About Hackberry Tea

What started as a coffee roasting hobby in a garage has grown into a full-blown tea brand serving thousands. 

But Hackberry Tea wasn’t part of the original plan. 

It was born out of our coffee business, Sagebrush Coffee, which I started as a home coffee roasting project in 2012. As the business grew, I realized something was missing—tea! Tea has always been one of my favorite beverages, and so it felt only natural to incorporate it into our offerings.

Initially, tea was meant to be a small addition to our coffee website, but it quickly became apparent that tea deserved its own space. By the end of 2013, Hackberry Tea spun off into its own entity, separate from Sagebrush Coffee. This move allowed us to fully commit to developing a distinct tea brand.

As we embarked on this journey, we asked ourselves key questions: How could we add value to the mature tea industry? Where did we fit into the supply chain? After evaluating our strengths—curating flavors, logistics expertise, and a passion for communication—we realized our niche was as curators and retailers of premium teas. We didn’t have the expertise to blend teas at first, but we could hand-pick the finest teas available and offer them at affordable prices.

Along the way, we learned. A lot! Tea education–for ourselves and our customers–became just as important to us as the product itself. The more we learned about tea, the more we loved it and the more we wanted others to experience it. 

Our business model here at Hackberry–what makes us unique–is our flexibility. We have the freedom to try different teas, introduce new flavors, and make adjustments based on customer feedback. This allows us to offer smaller, more fresh batches of tea, ensuring high quality while maintaining an affordable price. Additionally, our expertise in logistics enables us to provide fast turnaround times, making us competitive in this industry.

Running both a coffee and tea business while traveling the world in search of the best varieties of both has helped us refine our palates. From judging international coffee competitions to daily tastings of both coffee and tea, our global experience has shaped how we evaluate quality. This experience has enabled us to create some pretty great systems for understanding what makes different drinks great. So, we mean it when we say that we are able to offer some of the best teas in the United States!

One of the greatest advantages of this model is that it allows us to develop real expertise in tea. We don’t have to spend time managing complex blending processes or dealing with ingredient suppliers. Instead, we focus on understanding tea at a deep level, which has allowed us to build a robust knowledge base. Today, we are proud to offer some of the best teas available, curated with care and attention to detail.

What began as a side venture over a decade ago has truly become a labor of love. There’s something magical about tea—the way it brings calm to chaos, connects cultures, and turns an ordinary moment into a ritual. It’s our aim that everyone gets to experience a part of this magic in every cup they order from us. 

As we continue to grow Hackberry Tea, we are excited about the future, particularly with the knowledge base on our website. We have created an extensive article portfolio about tea. Our goal is to provide as much information as possible so you can make informed buying decisions. Whether you’re new to tea or a seasoned enthusiast, we aim to help you discover and enjoy the best teas in the world.

Thank you for supporting Hackberry Tea. We’re excited to grow this community and share our passion for tea with you.