I felt the need to write this post after seeing many start ups fail and, from my point of view, for obvious reasons.

From the outset I would like to state that in no way do I think that what we have done is complete. As a matter of fact, I am often humbled when I visit other cafes, and frequently embarrassed when other café owners/staff visit our teahouse. This post is purely from my perspective. Comments are welcome for any readers to add or disagree. I hope that potential café owners will be able to use this post as a resource.

Variable temperature hot water dispensers.

This has been promised for a while. For any of you who have had the misfortune of meeting me, the topic will come as no surprise.

Just a quick intro. Some teas are brewed at near boiling point. Others are brewed at around 60^oC. The ability to brew different teas, quickly, in a café environment, is the subject of this post.

At the teahouse we have two different boilers, one set at 98^oC, the other set at 78^oC. These effectively deliver 95^oC and 75^oC onto the leaves when we dispense. For our Japanese greens we add filtered cold water to hot water. To achieve 80, 85 and 90^oC we measure, mix and pour. As we have been operating for over three years this process has become streamlined and fast. Although new members of staff have to be given full training on the techniques involved.