Inspired by the scents, colours, and ingredients of the renowned fragrance brand, the chefs at The St. Regis Hotel have created an exceptional experience with the House of Creed collection in mind.

“It was very exciting for us to create a menu that both highlights the incredible ingredients of each fragrance as well as showcases our high tea program here at St. Regis,” said Executive Pastry Chef Victoria Ammendolia, The St. Regis Hotel. “Myself and the team of chefs took inspiration from the ingredients of each perfume. We highlighted the flavour quality and beauty in both the fragrance and the food we have prepared. I hope you notice the inspiration when you take a bite out of each dessert.”

House of Creed Brand Ambassador Luis Cavallo was also in attendance at the preview launch event and discussed the art of creating unique and long-lasting artisanal fragrances as well as the emotional connections we experience. We can all agree that a scent can also remind us of a time and place. I am certain this Afternoon Tea will stay in that happy place in my mind and bring back great memories each time I spray on my perfume.

I am a fan of House of Creed’s Carmina and was excited to see how the fragrance notes would inspire the flavour profile in the elegant pastry presentation. I was also happy to discover the latest addition to the line, Queen of Silk — especially after learning how Chinese Osmanthus, was one of the beautiful ingredients in this fragrance and a favourite note of mine!

“These beautiful creations are made with delicate touches using the world’s finest ingredients, just like our fragrances,” said Cavallo.

Highlights of the Afternoon Tea included the Carmina Mille-Feuille with Black Cherry Chantilly, Rose Pastry Cream, and Toasted Pistachios. Then, the Aventus Pineapple Mousse features Hazelnut Praline, Jasmine Ganache, Bergamot, and Pineapple Yuzu Curd.

The House of Creed was founded in 1760 and was first known as fine tailors in the UK before becoming master perfumers. The luxury brand also refers to “the art of millésime” when it comes to their fragrances — a term that comes from the world of wine meaning of a great vintage.  You can learn more about this as well as the company’s fascinating history here.

The House of Creed x The St. Regis Afternoon Tea  (Astor Lounge located on the main floor of the hotel)) is now live and available for bookings until the end of this August. This luxurious tea experience is priced at $95 per person. Booking details can be found here.

The post House of Creed x The St. Regis Hotel’s Exquisite Afternoon Tea Experience appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

What is your business called and what does it do?

Name – Pour-et. We curate and sell wildcrafted and organic teas and include poems that complement each blend. Pour-et Teas intertwines nature, poetry, and sustainability. We are committed to sourcing only the finest wild-crafted and organic herbs. Our teas tell stories. Beyond being a business, Pour-et is a sanctuary of sustainability. Our packaging is eco-friendly, reflecting a deep dedication to environmental preservation. We offer delightful, health-focused blends like ‘Calm blend with chamomile and Graviola, ‘Boost’ with lemongrass and ginger, and ‘Balance and Harmony’ with spearmint and calendula. It’s not just a brand; it’s a poetic celebration of life, of health, of emotions with each sip.

What made you want to do this work?

Growing up on the island of Grenada, I enjoyed the traditional act of picking leaves, drying and steeping them to make teas locally known as “bush tea” My love for these natural unprocessed teas remained even after moving to Canada… and so the tradition continued. As a passionate poet, I began sharing teas and poems at private events held in my living room. Friends were moved and inspired by the poems and enjoyed the activity as a whole. It was there I realised these traditional wild-crafted teas needed to be shared with the world along with my passion for poetry. A love for tea and a passion for poetry gave birth to this unique business.

What problem did you want to solve with the business?

Pour-et’s objective is to create experiences and not simply be another tea company available to consumers. With every sip, with each poem, tea lovers would embark on a therapeutic and expressive journey, indulging in a holistic experience that addresses mental well-being, stress, self-care, and even the exploration of the inner poet. We endeavour to play our part in:

● Enhancing mental health

● Relieving stress

● Encouraging general well-being and self-care

Our Focus, Calm, Balance and Arouse blends are teas curated to enhance and support these everyday challenges.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

Currently, our teas are sought after by:

● Creatives

● Eco-conscious shoppers

● Mindfulness Advocates

● Professionals

How does your business make money? How does it work?

Vendor markets and word of mouth are currently our main avenues for sales. However, we are currently working on enhancing our online presence to increase traffic and drive sales on our website.

Other avenues:

● Sales at poetry events organised by the founder

● Monthly networking events

Where in the city can we find your profession?

We are based out of Pickering ON. We offer delivery throughout the GTA and pick-ups can also be arranged. You can find us at a local vendor’s market at least twice a month. Address, Date and time for these markets can be found on our social media pages. We can also be contacted via email for direct orders. Contact details are on our website.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.

