Tea sommelier Lim Eun-hye walks you through Starbucks' black tea menu—then shows how to recreate variations in your property or kitchen. A practical break from Americano overload.
09. Black Tea Variations
By Tea Sommelier Lim Eun-hye (Brand Manager, TeaGrace)
About the author Lim Eun-hye
- Completed Tea Sommelier Research Institute Gold Course
- Beverage menu consulting for café franchises and independent shops
- Tea product development consulting
- Milk tea and tea-ade one-day workshops and corporate training
- Online store operator, tea columnist for blogs and MAGAZINE ON
Photo by Angello Lopez on Unsplash
Hello, I'm Lim Eun-hye, tea sommelier at TeaGrace. The weather suddenly turned summer-hot, and today as I write this, the rain is coming down. On rainy days like this, why not skip your usual coffee and try a warm cup of tea instead?
Starbucks — you know it, with its massive footprint across Korea. Today, I'll start by recommending a delicious black tea variation for anyone overwhelmed by the menu. Then I'll show you how to make it simply at your property or at home.
I used to have terrible decision paralysis — whether choosing a meal or ordering a drink. Why is it so hard to pick a drink at a café? I've given this some thought. My theories:
- We go for cheap drinks. (Americano)
- We play it safe with what we know. (Americano or latte)
- We feel self-conscious in a group and just copy what everyone else orders. (Americano…?)
We live our entire lives — morning, noon, night — with Americano by our side. Office workers especially. If your team does rock-paper-scissors after lunch and the loser buys drinks? You know it's going to be Americano.
Why is ordering at a café so hard?
All right, before we pick a drink, let me show you Starbucks' menu. Can you see it?
Market research on Korea's café scene from 2017 to now.
Recently, Starbucks launched a new Icheon Rice Latte — and at the same time, a Chestnut Black Tea Latte and Vanilla Black Tea Latte. Notice a common word? Tea. Now lattes need tea in them. If you don't put tea in the menu, you're behind. If you haven't tried milk tea, you might as well be a spy. That's the Korean café market today.
Starbucks' new releases: Icheon Rice Latte, Chestnut Black Tea Latte, Vanilla Black Tea Latte
I've shown you all these Starbucks drinks. Now if you had to pick just one out of 15 options, which would you choose?
Decided yet? Still can't pick? 🙂
Let me help.
A Tea Sommelier's Starbucks Pick: Grapefruit Honey Black Tea
Out of all the Starbucks offerings, here's why I recommend Grapefruit Honey Black Tea:
First, it's dairy-free. For Koreans with lactose intolerance, this drink is a comfortable choice.
Second, it leverages grapefruit — a flavor Koreans love. I develop tea beverage menus, and I've witnessed many tea drinks come and go. When Starbucks acquired Teavana and launched Grapefruit Honey Black Tea as its first tea variation, the response was explosive. It's still hugely popular. Demand for tea-ade classes surged, and many students come to my workshops specifically to learn this recipe.
If you're curious about tea-ades, run a café and need menu ideas, or simply haven't tried this drink yet — you have to taste Grapefruit Honey Black Tea.
Even outside of cafés, it's perfect for hospitality owners who want to differentiate their property. Use it as a welcome drink or a signature tea experience guests can only get at your place. It's excellent content for your guest journey.
Third, the black tea in Grapefruit Honey Black Tea has real benefits. Here's why you should drink black tea: its color compounds — flavonoids and theaflavins — are antioxidants. They combat aging, helping prevent age spots and dark circles.
Black tea also contains catechins, a type of polyphenol with antioxidant properties. These compounds suppress harmful oxygen activity that accelerates aging. Regular black tea consumption is known to prevent age-related diseases, heart disease, stroke, arteriosclerosis, and even cancer.
Convinced? Let's try Grapefruit Honey Black Tea.
Photo by Christine Trant on Unsplash
Make Your Own Grapefruit Honey Black Tea
TeaGrace has reimagined Starbucks' Grapefruit Honey Black Tea. Ready to make it? Here's our recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 TeaGrace Gold Breakfast Blend tea bag
- 250mL hot water
- 30g grapefruit preserve
- 30g honey
Recipe
1) Hot Grapefruit Honey Black Tea
- Steep 1 TeaGrace Gold Breakfast Blend tea bag in 250mL hot water for 3 minutes.
- Add grapefruit preserve and honey to the brewed tea. Hot Grapefruit Honey Black Tea, done.
2) Iced Grapefruit Honey Black Tea
- Steep 1 TeaGrace Gold Breakfast Blend tea bag in 150mL hot water for 3 minutes.
- Mix in grapefruit preserve and honey until fully dissolved.
- Pour over a glass filled with ice. Iced Grapefruit Honey Black Tea, done.
Korean Starbucks' Grapefruit Honey Black Tea is slightly sweeter than standard. Sweetness is subjective — always taste-check after making.
- Too sweet? Add water.
- Too mild? Add more grapefruit preserve.
Photo by Danika Perkinson on Unsplash
What is Gold Breakfast Blend?
A pure black tea blend (no added flavoring) from seasonal teas in Sri Lanka's Ruhuna and Kandy regions.
Tea is an agricultural product — each region has its seasonal harvest. Gold Breakfast Blend is a curated blend of Sri Lanka's finest seasonal teas. Only the best, most flavorful harvests make the cut.
Surprisingly easy, right?
This month we explored how to differentiate your property with black tea beverages, why you should drink black tea variations, and how to make them. Just as your property can create a memorable travel or business trip experience, tea can become a powerful part of that memory. A guest might want to return to your property because of the tea experience. It can be that impactful.
Next month, I'll return with even more engaging tea content for Magazine ON readers.
Have a fragrant day. Thank you.
[Series Index]
2018.09 Understanding Tea and Property Differentiation
2018.10 Blended Teas and Why You Should Drink Tea
2019.03 Hiatus
2019.04 Black Tea Story (4) – 2
2019.05 Black Tea Story (4) – 3
2019.06 Black Tea Story (5)
2019.07 Black Tea Story (6)
2019.08~ Green Tea Story
