Celeste Cook Features Editor Sunday, June 30, 2024 Albert and Casey Luna believe tea doesn’t get a fair shake. In a world full of coffeehouses and coffee drinkers, tea gets woefully overlooked, so the Lunas decided it was time to balance the scales. They opened Gruene Tea Haus, one of the Hill Country’s only artisanal tea shops.
Its mission: To create an environment where tea lovers can come together and experience diverse and unique teas from around the world. “Tea is fundamentally different from coffee,” Albert said. “Historically, coffee shops have been the hotbeds of revolution.
It’s just something about the beverage. But tea itself is relaxing. So our goal is to just be a relaxing, chill place for people who want to try different teas.
” Gruene Tea Haus specializes in authentic, artisanal loose leaf teas that are free from chemicals and additives. In addition to that, the Lunas aim to share their tea knowledge with their custom- ers, so that no matter what their level experience might be, they can enjoy every cup of tea they drink. “There’s a humongous learning curve,” Albert said.
“One is that most Texans grow up on iced tea. Normally, that's going to be sweetened, and iced tea is black tea. There’s nothing wrong with black tea, but this is very sugar-infused and artificially flavored.
You don’t find that in nature with tea. Our teas here are naturally infused.” Casey Luna, who grew up drinking the Earl Grey her mother preferred, didn’t find.