In Portland, Smith Teamaker is a name eponymous with the tea industry. Steven Smith, the company’s founder and tea visionary (who also launched Tazo and

Stash teas) passed of complications from liver cancer this March. In his honor, Smith Teamaker is pushing forward to build a flavor lab and expand its impressive tea program. The goal is to pull back the curtain and let the community in on the complex process, from sourcing ingredients to the finished product in the cup. In preparation, creative director and head teamaker Tony Tellin explains how to make tea taste like ice cream and why they're not interested in what the competition’s making.

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN THE INDUSTRY? || It's a funny story of being in the right place. I grew up in Iowa, but after vacationing in Portland, I sold everything I owned and moved there. Right after, I was biking down to a temp agency and bumped into Tazo tea. The workers were sitting out on the dock on a beautiful day having lunch. I chatted with them and they said they were expanding and needed help. I started the next day in the warehouse.

Within a few months, I moved into blending. Steve [Smith] would write a recipe and I'd blend it out for him to taste. That moved into putting up blends for myself to taste and then, eventually, into making the decisions.

After about four years, my role swiveled into sourcing and buying, which required a lot of education.

I spent two weeks in Colombo, two in Jakarta, two in Calcutta. Then, I visited China, Japan, Northern Africa... We spend a lot of time trying to become experts on every region.

WHEN YOU CREATE A NEW FLAVOR, DO YOU SET AN END GOAL AND FIND THE TEAS YOU NEED TO MAKE IT, OR ARE YOU INSPIRED TO MAKE A FLAVOR BASED ON WHAT YOU TASTE? || Sometimes we'll find teas in our inventory to support new flavors or we will go out and find something we know exists but don't have. For the first Maker's Series with Tyler Malek from Salt & Straw [a Portland ice cream shop], the inspiration was to make a cup of tea taste like ice cream. We built the flavor around a milk oolong, with Marcona almonds for

B Y J U L I A W AY N E

that fatty liquor; white jasmine for floral, vanilla-like notes; a bit of sea salt. It sold out immediately.

HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED SINCE STEVE SMITH PASSED AWAY? || It sounds weird, but not much has changed. He was, of course, part of the process. I've been working with him for 18 years, and his cohorts here have been with him at Stash or Tazo forever, some in the industry since the 1970s. We have a very engaged, self-managing leadership team.

We do what we like and not necessarily what others are doing. We look at distillers and brewers and candy makers and chefs to see what they're doing. It generally feels less reactionary that way.

WHAT FLAVORS ARE YOU DOING IN KEGS? || The Strawberry Honeybrush Sparkling Iced Tea is something we're really proud of. Stumptown and Rogue have been having fun with those. We're working on a few new collaborations so expect to see more of us around Portland in the near future. ●

Q&A withTony Tellin

FLAVOR CREATOR AT SMITH TEAMAKER

TWO

CEN

TS

S I P NORTHWEST.COM8 8