More than 15,000 people voted in San Francisco Bay Guardian’s Best of the Bay Readers Poll 2012, for their local, independent favorites. Samovar Tea Lounge was voted the Best Cup of Tea!
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Samovar Tea Lounge named one of the Best Places to Drink Tea in America by Travel + Leisure Magazine
“A Global Guide to the Best Tea,” May 2012
Travel + Leisure Magazine named Samovar Tea Lounge one of the Best Places to Drink Tea in America, saying:
“Samovar Tea Lounge’s patio and double-height glass wall [at Yerba Buena Gardens] are as transporting as its multicultural menu.
“What to Drink: Japanese teas are a specialty; the Green Ecstasy is a blend of top-quality matcha and first-flush Asamushi sencha.”
Read the full article on the Travel + Leisure website
On September 18, 2010, Samovar hosted “Tea With…Zen and the Art of Life Management,” bringing together life balance experts Leo Babauta, author of the blog Zen Habits, Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, and Susan O’Connell, VP of the San Francisco Zen Center. Forbes.com featured some highlights from Samovar’s event Zen and the Art of Life Management:
5 Ways To Find Your Zen
By KYM MCNICHOLAS
Friday, October 1, 2010
To survive in the digital world, there’s no such thing as a 4-hour work week. Sorry, Tim Ferriss. But there isn’t. I don’t think there ever was. But it was a nice idea. The web is live 24-hours a day with a captive audience at all times. We’re accessing it at home, at the office as well as on the road through our iPads, and smartphones, whether it’s the iPhone, Android, or Blackberry. Maybe, all three. Two of the three in my case.
So, if we’re always connected with the world, when are we taking time to connect with ourselves? Ummm…never? Ok, maybe when we go to the gym! But, Susan O’Connell, VP of the San Francisco Zen Center, says our bodies and our minds need a lot more! She believes that not taking time to re-connect with yourself daily is not a healthy and fulfilling way to live.
O’Connell was part of a panel discussion this week in front of a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs at Samovar Tea Lounge in San Francisco, along with Samovar’s owner, Jesse Jacobs, and Tim Ferriss, author of ‘The 4-Hour Workweek.”
The New York Times Dining and Wine Section features Samovar among the colorful and diverse San Francisco Bay Area teahouses.
Teahouses’ Unique Blends Are Not Just in the Cup
By GREGORY DICUM
Published: January 1, 2010
“…Samovar, in the Castro, makes tea drinking a stylish affair. Teas from around the world are served as they are in their home countries: Japanese maki bowls of rice and seaweed with ryokucha brown rice tea, English tea service with scones and Devonshire cream, Chinese tea with dumplings, and masala chai with curry. Russian tea is poured from a gleaming samovar.
‘We bring the world’s tea traditions under one roof,” said Jesse Jacobs, who opened Samovar in 2001. “It’s contemporary and hip but also respecting tradition.’
…Though many occupy spaces that used to be coffeehouses, it’s too early to call tea drinking a trend that will replace espresso anytime soon. Instead, it’s a parallel, calmer universe.
(Fortune Small Business) –At Samovar Tea Lounge, a chain of three teahouses in San Francisco, you’ll find no wireless Internet or bulletin board littered with local news and advertisements.
“The goal is to create relationships with customers where they become guests — or friends,” says CEO Jesse Jacobs, a dot-com veteran who opened the first Samovar, in the Castro/Mission district during the 2001 tech crash. “Our design reflects that. We try to provide a cocoon from the outside world, so we need more than just a few chairs and a Formica countertop.”
Seating space at the teahouse’s bamboo tables is intentionally tight. Jacobs, who built his shops without consulting professional designers, says the setup encourages patrons to mingle and try menu items that beckon from neighbors’ plates.
“It’s easy to overhear conversations, but that’s good,” says copywriter Paul Tootalian, 42, a regular customer. “There’s a real community feel.”
Inc. Magazine Fastest Growing Companies – We
Made the List!
Samovar Tea Lounge joins an elite group of companies across America as they have made the 2009 Inc. Magazine 5000 list of fastest-growing companies. Over the last six years, Samovar has grown its staff to over 60 employees and to three San Francisco locations.
We’d like to thank all of our customers for contributing to our rapid and prosperous growth!
Forbes Video Network Visits Samovar Tea Lounge to investigate the role of tea in lives of Silicon Valley Techies.
Jesse Jacobs, founder of Samovar, Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com, Tim Ferriss author of The 4-Hour Workweek, explain why people are getting into tea in these fast-paced times.
Th
e Village & Valley: Samovar
By Jessica Goldman
The corner of 18th and Sanchez was once home to an Internet café where customers plugged in and zoned out, or grabbed a cup of joe and hurried off. But when Jesse Jacobs took over, he one-eightied the coffee shop into a tea lounge, replacing jolts of energy with quiet pauses. “It was a statement about slowing down,” he says. “It was a testament to changing times.”
The Pipeline is an interview show featuring innovators, designers, geeks, newsmakers, entrepreneurs, and people who create amazing things.
We think it’s pretty amazing to be on the forefront of the modern day tea movement!
Jesse, founder of Samovar, recently conversed with host Dan Benjamin on topics including epiphany, refining experience, connecting to customers, time enhancement, dealing with fear, and tea as a vehicle to creating space in life for inspiration.