Janam Tea

Our Story

Janam Tea

**Note my tripadvisor.com profile is for my NYC tearoom recently closed due to Covid, but the Columbus, Ohio tearoom is open. It's included to give you an idea of the type of experiences I create** -Amy Amy grew up in Ohio and had a curious palate as a child, Early in college, she decided to intentionally start developing her palate through wine tasting classes and becoming more interested in food, cooking, baking and fine dining. In 1998, she took her first trip to India with a college friend and observed her grandmother making masala chai in the kitchen. “I had no idea if what she was putting in that pot was animal, mineral or vegetable, but the resulting flavor was fantastic!”. Over the next few years, she studied diligently and came upon the Tea Board of India’s office in New York. After multiple visits, it became clear another trip to India was in order. This time for tea. This time for six months. Armed with no more than 3 email addresses and 2 years of thoughtful study behind her, she set off on a self-funded, independent study of tea in India. She visited many fields and factories in Assam, Darjeeling, The Nilgiris as well as industry centers such as: auction centers, blending facilities and Tea Board offices. The hospitality that was showed to her by all members of the tea industry made her feel so at home that she knew the knowledge and love for tea couldn’t be kept to herself. In 2004, when she returned, Janam Indian Tea was born to teach people about the magic of Indian tea in a way most closely resembling how she learned. Janam Indian Tea Shop opened in Jersey City, NJ in 2005 and she realized that the success of tea is interwoven with the community that adopts it. It’s for that reason that she wears the crown of another industry ‘first’, having been an official sponsor of a skateboarding team, reinventing the notion that tea is for old ladies and little girls. Janam Skate Team members were fully part of our tea family, getting free refills in their reusable branded mugs, complimentary admission to our live music events and special pricing on all our products. Over the next ten years, Amy continued sourcing tea, returning to India to keep her relationships active and to learn even more about tea. In 2016, she had the opportunity to open Janam Tea room in partnership with a speakeasy in New York’s Lower East Side. The tearoom is operational as of November 2020 for private parties only, though it started out being open to the general public. She has held countless events like: baby showers, bridal showers, corporate events, fashion shows, tastings, classes for children, students of chess, and many other events. She believes that Indian tea as a product and as an experience are inextricable. In addition to the above accomplishments and alliances with her counterparts in India, in January of 2020, she took her first group of tourists to India to see the tea gardens for themselves and will continue into the future to provide tea, services, experiences, tours and maybe even one day a book about her life in Indian tea. If you’d like to keep up with her latest ideas, plans and teas-join the mailing list! We can wait to see you in the tearoom, online, at a corporate event or on a tour one day soon.

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