Undetermined date in late 2002
A Love of Tea is Born
In a little a town called Kielce, Poland in a gorgeous vintage inspired cafe dressed with burgundy walls and old trinkets, I am sitting with my then fiancé, Alexei.
I am presented with possibly the most delightful tea list one could imagine. I had never seen presented tea with such dignity.
Coffee was ubiquitous and fashionable, and therefore totally unappealing in my mind (and we had no money for fancy cafe food), so tea became my muse for that short holiday.
Never mind I could only tolerate a sweet fruity brew at the time. This got the ball rolling for a lifetime of tea-passion.
Undetermined date in 2008
A Dream Through Business is Born
Inspired by the book, The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris, gifted to me by my brother and his wife, I determine to start a business.
The idea behind the book? Create a business model that requires just four hours per week of work so you can live your dream. Our dream? To create a holiday home for respite, for our extended family, for those who give relentlessly to their God-given life assignment and fall into burnout along the way. To provide rest and give encouragement around sustainable life practices to be able to play the long game without falling apart.
I laugh when I think back on the naïve idea of a four-hour work week model spruiked by Tim. I'm yet to see that four-hour work week work in real life.
And I'm yet to see that home come to life, except for our own home, which brings me respite as I live my own God-given life assignment every day, exploring ways I can play the long game without falling apart, and encourage others to do the same (over a beautiful cup of organic tea!).
As I write this, I am confronted with the thought that our dream and assignment have already come into reality, perhaps unwittingly, and not the way we originally envisioned, but fulfilling the heart of its purpose. Indeed, I am the one so desperately in need of this home for respite and it has been nourishing me for many years. It's quite a thought to digest.
A few weeks/months later
Tea and Business Meld
I decide an e-Commerce model is the way to go for starting a business. My logic flows somewhat illogically from here to arrive at selling tea:
I dislike paying for postage when I purchase something online, so I decide I must come up with a product I can sell without charging postage. Therefore, this product must weigh very little. My subconscious love of tea is queued for entry at this moment, as it comes to mind and I realise that this very product ticks that box. Tea is light-weight, therefore we won't have to charge for postage.
I find out later that postage is charged on volume, not weight, but this becomes irrelevant as tea becomes pride of place in my mind. We still have to charge for postage.
And then...
A Name is Chosen
We decide the name must be completely original. Nothing ubiquitous. Nothing obvious, like "Chari-tea", or "Clari-tea", or "Tea-(enter fancy word here)". We must come up with an original word that has no inherent meaning, that we can assign all meaning to.
And because we are practical business people, we must be able to trademark the word and buy the associated 1300 number and domain name.
We write down a mix of random letters to create multiple words and peruse the options.
One stands out: Tielka.
We see that 1300 TIELKA is available, as well as www.tielka.com.
It sticks.
We later find out that "tielka" means "singlet" in Slovakian, and that there is a tiny town in Burkina Faso named Tielka. Maybe we will go there some day.
Some time later
A Collection of Beauty and Ethics is Created
I'm chatting with my sister-in-law, Rachael, about life and beyond. She is enthusiastically telling me about Fairtrade, its ethos, merits, and the necessity of such a model to protect growers from exploitation. Her coffee is now Fairtrade certified. She has tried to purchase Fairtrade tea, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Stale, tasteless, uninspiring. Even regular tea available in Australia is of poor standard.
I spend the next few months researching Fairtrade tea growers around the world until the wee hours of the morning and come across a handful of communities where tea growing goes back thousands of years. They are tea artisans.
We receive over 90 samples from these growers. By looking, you would not know they are tea. The leaves are pieces of artwork, each incredibly unique.
A group of friends sample the teas around our kitchen table in Parkdale, Melbourne, Australia. "I can't believe this is tea!", are the exclamations I hear.
Moonlight White Tea and Tielka Breakfast are selected alongside 10 or so other tea varieties, which are included in the first Tielka Tea Collection, and are still available today.
The entire range is certified organic. All varieties, apart from two, are Fairtrade certified.
The Tielka Tea Collection is to become the first Fairtrade organic certified loose leaf tea collection available in Australia.
Wednesday 5 August 2009
A Business is Registered
In a humble accountant's office in Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia, with walls covered in sealed, yellowed plywood, Tielka is officially registered as a company. My husband, Alexei, and I are present as Tielka co-founders with the accountant as papers are signed and Tielka is officially brought to life.
Sunday 13 December 2009
Trade Begins
More to come...