Not the movie with the governor of California no. T2’s the name for a chain of tea shops. They sell a very good variety of loose leaf greens, blacks and red teas as well as chai and fruit teas but what I really like is their “stuff”. There’s a store near where I live and it’s a little haphazardly decorated and jarringly messy all in a good way. There’s a counter in the middle, with dark shelves everywhere laden with teas sorted by type. Then there’s round tables swamped with all manner of tea related bric a brac, from Japanese cast iron pots and stainless steel mesh strainers to Turkish style cups with loud printed patterns.

The packaging and their identity design stands out too. Simple helvetica is something everyone uses but there’s not too much to oversell the tea, with no cheesy nonsense like idyllic pictures of slave children working the fields in Sri Lanka on the dawn’s first light on the day of the solstice. It just tells you exactly what tea is contained within, with only color separating the varieties.

One of my fave things costs like $3.50 and its just a small amber colored glass jar with a black screwcap. It’s used to keep your tea in and it’s so simple and superclean, airtight plus the coloring helps keep the tea from harsh light. I am envisioning a whole row of these babies lining my desk in future next to a plusminuszero kettle.

&

= Tannic heaven.

Truth be told, it does reek of a certain white yuppie stench but I was so taken by the great service that I forked over the slightly high price of $12 for some organic sencha. They did not have a non organic version. Definitely going back for some rooibos, which I sampled and was delish. Still, I have quite a bit of tea to go through.