Martha Stewart Café: Serving Tea in Chelsea

After decades of teaching America her homemaking and entertaining tips, Martha Stewart is now serving up tea and coffee in her first café. Located in west Chelsea in New York City in the Starrett-Lehigh building, headquarters of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, visitors can now sip Kobrick Coffee and Arogya Tea and taste treats from ChikaLicious, Baked, Bien Cuit, and Balthazar. While Martha fans may be disappointed that it is only a 150-foot kiosk with no seating for now, this could just be the first test of the market.

Martha Stewart Café opened on March 13 and in addition to drinks and pastry to go, loose leaf tea and coffee beans are also for sale. The tea is packaged under the Martha Stewart Thé brand. Offerings include a breakfast blend, chai, Da Hong Pao, Emerald Mountain, Jasmine Silver Needle and herbals like lemon ginger, peppermint and buckwheat.

Stewart’s tea is supplied by Arogya Tea of Westport, Conn. Arogya, named for the Sanskrit word meaning “whole health,” has been operated for nearly 15 years by the Bertram family. The company sells artisan teas and operates a holistic healing center. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia suffered a $1.8 million loss in 2013 and Meredith Corp. took over a substantial portion of the magazine operations in October 2014.

SOURCE: The Daily Meal, New York Eater and The Martha Blog