The Denman Island Tea Company

07/30/2026

07/30/2026

A quick update for our Filberg Festival friends: unfortunately, we will not be serving our handcrafted iced teas at the festival this weekend.

We’re disappointed to miss everyone this year, but we hope to be back in 2027. In the meantime, our tea shop at 2998 Kilpatrick Avenue in Courtenay remains open, stocked and ready to welcome you.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support. 💚

07/29/2026

Most independent tea shops say they want to stand apart.

But then they stock the same Earl Grey, the same chai, the same fruit blends and the same familiar flavours customers can find almost anywhere.

That is not differentiation. It is simply a different label on a familiar product.
A signature tea blend gives a shop something far more valuable: a product customers can only buy from them.

It becomes part of the shop’s identity, its story and its reason for being remembered. Done properly, it can also improve customer loyalty, strengthen margins and create a tea that staff are genuinely proud to recommend.

At Denman Tea, custom blending is not about adding a new flavour to an existing catalogue tea and calling it exclusive.
We work with tea retailers to develop blends that reflect their market, their customers and the experience they want to create. From selecting the base tea to balancing botanicals, natural flavours, visual appeal and final cup character, every detail matters.

The goal is straightforward:

Create teas that are uniquely yours—not the same blends everyone else is selling.
For independent tea shops looking to build a stronger brand, a signature blend may be one of the most practical places to begin.

07/02/2026

Great news for our tea friends south of the border.

Denman Tea is now shipping to the United States again.

After cross-border sales were disrupted by the U.S. government’s tariff changes last year, we are happy to say that U.S. ordering is now live again on our e-commerce store.

That means customers across the United States can once again order our freshly blended teas directly from us here on Vancouver Island.

For our American customers who have been waiting to restock their favourites, thank you for your patience. The door is open again.

Our teas are blended in small batches with real ingredients, careful sourcing, and the same hands-on approach we have stood behind since 1999. No shortcuts. No dusty warehouse tea. Just properly blended loose-leaf teas, crafted with the care that specialty tea deserves.

Whether you have been waiting for Cream Earl Grey, Canadian Breakfast, Midnight Jasmine, rooibos blends, herbals, chai, or something new to discover, you can now shop online and have Denman Tea shipped directly to your door in the U.S.

To our returning American customers: welcome back.

To our new ones: we are glad you found us.

Shop online now and bring a little Vancouver Island tea into your cup.

https://denmantea.ca/

07/02/2026

Good tea is no longer an advantage.

It is the baseline.

That may sound blunt, but the tea world has changed. Customers can now find decent loose-leaf tea in more places than ever before — online, in cafés, in grocery stores, in wellness shops, and in other tea shops.

So for independent tea shops, the bigger question is no longer simply, “Do we carry good tea?”

Most do.

The better question is, “What teas are we known for?”

This is something the specialty coffee world figured out years ago. Independent cafés build loyalty through their own roast profiles, house blends, sourcing relationships, and coffees their customers come back for by name.

They are not just selling coffee.

They are selling their coffee.

Retail tea shops need that same kind of ownership.

A tea shop can have a thoughtful selection and still feel too similar to the shop across town: the same Earl Grey, the same chai, the same vanilla rooibos, the same familiar wellness blends under different names.

There is nothing wrong with those classics. They are staples for a reason. But the real opportunity is to make a few of them unmistakably yours.

A house Earl Grey. A chai with your own spice style. A breakfast blend tied to your region. A caffeine-free blend customers ask for by name.

That is where differentiation begins.

Specialization does not weaken a tea shop. It strengthens it. It gives staff a better story to tell, customers something to remember, and the business a position that cannot simply be copied from the same catalogue.

In our latest article, we look at why good tea is now the baseline — and why ownable, signature teas may be the next real advantage for independent tea shops.

Read the full article here:

Most independent tea shops do not have a bad tea problem. In fact, many have the opposite.

07/01/2026

We’re proud to share that Denman Tea is now being served onboard Hullo Fast Ferries.

For us, this is exactly the kind of partnership that makes sense: a Vancouver Island company, crafting organic teas here on the Island, now part of the journey across the Salish Sea. Whether you’re heading to the mainland, coming home, or simply enjoying the view, there’s now a proper cup of tea waiting on board.

Hullo guests can now enjoy a selection of Denman Tea favourites, including Canadian Breakfast, Cream Earl Grey, Midnight Jasmine, Cut Leaf Peppermint, Ayurvedic Ginger Fresh, and Crimson Berry.

Good tea. Beautiful journey. Very Vancouver Island.

06/19/2026

Most cafés don’t have a tea problem.

They have a tea service problem.

When coffee is ordered, the customer gets a finished drink. But when tea is ordered, too often they’re handed a bag, a cup of hot water, and the responsibility of making it taste right.

That’s not hospitality. That’s handing the customer a tea project.

In our latest article, we look at why tea gets stuck at 1–3% of beverage sales in coffee-first cafés — and how a cleaner workflow, better menu placement, stronger staff language, and smarter pricing can turn tea into a proper revenue stream.

Read the full article here:

The Fastest Way to Lift Tea Sales Without Slowing Service Finish the drink behind the bar. Tea isn’t underperforming in coffee-first cafés because customers don’t buy tea. In café audits, I keep seeing the same pattern: a beautiful espresso program, well-trained baristas, strong equipment, and...

06/19/2026

Coffee owns the morning.

But for cafés, the afternoon is wide open.

We’re seeing a real opportunity for coffee shops to turn the quiet 1–5 pm window into stronger beverage sales by treating tea as a proper revenue stream — not just a dusty backup option.

A focused tea program can improve average ticket size, give non-coffee drinkers a better experience, and help staff confidently recommend something beyond another latte.

I wrote more about why tea may be the next afternoon opportunity for coffee shops. Link below.

06/14/2026

Experience Denman Tea tableside at Oak Bay Beach Hotels new Afternoon, Tea service. Our proprietary TDrop steeper will be showcased tableside, creating one of the best pots of tea this side of China!

06/09/2026

🌿 Meet the Denman Island Tea team! 🌿

We’re proud to introduce the people behind every cup of Denman Island Tea. From blending and operations to shipping, finance, and leadership, this dedicated team helps bring our teas from our shelves to your home.

From left to right:
Wendy Massey, CFO
Teryl Webb, Operations Manager
Ben Floor, Tea Blender
Jason Hobbs, Shipper/Receiver
Brendan Waye, Founder & CEO

We’re grateful for the care, craft, and teamwork that goes into everything we do — and especially thankful to all of you for supporting Denman Island Tea. 💛