At the Mill City farmers market you will meet Mindy Kelly, her husband Brian or their youngest daughter Brenna, all experts on tea and thrilled to be able to help you discover the many varieties of tea and help you to choose several that would be best for you.
Mindy Kelly has always had a fascination with herbs, their flavors, and making tea with them. After the birth of her youngest daughter in 1992 she needed to supplement her six-member family’s income and decided to bring her self-developed herbal tisane blends and freshly roasted local coffee to the Minneapolis Farmers Market. It was the height of the coffee craze but to her surprise the customers seemed to be more interested in the few herbal teas than the coffee. Eventually people started to ask her for real loose tea leaves. After much research Mindy came to the conclusion that most of the Tea being offered in the US was the lowest quality dust and fanning of the tea which was bitter, tannic, and not of the quality she would feel comfortable selling along side of her tasty tisanes. The only way to offer Tea that would be as good as the herbal tisanes she was currently blending would be to purchase the Tea leaves and make the tea blends herself. After a bumpy start as a small importer (which really just means we buy them from another country, since that is where they grow), the opportunity to develop Tea blend recipes using herbs, dried fruits and natural extracts finally began! What makes Mrs. Kelly’s Tea unique and very special then and now is that we custom blend all of our teas daily from Mrs. Kelly’s own special recipes.
Over the years Mr. and Mrs. Kelly have had an opportunity to visit most of the tea “farms” that there leaves come from and feel assured that no pesticides are used on the teas that they purchase and the working conditions are humane and tolerable for the workers who hand pick their tea leaves.
One of the biggest barriers between Mrs. Kelly’s Tea and the consumer was the consumer being overwhelmed by other “experts” advice on choosing and brewing teas. For that reason Mindy has always been an advocate of the real simplicity and economics of brewing loose tea leaves. Part of that journey has included throwing the TC largest Tea Party the first weekend in December for the last 15 year at her warehouse. Mindy and her family have invited the public in and put out 100 of there most popular tea blends to prepare and sample for themselves. The entire “Kelly” family is on hand to help choose which teas may be best for you. There is a nominal charge for the tasting all which is donated to Second Harvest and Perspectives Kids Café.
Mrs. Kelly’s Tea has won reader chosen 2008 Local Hero Award in the category of “Beverage Artisan” from Edible Twin Cities publication. “Best Tea of Show” at Calhoun Coffee Fest and “Best Natural Product of Show” at the TC Food and Wine show. Mindy Kelly, founder of MKT, is a member of the Minnesota Growers Association, Women Who Really Cook, and the Specialty Tea Institute (STI). In 2005 Mindy Kelly was part of the American Tea Delegation to India by STI, representing American tea importers.
Distance traveled to Market:
2.5 miles from NE Minneapolis
