Hi besties! It’s been a while, huh? Sorry to leave you hanging, but we’ve been SO busy! We’re so glad to be back on the blog now, and we’ve got tons of tea to spill (sorry, we just can’t help ourselves when it comes to a pun). So, what’s been going on over here? From purchasing a van, to bringing back our beloved fall faves, keep reading to find out everything we’ve been working on!
Our Fall Fave is BACK!
Pumpkin’ Up Chai fans, your time is here! Ditch the basic PSL for this herbal, rooibos-based chai that’ll fill your cup with fall flavors (without that coffee crash)! Our inaugural member of our autumnal mood Cozy, this cup is warm, spiced, comforting, and perfectly pumpkin spice. Fans of our Red Moon Rooibos Chai will also love this blend – the rooibos chai you know and love, but make it fall (instead of that creamy coconut).
Hot tip: for our basic besties on a budget who’ve been eyeing the St*arb*cks fall drinks (*cough* pumpkin cold foam chai latte) but want to make them at home, this is the blend for you!
Stay tuned for some NEW BLENDS!
We’ve been using every spare moment throughout our BUSIEST SEASON YET (!!!) to develop some incredible new blends! We’re starting with a brightly colored brew with a PASSIONate fruity flavor that’ll have you feeling HIGH up on cloud 9!
P.s. Guess this flavor correctly in the comments based on the clues above and we’ll send you some of our first batch!
And for all those “I’m more of a coffee person” people (???) looking to ditch the crash and jitters without losing that rich flavor, we’ve got something coming for you too!
The best part? These are just two of FOUR new blends coming your way, starting this fall!
Did someone say a van??
You heard it here first! We’re so proud to have recently made a huge step as a small business – we’re now the proud owners of our first Moody Teas van! And it’s been a CraAaZZy ride! (Listen, that was pun-intentional ?)
For those of you that have been keeping up with us for a while, you might’ve noticed we’ve had a pretty…. creative… way of getting our setup to and from our markets. It’s generally Nora’s ~*very tightly packed*~ sedan, and some form of rented van (from UberXL’s to borrowing from friends and family, believe us, we’ve tried it all…). This method served us well last season when we started at JUST ONE farmer’s market, but with 7+ markets this season, we needed something more reliable and cost effective. So we knew it was time to bite the bullet and think about purchasing our own van!
We started searching in July, after meeting with a wonderful angel investor who was super excited to fund our first big company purchase. Big shout outs here to the friends and family who offered help researching and advise along the way – we truly couldn’t have done this without support from our incredible community. Several disappointments and one passed driver’s test later (GO JOHN!!!), we found a van that fit our budget, without many issues. After a test drive and some incredible negotiation tactics from John, we pulled together the money and the paperwork and signed on the dotted line!
Like most things in life, it wasn’t all fun and games from there. A few minor repairs and a couple weeks later, we picked it up from the suburbs and drove it home to our kitchen to load up for Lincoln Park Farmers Market the next day. The next part of this story is like something out of a nightmare, but we couldn’t make this stuff up; not even 24 hours later, on our way back from the market, John and Nora heard a “pop” while merging onto the highway and the engine locked up. Two hours on the side of the road and one tow truck later, we were back at the kitchen, defeated and exhausted.
If anyone knows the universe works in mysterious ways, it’s us. As horrifying as this situation was, we had one saving grace – the 15-day mandatory warranty guaranteed by lemon laws in the state of Illinois. We called the seller, who towed the van back to their shop and let us know the timing belt had snapped. We’re no mechanics, but typically that means the whole engine is a goner (thanks google!). Now here’s where that warranty comes into play – the engine is a necessary part of the car, meaning the seller was liable to fix it! So not only were we NOT out of luck, but we were getting a brand-new engine, which was a really inconvenient way of us getting a better deal in the long run! Two weeks later, just entering fall, we got it back, and so far, so good! ??
John likes to joke that this is usually how we work at Moody: our first try is rarely successful, but we always get it right the second time around. This van has definitely proved them right. It took a whole month, but our van is finally back in action, and it’s already proving to be one of the most valuable members of the team (Look out John and Nora ?)! It’s streamlined our trips to and from farmer’s markets, and even with it’s own costs, it’s more cost effective and environmentally friendly than our previous methods, so we think this is a definite WIN!
tldr: keep an eye out for us around the city this fall in our new van!
What’s coming up?
Well, we’re still in the thick of farmers market season through the fall! For the next two and a half months, we’ll still be at all our favorite markets. Head on over to our Markets page to stay tuned on where we’ll be through the rest of the fall. We’ll keep it updated as we add our Holiday markets, but right now we’re hoping to see you at Renegade Craft Fair, the Chicago Artisan Markets, SAUCED Night Market, and maybe even the One of a Kind Holiday show!
P.S. Check back soon for the next installment of Spilling the Tea – it’s piping hot! ?
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