private partnership between the Salt Lake Chamber and the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Women's Business Ownership (OWBO).  The Women's Business Center webpage is located at: www.saltlakechamber.org/aboutus/affiliates/wbc