Meet Art in the Park Vendor: Julie Marks

Julie Marks, of Country Kettle Tea Company, is a tea maker who crafts custom blends in loose-leaf and bagged options. Steamboat Magazine caught up with her ahead of this weekend’s Art in the Park event. 

Steamboat Magazine: How did you develop your tea company?

Julie Marks: My husband and I were drinking cups of tea once or twice everyday. We eventually realized that it probably wasn’t the healthiest lifestyle and wanted to create an organic alternative instead of drinking the processed and packaged tea from the grocery store. We researched how we could start making our own, we discovered all of the side ingredients in store-bought tea and how harmful they were. We wanted to cut out the unnecessary ingredients that we were digesting and keep only the helpful things like antioxidants. We started drinking loose leaf tea which we found was much more beneficial. Eventually, we started designing a business, creating our custom recipes and sharing the healthy version with others. It took some time to develop the specifics of a tea company, but we are excited to be celebrating our one year anniversary of sharing the tea with customers.

SM:  What types of tea do you offer? Where do you source your materials?

JM: We offer caffeine, decaf, herbals and wellness. On the caffeinated side we have black, green, white and oolong tea blends. Our herbal teas have no caffeine and are made up of fruits, herbs and sometimes include caffeine-free rooibos. Our wellness line is Sourced – I want to make sure these teas do what they are supposed to do, so I leave this line to the herbal experts. All of our teas are organic and serve a healthy purpose. We get the materials from a wide variety of places, the leaves come from all around the world but are organically grown and shipped to us. 

SM: How do you develop new tea blends and flavors?

JM: I have always enjoyed baking and trying new recipes in the kitchen so including custom

blends in our business was a no-brainer. I attended a national tea conference and paid an extra fee to participate in a tea blending course taught by a tea master out of Australia. I now approach it much like a baking recipe. I start with a known, trusted base then add different ingredients I think would go well together based on their flavor profile. I start with my base – such as black or green tea – that I already know and trust. Then I start playing with different add-ins. Sometimes it’s a hit and sometimes it’s a bust. My current work in progress is a huckleberry vanilla blend, which I am fine-tuning and should be ready soon. 

Find Julie’s teas online at www.countrykettleteas.com.