New shop in downtown Puyallup offers organic tea and other specialty items
A new shop in downtown Puyallup isn’t asking Washingtonians to give up their coveted coffee, rather just to give tea a try.
Owner Audrey Paule said she regularly drinks coffee and doesn’t claim to be a tea snob. She maintains tea should be seen as more than just an alternative to java.
“The pie is big enough for both,” Paule said. “It’s not really a zero sum game.”
Paule and her husband Alex Page moved from Alaska, where they owned a tea shop, to try their luck in the Pacific Northwest.
Trove Provisions, a tea and spice store, opened last month at 115 W. Meeker.
They create their organic teas and spices at home. There is a lot of trial and error, but they focus on two things: ensuring a sip of tea tastes the same at the top of the bag and the bottom, and inspiration.
They take flavors from meals or cocktails and try to replicate the taste in a teabag. Paule said their Blackberry Bergamot blend was inspired by an ice cream sundae she ate.
Tea is sold by the ounce, with starting prices at $3 an ounce up to $12 an ounce. The shop currently sells loose leaves in jars but might add a teabag option in the coming weeks, Paule said.
Rather than ordering tea online, the shop offers transparency and a connection to the community, Paule said.
“It’s hard to see that transparency in clicking a button,” she said.
Paule wants customers to see the shop as a treasure trove. It includes a wall of chocolate (a complete spectrum from white to 100 percent dark), specialty popcorn, barbecue sauces, hot sauces and drink mixers.
Local business owners and residents have told Paule that Puyallup needed a tea shop. She wants more reasons for customers to consistently visit downtown, like a bakery or ice cream shop.
“It seems like there are a lot of antique stores and a lot of bars and restaurants, but I think that in order to have a vibrant downtown, you need a mix of what people use on a regular basis,” Paule said.
