Renee Rosenow

When in the mood for a place where there’s some fresh tea in Eau Claire, there are choices to satisfy that caffeine craving.

Between Infinitea Teahouse, Starbucks or Gloria Jeans, any tea lover can find something they like.

A month ago, a brand new teahouse opened in downtown Eau Claire called Infinitea, 112 East Grand Ave. Owners Jeffrey Mares and Andrew Seveland offer a number of different kinds of loose leaf tea.

Available for order are both hot and iced teas.

There are two main different types of tea, Mares said.

The first type of tea comes from tea plants. There are five types of this kind – white, green, oolong, black and pu-erh tea. All of them are from the same plant, but, their differences come from the way they are processed.

Herbal tea is the other kind, which doesn’t come from tea plants. This tea can be made up of dried flowers, leaves, seeds or roots and put into boiled water.

Tea is not a very popular drink in the United States in comparison to other countries around the world, but in Eau Claire people like to drink tea, Mares said.

“I have been amazed by how many people in Eau Claire are tea drinkers,” Mares said.

Tea possesses some advantages that other drinks, like coffee, do not offer, Mares said.

Tea has less caffeine than coffee and hydrates your body. Tea also helps to flush out your body with of all the antioxidants it contains.

Another benefit Mares pointed out was that “green tea has fluoride in it so it is good for your teeth.”

However, some tea contains more caffeine than coffee, such as Maté, a tea from South America.

Mares and Seveland met at UW-Eau Claire. They were roommates during their sophomore and senior years and both studied abroad during their junior year.

Since he was 16, Mares wanted to open a coffee shop. During his junior year, he studied abroad in Spain and lived in an apartment above a tea store.

“It was the first time I had ever seen loose-leaf tea,” he said.

After graduating from Eau Claire, Mares taught English in Madrid for a year. During that time, he traveled to Lithuania to visit one of his high school friends who was studying there.

“It was in Lithuania where I actually saw places that were teahouses, where all they did was tea,” he said.

When Mares and Seveland realized that there were already too many coffee shops in Eau Claire, they decided to create a teahouse instead.

“I wanted to create something different,” Mares said.

Tea drinkers have the option to buy tea leaves by the ounce. Moreover, undecided drinkers can smell loose leaves exposed on a side counter inside test tubes.

The teahouse also plans to host concerts and have artists exposing their works on Infinitea’s new walls.

On Oct. 2, Drew Kaiser, a local photographer, will display his work for a month.

“It has been really interesting to see people’s reactions,” Mares said. “On the whole, it has been a really good reception. I think people like the idea of a teahouse; something different.”

Infinitea Teahouse is not the only establishment in Eau Claire that can satisfy tea lovers’ needs.

Coffee shops such as Starbucks and Gloria Jeans also offer tea drinks, but offer tea bag tea, not loose-leaf tea.

According to Infinitea’s Web site, the main difference between loose-leaf tea and tea bag tea is the size of the leaves. Tea leaves contain oil, and when they are broken, like in tea bags, the oil can evaporate, which leads to a tasteless tea.

At Starbucks they serve the brand Tazo tea, but drinking tea is not a widespread habit at this coffee shop.

“Tea is not as popular as coffee,” Megan Gustin-Bridgman, a Starbucks employee, said. ” It has not as much caffeine as coffee does, which is what people look for.”

However, during the winter time, tea sales increase.

Gloria Jeans employee Matt Schweitzer said they offer about 12 different kinds of tea.

Like Starbucks, tea is not one of their most popular drinks – they might sell about 10 tea drinks a week.

Often tea drinkers are not young, but older people.

“Tea has an acquired taste,” Schweitzer said.

Freshman Morgan Laffey agrees with what Schweitzer said when asked why tea is not a popular drink among young adults.

“You have to drink a lot of tea before you can actually like it,” she said.

Laffey has two or three tea drinks a month, usually iced tea. She said she prefers white tea with sugar rather than a stronger tea, such as green tea.

However, some people enjoy the bitter taste of green tea.

Sophomore Seth Johnston drinks approximately 10 cups of tea a month and about the same amount of coffee. His favorite is green tea.

Johnston also said that he thinks tea is not a popular drink among teenagers and that iced tea will remain more popular than hot tea.

“Tea has less caffeine than other drinks have, like soda, and it has a more bitter taste,” Johnston said.

Johnston said he believes in the beneficial effects of tea.

“It is better to drink tea than soda,” he said.

Infinitea Teahouse is located in downtown Eau Claire. A pot of tea costs $2.75, and it is $2.00 for an iced tea or a to-go cup. The teahouse is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.