One of the most popular questions we are asked is: Can children consume your teas?

Yes, our teas can be consumed by everyone including children.

1. Our teas are all-natural and caffeine-free with no flavours.

2. Tea bags are plant-based and biodegradable. Non plastic.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

Best Part: One of the finer moments for us is being able to share the story of how Pour-et started. Amongst a small gathering of friends over tea and poetry in the founder’s living room. It really is a joy to be able to share that with the world.

Worst: The digital aspect of the business has proven to be one of the biggest challenges for us. The task of website maintenance to social media management has been quite daunting. Nonetheless, we’ve found ways to be innovative by learning the basics of WordPress and remaining engaged on social media as much as possible. We have ways to go regarding the digital aspect of our business and therefore will soon employ the services of a professional.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession? Many people have asked if the business is French. After all; It does sound French. Pour-et is however a play on words. Pour-et (pour it) means to pour the tea while at the same time drawing refers to myself as a poet.

Where can we follow you?

Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?

Laz Authentic cuisine. 48 Main Street N Markham ON L3P 1X5. A fine dining ‘woman-owned’ Caribbean restaurant. The owner Diakhia R. Lezama opened to the public in Jan 2022, after many years of cooking and catering from her home kitchen. The food is incredible and she is a big supporter of local talent and small businesses. I have had the opportunity to perform poetry and spoken word for the guests.

The post Homegrown Business: Tracy Francis of Pour-et appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

What is your business called and what does it do?

Palgong Tea is a Korean bubble tea and dessert store with multiple locations across Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.

Specifically, we sell:

– Bubble Tea: Our specialty bubble tea range includes original tea, classic milk tea, fruit-flavoured teas with tapioca pearls, jellies and cream cheese foams, and customizable sweetness and ice levels to suit individual preferences.

– Coffee Delights: We offer espresso-based drinks like lattes, cappuccinos, and iced coffee variations. For those seeking unique flavours, explore our seasonal or specialty coffee blends.

– Dessert Selection: We offer a delightful range of 9 macaron flavours (blueberry cheesecake, Earl Grey, strawberry crunch, Oreo, matcha KitKat, milk chocolate, injeolmi, tiramisu, and double raspberry), and 6 different flavoured cream puffs (tiramisu, nutella, oreo, caramel, blackcurrant and mango)

What made you want to do this work?

I have a long-standing career as a manager at Chung Chun hot dog, along with excellent customer service skills. I wanted to delve more into the same industry and expand my skill set and I believe taking a part of Palgong Tea Chefs Hall as a store manager offered me the right opportunity that I had been looking for which offered me to express myself through my work.

What problem did you want to solve with the business?

Only bubble tea shop in the Chefs Hall food court.

Our bubble tea is a blend of our Korean and Canadian flavours, which is not inherently present in the market and differentiates us from our competitors.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

One of our primary target customer groups is those office people working in the nearby buildings which usually visit us during lunchtime from Monday to Friday.

Another big main source for our customers is the students who usually hang out with their friends on weekends.

In general, our target customers are aged from 15 to 40 with low-to-middle income.

How does your business make money? How does it work?

Palgong Tea has a product-based brick-and-mortar business model. We make money by selling drinks and desserts to customers in-store and online through delivery partners. Another source of income is through our catering service where we offer drinks for events on special requests.

Where in the city can we find your profession?

We have quite a prominent presence in downtown Toronto with my store inside Chefs Hall food court, and stores at the Distillery District market, Yonge-Bloor intersection, and The Annex, alongside a few more locations in the uptown Toronto and Greater Toronto Area.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.

What makes Palgong Tea different from other bubble tea stores?

We have an extensive catalogue of drinks ranging from Original Tea, Milk Tea, Fruit Tea, Smoothies, Ades, Coffee, Soy and Oat Milk Series, Def-T in Collaboration with Deaf Culture Centre, and seasonal drink launches 2-3 times a year. Additionally, we also have a frozen dessert line in partnership with different vendors and we offer Korean-style macarons, cream puffs, cheesecake, and cake boxes.

I believe that the myriad of options available at Palgong Tea makes us different from our competitors.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

Best part: The ability to work in a fast-paced work environment helps me stay stimulated while performing a job which brings a sense of fulfillment to my work.

Worst part: I believe the worst part of being in the food-service industry is the irregularity of sales as they are largely dependent on external factors such as weather, location, time of the year etc., which makes budgeting a little hard as a business owner.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

인생이 레몬을 주면 레몬녹차를 만들어 보세요.

