# Los Angeles' Beverage King Has Plenty to Say About Tea > See how Josh Zad launched Alfred Tea and is reshaping tea's image in the US: a one-of-a-kind spot with a distinctive vibe and flavors. Find out what makes it a draw. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/dzhosh-zad-zminiuie-imidzh-chaiu-v-ssha-vidkryvaiuchy-alfred-tea-unikalne-mistse-z-osoblyvoiu-atmosferoiu-ta-smakamy/ - Language: en - Published: 2024-03-30 - Categories: Culture, Leisure, Restaurants, USA, Food & Drinks, Events --- Tea has an image problem in the US, and one Los Angeles native is trying to fix it. Josh Zad, born and raised in LA, is the founder of Alfred Tea (named after Batman's butler), and he is ready to change your mind about tea. This is not your grandmother's tea, hot water and a tea bag. This is the real thing, and Zad, who brought in a tea consultant to lend credibility to his offerings, has gone to great lengths to make the Alfred Tea experience different, unexpected, and utterly captivating. Zad asked me to meet him at the second Alfred Tea location in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles (the first LA spot is thriving on Melrose Place) on its opening day in September 2018. ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-119-1-2024.jpg) "This is probably the thirtieth drink we've made today," said Jordan G. Hardin, the company's director of food and beverage, noting that my iced matcha with coconut milk was roughly "lucky number 30." The shop is an Instagram Story's dream (even without the pink balloons outside celebrating its debut), and Zad openly embraces the trend of people posting photos of their pretty little drinks on the visually driven social platform. (At the time of writing, Alfred Tea's Instagram following sits at a respectable 66.9 thousand.) "I figured, if I can get people in here for a cup and a photo op, Jordan can sell them a whole world of tea, that it's more than you ever imagined." If they can pull that off, Zad is confident they'll come back for more. Both Zad and Hardin agree that tea deserves its moment in the spotlight. Coffee easily commands respect, but there's room for tea too, they say (even if they admit they may be a little ahead of the curve). While Hardin is busy perfecting the craft, the tea offerings themselves, Zad turns his attention to the overall look and feel of the shop. Decked out in pink tile, cool decor, trendy sayings, and merch for sale, Alfred Tea is memorable. ## But First, Coffee Though you may have seen this catchy phrase before (a coffee shop in this writer's Brooklyn neighborhood often displays it on its chalkboard), it is in fact a registered trademark owned by Alfred coffee. Coffee is the first thing many of us reach for in the morning, and it's also the first drink Zad built a business around. Despite, or perhaps because of, coffee's strong footing in the US, unlike tea, its reputation tends to be solid, entering the coffee business was a bit of a gamble, Zad admits. In a city like LA, there's no shortage of coffee shops. On Sunset Boulevard in LA's Silver Lake neighborhood alone, there are at least half a dozen "boutique coffee shops" to choose from. Zad calls it a "coffee mecca." And yet, during a recent visit, Alfred was packed inside and out. Whether it's the cool atmosphere, the expertly crafted drinks, or the ever-present avocado toast, LA cafes are always buzzing. But with the LA coffee market somewhat spoken for, it may not be as ubiquitous as Starbucks, but you don't have to wander far before you stumble on a shop selling fair-trade beans, Zad decided to turn his attention to something that was starting to feel obvious to him, even if it wasn't so obvious to everyone else. ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-119-2-2024.jpg) The more tea drinks Alfred coffee made, the closer Zad came to a vision for a tea house in LA. He brought in Hardin to help bring it to life. Hardin, who has worked in the food and beverage industry since childhood, says it was in beverages that he truly found his focus. When he saw the job posting for a tea consultant, he thought "this is amazing." He came on to consult, and together the two of them developed a vision for a modern urban tea house. Now Hardin, whose knowledge of tea really is vast, oversees development, training, and menu building at Alfred Tea Room. He was integral to the company's expansion into Japan. ## Tea Yes, You Maybe The tea house's slogan is cheeky, cute, a little punk, exactly what Zad had in mind. He says it goes over well in LA circles, but notes that it really took off in Japan: "They've had a trend going for decades now around empowering women and giving them equal standing and so on. So they embraced it, because it's a little pinker and a little more feminine, as a kind of empowerment slogan." In LA, people have more fun with the slogan, but the tea itself is actually pretty serious, which doesn't mean it's inaccessible. ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-119-3-2024.jpg) You won't find any snobby baristas or tea gurus at Alfred. Zad says: "I want the barista to be like, 'Have you been here before? What are your preferences? What do you usually order?'" He wants there to be a dialogue, for people to discover new teas and flavors, and even the side effects of drinking tea. Though tea's healing properties are somewhat known, Hardin's goal is to get people drinking it regularly, not just when they're in wellness mode. Hardin's advice is this: "Start your day with coffee, then just switch over to matcha later in the day, and you'll be fine. You'll be great." By this he means that, by moving from caffeine to theanine (a chemical that boosts the brain's alpha waves and physically relaxes you), you avoid the crash that so many coffee lovers know all too well. ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-119-4-2024.jpg) And it's a compelling case: "I can drink matcha all day and stay alert, focused, and never feel a crash. It just feels good," Hardin says. Plus, it's delicious. But matcha, in Hardin's view, is just the beginning. Hardin wants to introduce would-be tea drinkers to four other pillars of tea: kombucha, hot and iced tea, tea/tea lattes, and milk tea/boba. "Milk tea and boba usually go hand in hand, but plenty of people enjoy milk tea without the boba, which is an add-on option," he explains. Hardin says there are many great boba spots in LA, and given the city's strong Asian communities, who have been drinking boba tea for decades, standing out as a quality boba destination among a discerning Asian crowd is no small feat. And it's just as hard to convince new groups of people, especially those who aren't sold on tea in the first place, that boba isn't just a passing fad. Alfred Tea Room's strategy is to make a truly special boba tea. Each batch, which takes an hour to make, is created from high-quality, freshly brewed teas with no syrups. ## Let's Drink to That But Zad isn't content with just fixing tea's image problem. He has other plans, and they involve Mexican beer. "I'd had this idea for a while that nobody was doing anything really exciting in the beer space," Zad explains. His answer was to develop Calidad beer. The word Calidad simply means "quality," and it's a Mexican-style beer brewed in California, meaning it's a basic, light lager. The pair believes the IPA craze, super hoppy, bitter beer, is about to end, and instead they'll offer a beer that "tastes like Pacifico," meaning light and refreshing. It's sold only wholesale, though there will be a tasting room when it launches in West Hollywood this month. First there was coffee, then there was tea, and now there's beer. At first glance it might not seem like the perfect trio, but Zad isn't worried. "People trust me now with Alfred, so I say I'm making a Mexican beer. What's the worst that can happen?" Part of Zad's confidence comes from knowing his city. He grew up in Beverly Hills and was determined to open Alfred there, even though brokers suggested he was crazy, based on previous business failures in the area. He pushed ahead, trusting his familiarity and instinct: "I was born and raised in LA. I know it like the back of my hand." He never once considered launching his business anywhere but his hometown.