When Elyse Petersen moved to Las Vegas nearly three years ago, there wasn’t much of a tea culture.

In fact, that’s why she chose it.

The lack of competition made the city an ideal place to found Tealet, a web store described as an “online farmers market for tea.”

Since then, Elyse – who is Tealet’s founder and CEO – has been promoting tea as not just a health product, but a lifestyle.

And she’s not alone.

The World Tea Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center drew thousands of attendees this past week, and new purveyors like Niu-Gu Restaurant are popping up around town.

“The tea culture is growing to a point where the consumer is valuing quality and there is a big opportunity for bringing these high-quality products to the market,” Petersen told us.

She said more and more consumers want to know where their tea is grown, how much the workers are paid and how it is distributed. She said with her website people know exactly what they're getting.

“They know what they’re getting and they know down to the soil that it’s being made from that they can understand the intention that is going into the tea,” Petersen said.

Joe Muscaglione is the managing partner of Niu-Gu Restaurant, which is devoted to good tea. He agreed that people are more aware of the food and drinks they're consuming.

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“I think the consumer is becoming more savvy," he said, "They want to know more about what they’re eating where it comes from. What they’re drinking and where it comes from.”

At his restaurant, tea is served in what is known as the gong fu tea service, which is a specific way to make and serve tea.

Petersen said it is similar to martial arts.

“It is serving tea with great skill and attention to how you serve the tea,” she said.

Muscaglione said tea is similar to wine in that where the plant grows and how the leaves are processed can make a great deal of difference to flavor.

“Tea is the second most consumed beverage after water,” he said, “I just love the flavors. I love the health benefits. I just feel great when I drink tea.”