Translation: “When life gives you lemons, make lemon green tea.” It’s just my own twist on the classic quote since lemon green is one of our menu items.

Where can we follow you?

You can find us on Facebook and Instagram at @palgongtea_chefshall & @palgongtea.canada. Also on the Chefs Hall website.

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?

Eatertainment, a full-service company offering event management & event catering in Toronto.

The post Homegrown Business: Alex Ahn of Palgong Tea Canada appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

What made you want to do this work?

I grew up drinking four cups of tea a day with my tea-drinking family. As an adult, my passion for tea continued, and my love for farm-to-table cooking drew me to shop for food in local farmer’s markets. I began experimenting with drying fruits and herbs for my own creative tea stash, and one day, I brought one of my blends to celebrated chef Jamie Kennedy at his famous Gilead restaurant. He placed an order on the spot – and I knew that I was on to something! Armed with $5000 and a credit card, I quit my corporate gig in 2012 to start Pluck Tea in a friend’s basement office.

What problem did you want to solve with the business?

Pluck was founded with a mission to fix restaurant tea. Today, our team of tea makers is proud to produce a wide range of top quality infusions for tea drinkers who value quality and sustainability – wherever they may be.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

Our customers are tea lovers of all descriptions, who value quality, sustainability, and freshness.

How does your business make money? How does it work?

We import premium teas and other ingredients from around the world, blend with locally sourced and grown ingredients, pack with care, and deliver our fresh teas to cafes, restaurants, and to tea lover’s doorsteps at home.

Where in the city can we find your profession?

Pluck Teas are available online and at select stores Canada-wide.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.

What makes Pluck Tea different?

We are a team of tea makers who blend in small batches by hand with care – as opposed to outsourcing production to third parties or far away co-packers. We also offer several teas with upcycled ingredients. People are loving our novel, zero waste refillable glass jars, as well as our locally sourced ingredients, such as lavender from Prince Edward County.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

The innovation and product development side of the business is a joy, as is traveling to meet the farmers who cultivate the teas we buy. The worst part is trying to prioritize new opportunities – as a fast-growing company we just can’t take on every project that comes our way (unfortunately).

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

Why did the hipster burn herself with tea? She drank it before it was cool.

Where can we follow you?

Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | TikTok

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?

Manning Canning – Christine Manning

The post Homegrown Business: Jennifer Commins of Pluck Tea appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

The company now offers the largest selection of roasted tea products directly to consumers in North America.

What is your business called and what does it do?

Our business is called Hojicha Co. and we specialize in Japanese roasted green tea, a tea that originated in Kyoto 100 years ago. We offer a variety of teas and tea powders on our website and at select events and markets in Toronto.

What made you want to do this work?

During one of our trips to Japan, we had a memorable experience tasting roasted green tea in a small tea shop in Osaka. We always wanted to start a business together, and we thought that we would enjoy selling and telling the world about the sweet and smoky tea. We had experience working at a few startups and now it was time to start our own.

What problem does this solve?

It turns out that we were not the only ones craving roasted green tea when we got back from Japan. Many of our customers visited Kyoto and then couldn’t find authentic roasted green tea at home either.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

Many of our customers have traveled to Japan or are interested in the Japanese tea culture. But anyone who enjoys tea or even coffee will enjoy our products. Over half of our customers are currently located in the United States, while the other half is right here in Canada. We also supply a number of food service businesses across North America that use our powdered tea in their beverages and desserts.

How does your business make money? How does it work?

We make the majority of our sales online through our website where consumers can buy personal size bags, and where businesses can buy bulk options. We also attend a number of events around Toronto where people can sample our teas and grab a bag to make at home.

Where in Toronto can we find your profession?

We do not have a storefront in Toronto, but you can find our teas online (https://hojicha.co) or take a look at our upcoming events (https://hojicha.co/pages/events).

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services?

We recommend to consumers to ask tea vendors about the origin of their teas and the time of the harvest. Freshness is important for green tea, so you want to consume the harvest of the year. Certain teas, like matcha and hojicha, are only made in Japan.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

There are a lot of good parts, like working together and being our own bosses. But also meeting a lot of great people through tea, whether they are customers or people working in the industry. The worst part is dealing with postal delays!

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

Everyone in the city either works at Shopify or runs a Shopify store, sometimes both!

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another Toronto business that you love?

Hestia is a great tea bar located in the Path. You can find them under the TD Centre.

The post Homegrown Business: Hojicha Co. Japanese roasted green tea appeared first on Toronto Guardian.