For Jolene Macks of Quite The Stir, tea holds universes. It’s a portal to the past, to afternoons spent sipping tea with her grandmother. It’s a threshold to cultures and traditions the world over. And it’s a journey inward; a ritual of pause and pleasure.
Macks founded Quite The Stir, an artisan tea and coffee company in Gettysburg, nearly 20 years ago. Led by the historic traditions of tea drinking, Macks creates an atmosphere of delight that accompanies her loose leaf teas, hand-roasted coffees, culinary spices, and various events that bring the community together.
“It began with my grandmother,” Macks says. “I grew up drinking tea with her almost every day. I began to fall in love with tea and her stories and started researching it, myself. I’d wonder, ‘What country, which mountain in China or what garden did my tea come from?’ I was hooked.”
Macks’ passion for tea ultimately spilled into her career as owner of a vintage, interactive guest house in Gettysburg. “Folks from across the globe would come in and we used that opportunity to feature our love for tea,” she says. “Somewhere along the line, everything began to revolve around tea.” They threw countless vintage tea parties with guests decked to the nines in 1930s and 40s apparel. “They’d wear their hats, the gloves and those seamed nylons,” Macks recalls. Eventually, she phased out the guest house to focus solely on her tea and coffee lines.
Macks
Macks grew her expertise through experimentation first. She’d mix and adjust tea blends, bouncing flavors off of customers for their feedback. Over the years, she’s delved into formal tea master training with experts in the field. She meticulously sources ingredients from high-quality wholesalers, which she brings to the table with her team in York Springs. “Several of us get together and we do a trial-and-error of which teas go with different flavors. We consider what is popular out there in the tea world and then formulate our own blends using top-quality ingredients. That includes tea leaves, tea extracts and fruit for herbal teas. If you’re making a black tea like London Fog, you have to secure bergamot extract, orange peels, different flavorings, and then formulate the best combination.”
White strawberry tea
Quite The Stir has worked up to over 300 tea varieties that truly run the gamut of characteristics, aromas and flavors. It can feel overwhelming to wade through the inventory, so Macks has organized the tea by its six main categories including black, green, oolong and white, among other groupings. “Tea all comes from one plant, the camellia sinensis,” she says. “From that, you get these categories.”
She also offers a line of legendary specialty teas like Pu-erh, a Chinese post-fermented tea with complex, earthy flavors and Longjing, a Chinese pan-roasted green tea appreciated for its sweet taste and nutty aroma. The herbal teas include rooibos and honeybush, South African red and tisane teas, and charming seasonal teas include chocolate charred brûlée, mistletoe magic and sun-soaked Thai chai.
Tea products come in your choice of loose leaf or tea bags with background information and steeping instructions on the package. Quite The Stir also offers brewing essentials, including an array of infusers for steeping the loose leaf teas.
Amidst the massive selection, Macks points out some fan favorites. “Our London Fog is a very popular one.” she says. “It can be mind boggling to think about meeting the expectations of a tea that’s so beloved. How can we duplicate that in our own unique way?” The Quite The Stir version, called Earl Gray Radiance, blends a creamy, vanilla-infused Earl Grey black tea with blue cornflowers, bergamot and natural creme flavor for a creamy, citrus and slightly floral tea.
Strawberry Gone Wild is another hit. Macks says, “A lot of people seek herbal teas because they do not want caffeine.” This caffeine-free, summery tea marries the flavors of ripe, red strawberries, fragrant hibiscus and soothing herbs. For a high-test, fruit-forward alternative, Georgia Peach is a black tea with peach, marigold flowers and sweet apple with lots of caffeine.
Seasonal favorites include Sweater Weather, a cozy blend of black tea, autumnal spices, cocoa and fruit and Candy Cane Lane, a minty Sri Lankan black tea that became so popular that it sells year round. Chocolate varieties span the seasons, like a white chocolate and peppermint Sleigh Ride for winter and the colorful A Gray Bunnies’ Delight white tea blend with rose hips, pineapple and mango for spring.
Quite The Stir also gives nods to South Central PA heritage with GetTEAsburg, a warming chai blend, Molly Pitcher, a creamy Ceylon black tea blend, CiviliTEA, an orange-y black tea blend, and Earl of York, a comforting black tea blend.
Tea tells stories, and Macks is passionate about sharing them with consumers. She writes Tea Chronicles, a series of tales and history behind the rites, traditions and ingredients of tea, like that of bygone department store tea rooms, sites of chic social gatherings, humble yet sophisticated Asian tea traditions and the rise of British elevenses and afternoon tea. She also offers a comprehensive guide to tea and a thorough tea dictionary on her website to invite people to explore the many worlds of tea.
These days, tea is having a resurgence. The peaceful ceremony of making it, the health benefits and its quietly luxurious nature all fit within a rising ethos of wellness among people of all ages. “There are rituals to making tea,” Macks says. “A deliberate appreciation.” And it’s timeless.
To shop Quite The Stir’s tea, coffee and spice products, visit its website and follow its Facebook and Instagram pages for pop-up shop announcements, or try its Brew Express to schedule a quick, in-person pickup. Macks is available for in-person events and tea ceremonies, and you can contact her for more information. Quite the Stir operates in York Springs, Pennsylvania; (717) 778-8211.
- All other photos: Quite The Stir
- Feature photo: Bigtock
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