You’ve got to work hard to sell tea to a coffee drinker like me. Really hard. To be completely honest, I’ve had three bags of Tahoe Tea in my pantry for a few months now. They came straight from the company’s owner Alenka Vrecek. I’ve admired the cool packaging, looked casually at the labels, learned a bit about the story behind the teas, and even watched members of my family drink it. But I never took a sip… until today.
It took Vrecek much longer than that to take her first sip of Tahoe Tea. It’s been eight years since the idea of starting a tea company came to her after a harrowing, white-knuckle drive over Donner Summit in the middle of blizzard during a particularly rough patch in her life. That first thought eventually turned into a sincere passion. Finally, after years of research, planning, and toil, her dream of creating and selling premium, organic loose-leaf tea, tea blends, and herbal blends has become reality.
Vrecek, along with her daughters Mateja and Jana and son Tilen, launched the products at local events and farmers markets this summer, and they’re also available at New Moon Natural Foods and online. Her background in apparel sales helped a lot with the business side of things, but Vrecek isn’t at all comfortable with being labeled an aficionado when it comes to tea. ‘I’m not trying to be a snobby tea person,’ she says. ‘There is too much to know, and I will listen to anyone who has something to share. I also make a point of reading something about tea everyday and trying to learn something new. Tea, the history of it, and customs around it, is incredible,’ she says.
Vrecek may still be learning, but she did, in fact, spend years researching her product sources and developing her tea and herbal blends, and she loves to discuss their properties with everyone she meets.
Tahoe Teas currently sells seven teas: Tahoe White, Tahoe Blue, Tahoe Local, Tahoe Red, Tahoe Green, Tahoe Black, and Tahoe Kids. The black, green, and white teas are sourced organically from China and India and the rest of the ingredients, also organically certified, come strictly from the West Coast. Each blend was laboriously developed and tested before going into final production and each has a story of its own to tell, printed right on the rice paper pouch.
Vrecek believes strongly in what she’s doing and feels there is a definite connection between Tahoe Teas and Lake Tahoe. She arrived here 25 years ago from Yugoslavia with only a backpack and a pair of skis, but quickly became acclimated and clearly cherishes her environment and the people in it. The spirit of Tahoe captures the spirit of tea, according to Tahoe Teas’ website.
‘We strive for balance, health, well-being, clean environment, pure, fresh and natural fuel for body and soul. We believe in quality of lifestyle, value time in our daily life to reflect, relax and take care of our bodies and mind.’
I’ll drink to that. Info: tahoeteas.com
