- 0 ,11 0;reAww/(-% .•
TENTALES
retying a perfect pot of tea is easier than you think.
(sr
'm the Johnny Apple-
seed of tea," says
John Harney. "I go
around trying to get
hotels and restaur-
ants to serve tea cor-
rectly."
It's an uphill strug-
gle. "In England, it's
hard to get a bad pot of tea, but in
the United States it's easy because
people do not follow the rules" of tea
brewing, complains Mr. Harney, a
master tea blender who is owner of
Harney & Sons, Ltd., importers of fine
tea, located in Salisbury, Conn.
Mr. Harney's firm sells mainly to
hotels around the country, fancy
names like the Four Seasons, the
Plaza, the Ritz Carlton and the
Waldorf-Astoria, as well as chic
restaurants and clubs. It does have a
J-6 STYLE
few retail outlets, like Williams-
Sonoma and New York City's Dean &
Deluca, for its teas, which are offered
either under the firm's name or the
store's own label.
Mr. Harney, who has a degree in
hotel administration from Cornell
University, opened his firm in 1983
after management posts in hotels
around the country. Winner of two
gold medals from the Chefs in Amer-
ica Association, Mr. Harney travels to
the hotels he supplies to instruct the
staffs on how to prepare and serve
the tea, and also gives "tea talks" to
the public, such as one he gave re-
cently at Harbor Court Hotel to
introduce its new custom-blended
teas.
Coffee may be the most popular
drink in America but tea is no slouch.
In fact, tea consumption is on the rise,
and especially
booming is "af-
ternoon tea"
served in hotels
and restaurants.
In 1989, retail
sales of tea in
the U.S. topped
$1 billion, of
which $52.8 mil-
John Harney sets
lion was spent
out the rules for
on specialty
brewing tea.
teas. By com-
parison, coffee sales reached $6.5
billion, of which $676 million was
spent on gourmet coffees. In the last
two years, Harney & Sons itself has
tripled its business.
Mr. Harney sees two reasons for the
increase. One is the effectiveness of
■ BY BARBARA PASH