Brown Couch Consulting

I’ve been trying to find a bulk solution to our tea needs – we drink lots of tea – and the tea bags are starting to add up as unnecessary waste.  So I found this retailer in a simple Google search: http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/category/loose-organic-tea-tea-blends/.   I challenge you to find a red tea on the site in under 2 minutes.

Instead of Sort by SKU, how about sort by Type?  Red tea, Green Tea, White Tea, Caffeine-Free, Decaffeinated, Black…  There is no reason that categories can’t overlap, but I can tell you as a customer, I am not going to sift through 3 pages of teas just to find the rosehip and Rooibos teas that we drink most.  And it’s a shame because it obviously looks like they have put a lot of time into the site and it’s nicely designed.

In further searching, check this out: http://www.herbco.com/c-3-bulk-teas.aspx.  Nicely categorized.  At the end of this search for bulk tea, which took about 40 minutes longer than it ever should have, I settled for Frontier Natural Products Coop.   They had organic and fair trade teas, both positive and categories which were easy to navigate.  Hopefully, the tea will be decent and the teabags we don’t use will save the world.  Well, maybe not, but at least it’s a small step in the right direction.

One of my biggest and busiest clients, IBEX Tours, has launched a new tour to Belize: Chocolate, Nature and Culture.  I considered convincing them to rename the tour Chocolate: Light, Dark and Delicious.  I’ve been working feverishly to organize the information before the travel program gets mention in the Rutgers Magazine.   Needless to say, as I have been working long hours, and I ate through my stash of chocolate made at the Cotton Tree Lodge, the destination of the tour to Belize.  How fitting!  If you come across a Cotton Tree chocolate bar, sample it.  It’s unique taste, with an almost creamy finish and low sugar content win my vote for the best chocolate.  If only I could figure out a way to get another bar.