Photo: Ed Fuentas

by Heidi Kyser

Owner Laura Stewart celebrated the grand opening of SipTea in downtown Los Angeles on Wed., Oct. 22, with about 40 party-goers, including a handful of dignitaries.

Because of the tea room's location in the Ninth & Broadway Building (next to the Orpheum), the City of L.A. took an interest in it. The downtown redevelopment council was instrumental in getting City Council members and other dignitaries to attend and in generating fanfare for the event.

Stewart said she's been drinking tea since childhood, mainly because she was raised by a Welsh and English mother and a Scottish father. As an adult working in the film business, she developed a heavy coffee habit that started to cause health problems, so she started drinking more tea.

"My interest in it developed, and I started taking classes at the Specialty Tea Institute and learning more about it," she added. It wasn't long before she was writing a business plan; that was about two years ago.

Asked whether it was nerve-racking opening a new business in the current environment, Stewart said, "Yes. I feel like I'm on a roller-coaster." For instance, the night of the grand opening, she rang up huge sales; the following night, "I didn't make any money."

Still, she added, the few weeks that have passed since SipTea's soft opening have been good overall.