近距离内射合集

TAOS 鈥� For Dana Blair, tea is both deeply personal and something to be shared, an idea she hopes will reach its fullest expression at tea.o.graphy鈥檚 first tea house in downtown Taos.

Since opening last month, catty-corner to the Taos Inn, Blair鈥檚 newest extension of her wholesale tea business has drawn customers from all sides of that spectrum 鈥� with solitary tea lovers content to read or work in a quiet corner with a steaming cup of loose leaf, and groups gathering to socialize over iced boba on the patio outside.

Between sips, Blair鈥檚 patrons can nose more than 60 handmade organic tea samples, peruse a small curated new book collection or punch out a haiku on a typewriter 鈥� a literary hallmark of the business Blair launched 12 years ago with a tasting room a few blocks away on Kit Carson Road.

Behind the service counter, staff prepare drinks and small bites with precision, like a warm scone served with berry compote and cream alongside a pot of tea with a timer to tell customers the optimal time to pour.

The shop is bright and airy, with French windows opening onto a courtyard and two doorless rooms to escape to inside. It鈥檚 centrally located without being raucous, the intermittent thrum of a pickup passing by outside a reminder of its position here in the heart of Taos.

It鈥檚 the kind of space and experience Blair has been envisioning for years.

鈥淚鈥檝e always had a kind of dream, personally, to have some sort of place where people could gather around tea,鈥� Blair said. 鈥淏ut with so much of our focus on wholesale, we just never had that opportunity.鈥�

Fortune struck late last year, when Rolling Still Lounge vacated the historic two-story space on Taos鈥� main drag after six years serving locally made cocktails and spirits.

The former tenants even shared a similar design aesthetic, meaning returning customers might notice some reshuffling but no wholesale transformation to the interior. Even some of the furniture remains unchanged.

But Blair says it鈥檚 the substance at the center of the space that makes all the difference, bringing a certain slowness and ease of mind she鈥檚 always associated with tea.

鈥淚 feel like there鈥檚 just so much more time and space within tea,鈥� she said, 鈥渓ike if I could imagine the molecules of coffee, I feel like they鈥檙e just butting up against each other, whirring around super fast. But tea, like there鈥檚 space in between, and they just kind of flow and float around each other.鈥�

Once a 鈥渄ie-hard coffee freak鈥� who drank six cups a day, Blair transitioned to tea after being diagnosed with endometriosis, a painful reproductive disease that causes tissue to grow outside the uterus.

鈥淚 decided that tea would be my coffee alternative 鈥� that if I couldn鈥檛 drink coffee anymore, I needed something to wake up to that was a similar ritual,鈥� she said.

When she couldn鈥檛 find anything that fit the bill, she created her first coffee-style tea blend, Caf茅 Sans Caf茅, a caffeine-free mix of dandelion root, roasted carob, vanilla bean and chicory root, a common culinary ingredient in her home state of Georgia.

鈥淚f you add cream to it and a little sugar, it鈥檚 like dulce de leche in a cup,鈥� she said.

She was teaching English as a second language at the time in Georgia and next took an assignment in Guangzhou, China, a southern port city located about 45 minutes by ferry from Hong Kong.

It was here, in a country shaped by its tea culture over millennia, that Blair had what she describes as her most 鈥渕ind-blowing鈥� tea experience.

After getting lost in the streets of Guangzhou, Blair wandered into a local jade shop to get her bearings. The family that owned the shop offered her Pu-erh, a fermented dark tea that had been passed down by a family member who had a plantation in Yunnan Province.

Like fine wine aged over many years, some Pu-erhs undergo an aging process and can cost hundreds of dollars per gram. Blair compared its taste to 鈥渄igging your hands into loamy, rich soil.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 one of my favorite teas,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e do a lot of blending with that.鈥�

Another formative experience came when Blair returned to the U.S. and stopped to visit friends in Santa Fe, where she worked at The Tea House on Canyon Road. She worked under Dionne Christian, a master tea blender.

鈥淪he no longer owns The Tea House, but she was a big inspiration,鈥� Blair said.

Upon returning to Georgia, she worked for a grass-fed beef farm, where she oversaw bookkeeping and marketing. She discovered she had a flair for design. On the side, she continued blending teas for herself, her family and her friends.

When Blair鈥檚 father visited her in her kitchen one day, seeing her surrounded by loose-leaf tea and botanicals, the longtime business consultant encouraged her to turn her passion into her 鈥渓ife鈥檚 work,鈥� which Blair decided to pursue after moving to Taos in 2014.

鈥淚n hindsight, I feel like it was all like magic, but when you鈥檙e in it, of course, it doesn鈥檛 feel that way,鈥� she said.

She started out selling her tea blends from a booth at Taos Farmers Market. After many rejections, she finally landed two wholesale clients: Gutiz, a breakfast restaurant in El Prado, and Cid鈥檚 Food Market, a local organic foods grocer since the late 1980s.

Despite her success, Blair says tea has, in some ways, always felt like an uphill battle in an American market, even though it consistently outstrips coffee as the most widely consumed beverage in the world, second only to water.

Blair ventured to guess that might have something to do with the country鈥檚 seminal split from Great Britain in the late 18th century. During the famous Boston Tea Party of 1773, the Sons of Liberty dumped hundreds of chests of the stuff into Boston Harbor to protest taxation from across the pond.

Blair believes she鈥檚 tapped into a need for elevated tea service in a country where the drink is an afterthought at many restaurants.

鈥淭here is a market out there for people who are looking for quality tea,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t might be a niche market 鈥� but it does exist.鈥�

Blair estimates her small business has grown by an average of about 20% per year since she got rolling.

鈥淚鈥檝e worked with Dana since about 2018, when she was a one-person shop with 100 square feet and tea barrels behind her,鈥� said Peter Mitchell, community and business development representative for the New Mexico Economic Development Department. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a super businesswoman, and I鈥檓 really excited they鈥檙e doing great things.鈥�

Blair has sought grant opportunities through the EDD, including

Before opening the tea house in May, tea.o.graphy employed roughly 10 staff. Now Blair employs around 20.

Blair paid special credit to her operations manager, Wendy Flesch, and Adam Overly, blending supervisor.

鈥淚 definitely could not do this whole thing without the amazing team that I have,鈥� she said.

Even though it鈥檚 now her business, Blair still loves tea and cherishes the ritual she鈥檚 built around it 鈥� something she gets to now share in the most direct way with her customers.

鈥淚 just see it as a place of connection and community, and I want to be able to offer that,鈥� she said.

John Miller is the 近距离内射合集鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.