Tea House Goes Green

   A new kind of tea house has opened in El Paso. Tippi Teas offers over 56 different, all-natural loose-leaf flavored teas as well as roasted café Oaxaca and a variety of organic food, from muffins to tarts.

José Murguia and Daniela Casavantes, husband and wife, said they decided to open Tippi Teas because they were tired of their 9 to 5 jobs and because they wanted to sell a product they both loved.

“We wanted to sell something we believed in, and we both love tea,” Casavantes said.

According to Murguia, their variety of teas come from places all over the world, including South America, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and India.

“We make contacts when we travel,” Murguia said. “And we just started getting more and more into it until we found more herbs.”

With more than 50 kinds of tea flavors ranging from black, oolong and green tea, Murguia said they rotate their selection for more variety.

“When we go to other tea houses in other parts of the state, they have about 100 teas to choose from,” Casavantes said. “We decided to rotate them better, that way you’re not overwhelmed with so many options.”

Many of the teas come with free infusions or refills, depending on the tea, and are all $5 or less.

“Not every tea has free infusions, it depends on the tea,” Murgia said. “With prices ranging from $2 to $5, two cups fits perfect for a nice chitchat.”

Aside from introducing new tea flavors to El Paso, Casavantes said that Tippi Teas is also helping the environment.

“All our disposables are made of corn instead of plastic,” Casavantes said. “If I’m going to be lecturing my daughter about recycling I need to back that up.”

According to Casavantes, they also use the dry leaves as compost for their garden. But they’re facing issues with the huge quantity of leaves and not having enough space to deposit them, Casavantes said.

“El Paso Master Gardeners doesn’t have space for all these leaves,” Casavantes said. “So I’m trying to look for people who would want to have them.”

The tea house also sells fresh home leaves. The packets come with 50 grams, which make about 16 cups of tea, Casavantes said.

Being fairly new, the venue has already attracted students from UTEP.

“It is (a) really nice place to relax and just let go of all the stressing things from college,” said Jesus Fuentes, freshman commercial music major. “Not only that it is cheap, but you can get up to four infusions for free.”

Tippi Teas is ideal for students since it provides a place to study and surf the web with their free Wi-Fi., Fuentes said.

Angel Otero, freshman music theory and composition major, said he also enjoys the environment of the new tea house.

“I’m just glad that there are some people willing to try something different for the community,” Otero said. “Not only for the costumers but for the environment.”

The tea house is also a space for local artists to exhibit and/or sell their works, with no commission.

“I think it’s a wonderful and kind idea,” said Otero. “It is a great opportunity for artist(s), besides, some portraits would fit perfect (with) those white halls.”

Tippi Teas is located on 5034 Doniphan Drive and is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m Monday-Saturday.

Leonardo Montañez may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.