20 Years of Ku Cha: How a Post-Christmas Opening Turned Into a Front Range Tea Institution
In just three days, on December 27, Ku Cha House of Tea celebrates its 20th anniversary. That’s right—we opened a retail shop two days after Christmas.
D’oh!
You might think after that strategic flop Ku Cha would be toast. It might last a few years, and then drift away. We’d return to our previous lives in financial services and engineering. But fortunately—and you, readers, are partially responsible for this—we survived that first year. We moved a few times in downtown Boulder, before arriving at our current location. And now the Front Range supports five Ku Cha House of Teas: the flagship, on Pearl Street in Boulder; Fort Collins; Thornton; Denver Pavilions; and Park Meadows.
Here’s to 20 years—thank you!
Happy Holidays from Ku Cha
Also, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays—how refreshing to be able to say that with open retail shops, with stores decorated for the season and buzzing with cheery, happy customers!
We trust all of you who celebrate Christmas will savor your time around the tree tomorrow. Inhale those cookies—dip them in hot tea from Ku Cha! Let those smiles go wide when loved ones open gifts. Invite the feast to unfurl slow, with many toasts, laughs and spirited conversations.
Then comes the bridge week—December’s final seven days. It even has a name—Twixmas. The holiday season’s frenetic peak has passed. New Year’s Eve’s pleasures still await. It’s definitely too early to hew to those New Year’s resolutions. How do we spend these last days of the year?
We slow down, and sip tea. People in most countries with strong holiday-season traditions take it easy. Many don’t work at all during the bridge. They spend time with family. Read books. Go on hikes. Put together puzzles.
It’s a lovely week. And needed—once everybody is back at work and school in January, it’s pedal to the metal straight through to the next season that comes with breaks from toil—summer.
Decorate the bridge week with tea—the ideal partner for ratcheting back the go, go, go vibes of autumn and early winter. We’ve got ideas!
Take advantage of this annual pause—and infuse it with delicious tea!
Twixmas Teas: Golden Monkey Black
Whenever customers ask us for a solid year-round black tea, we always suggest Golden Monkey and a few others as outstanding staples. Golden Monkey, from China’s Fujian Province, brews sweet and smooth from elongated, twisty tea leaves that showcase both black and gold colors. Steeping leaves yields a golden-amber liquor, with a rich, chocolate aroma and malty mouthfeel. The taste experience then lingers, with a beguiling sweetness.
We think Golden Monkey is a fairly perfect black tea—and ideal for that week leading up to New Year’s Eve. We think it may hatch a new resolution, too—drink Golden Monkey every morning!
Twixmas Teas: Lady Titania White
What an easy-drinking tea! Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with its queen of the faeries Lady Titania, serves as the inspiration. We aimed to come up with something playful and breezy, a tea to sip first thing in the morning, across afternoons and even after dinner for those who don’t stay awake from the caffeine in Camellia sinensis. And we hit the jackpot with our Lady Titania.
In addition to the white tea, this blend contains orange peel, lemon balm, marshmallow root and echinacea. The combination offers bright zip from the orange peel and lemon balm; sultry mouthfeel from the marshmallow root; and bitter notes from the echinacea. In addition, natural medicine practitioners have long tapped echinacea for its immunity support.
A winner of a tea! Get going with this one after December 25, and we suspect it’ll become a regular in 2026.
Twixmas Teas: Winter Berry Green
Christmas, one of the foundations of the holiday season, might be over tomorrow. But those Santa vibes remain—the classic flavors, aromas and colors of our annual celebration of gift-giving and good will.
And those vibes sing through our Winter Berry green tea blend—we crafted it explicitly for the holiday season. To the green tea base we incorporate standout holiday flavors like cranberry, pomegranate, orange, almond, aniseed and cinnamon. It also contains apple, carrot, hibiscus, blackberry leaf, linden blossom and rose.
The hibiscus, linden blossom and rose add floral notes. Meanwhile, the hibiscus, pomegranate and cranberry bring about red hues—a key holiday season color.
It’s a gorgeous bridge-week tea—and one you’ll want to brew year-round, too.
