Episode 1: The beginning

Hello and welcome to the Got Tea journal! My name is Tariqa, and I will be taking you with us on this journey to understand what Got Tea is, how it started, and what we envision it to be. 

What is the journal? Well, we want to tell you the Got Tea story, right from the start - how did we get here? We want you to know all about us, the struggles and the successes, what we want to do with Got Tea, and how we hope to serve you - patrons and partners. 

But we don’t only want to tell you our history - we also want to tell you our vision for our future, and how we want to keep engaging you in our journey. We want to tell you what our day-to-day looks like, and what running Got Tea entails. This journal is also a way to remind ourselves, the Got Tea team, of how much work we have put into this and to ensure that you all get the best from us. 

So, who are we? Well, you know me by now – I am Tariqa. But I am only the writer of this journal. The main folks behind this endeavor are four guys I have known for about 15 years now. There are YuSung and SuAh, from South Korea, and Armaan and Jo, from Delhi. And we all attended the same boarding school in Mussoorie called Woodstock. And that’s when I first met them! 

YuSung and SuAh in Grade 8 (2007)

We were all classmates at Woodstock, and graduated in 2011 - that’s 10 years ago! And after we finished school, we all went our own ways – SuAh stayed in South Korea, Armaan and YuSung went to the States to study, Jo stayed in Delhi, and I was in Canada. But around 2018, Armaan and YuSung started talking about a potential business – YuSung had always wanted to come back to India, and Armaan wanted to hone his entrepreneurial skills. They roped in SuAh and Jo, and started Got Tea in late 2019. 

Class of 2011 boys (2010)

Our school, Woodstock, is known for its diverse student population - we had kids from all over the world, and we not only studied with them, but we also lived with them, learning so much about their cultures in the process. Woodstock was when most of us got our first exposure to other cultures of the world, and the Got Tea team wanted to bring exactly that to Delhi – they wanted to introduce their East Asia to the city. And so they started this bubble tea venture, located in South Delhi. 

But Got Tea is so much more than just bubble tea – the vision is to expand it to become a space where people can engage with East Asian, especially South Korean, culture at a more intimate level. With plans to launch cooking and other classes and exploring partnerships with the Korean Cultural Centre, Got Tea aims to be the go-to place for Korean cultural exposure for folks in Delhi. All over sharing some bubble tea. 

Team Got Tea (February 2020)

This hasn’t been an easy path for the team – the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world just as we were ready to launch, and there have been many setbacks and roadblocks. But the team has persevered and fought to achieve this dream. So stay tuned to find out more about how we got here, where we are today, and what we hope to see in the future. Keep watching this space as I chronicle our journey!

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 29, 2021 at 8:56 PM

    Can't tell you how happy I was to find that bubble tea was available for order on Swiggy! Thanks for making it happen. I love the matcha flavour. Will be exploring the other flavours too.

    And to discover that there is a K-twist to your story makes me only more happy as a fan of the K-Universe. I hope you succeed! Hwaiting!

    ReplyDelete

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