Behind the Brand: Tea with Tae
Meet Tea with Tae Founder, Tae O’Dorisio
1. What is the name of your company?
Tea with Tae
2. What is your title?
Founder & CEO
3. Where is your company located?
Golden, Colorado
4. Whats your current obsession?
I’ve got a 2.5 year old, and he is my whole world. So whatever he’s into (Curious George, Trash Truck, playing in the dirt, etc.), I’m into lol.
5. How did you hear about Naturally Colorado? What made you become a member? Has Naturally Colorado helped you in any way?
As part of our SQF certification process last year, we made a major operational shift: we discontinued all use of artificial flavoring, brought all blending in-house, and committed to producing only all-natural teas with third-party tested ingredients in every batch. It was a huge milestone for Tea with Tae because it allowed us to say with 100% certainty that we were making clean, natural tea products with full control over quality and sourcing.
Once we reached that point, we felt ready to become part of the broader natural foods community in Colorado. Naturally Colorado felt like the perfect place to connect with other mission-driven CPG brands, learn from leaders in the industry, and continue growing our business in a way that aligns with our values.
Naturally Colorado has already helped us feel more connected to the local natural products ecosystem. It has given us access to a community of founders, operators, and food industry professionals who understand the challenges and opportunities of building a values-based CPG brand, and Tea with Tae is excited to continue growing with and contributing to Naturally Colorado.
6. What size is your company?
8 employees and 15-20 during Q4 with part-time seasonal staff.
7. What inspired you to start your company?
Tea has always been a part of my life. Growing up, my mom and I would often share herbal tea together, especially as she courageously battled cancer off and on over the past 30 years. Tea became something comforting, grounding, and deeply personal for me. The original inspiration for Tea with Tae came when I was trying to create a custom tea gift for someone. I wanted to choose specific tea blends and build a beautiful gift box, but I couldn’t find anything like that in the market. That idea became our first product: the Tea Bento Box, a Japanese-inspired tea gift box with bento-style containers filled with different teas. We started as a gift-first tea brand, but over time, customers began telling us they loved the tea so much they wanted to drink it every day. That feedback pushed us to expand into larger formats, including retail pouches, foodservice products, and hospitality offerings. Today, Tea with Tae is a full-service tea company. We are vertically integrated, blend and pack in-house, and serve everyday tea drinkers, thoughtful gift-givers, retailers, and foodservice and hospitality operators looking to elevate their customer experience. What inspires and motivates me in life is creating something meaningful that brings people together. Tea is way more than a drink to me, but rather a vehicle for comfort, connection, and joy. Tea has done that for me and my family, and I hope Tea with Tae can do that for others, too.
8. Why did you choose to focus on the natural and organic industry?
We chose to focus on the natural and organic industry because tea is deeply connected to wellness, ritual, and trust. As we grew, it became important to us that our products reflected those values through all-natural ingredients, no artificial flavors, third-party tested ingredients, and responsible and transparent sourcing. For us, all-natural is not just a category; it is the standard our customers deserve.
9. Can you describe the biggest challenge you faced during the early stages of your company, and how you overcame it?
One of our biggest early challenges was figuring out how to bring our prices down without compromising quality. We had two options: use cheaper ingredients, or invest in making the tea bags and finished products ourselves.
We chose the harder path. We kept our higher-quality teas and invested our time, money, and savings into building out our own tea production facility. Buying our first machine and air compressor system was extremely capital intensive and honestly stretched us thin, but it became one of the best decisions we ever made.
Today, that investment has created a real competitive moat, as we just installed our 3rd tea machine. We can control our product costs, maintain higher quality, iterate quickly, and avoid relying on co-packers in our supply chain. It allows us to offer better tea at more competitive prices while staying true to our standards.
10. What keeps you up at night regarding your business?
What keeps me up at night is the fear that we are moving too slowly. There is so much opportunity in front of us, especially on the sales and wholesale side. We know there are accounts we can win, retailers we can serve, and hospitality and foodservice partners who would be a great fit for our products. The challenge is that sales and marketing follow-up can become a bottleneck when you are still a lean team. It creates a classic chicken-and-egg problem: we need more sales support to reach more accounts and pitch more opportunities, but we need more revenue from those accounts before we can comfortably hire that support. So the biggest thing I think about is how to keep momentum high, stay focused on the highest-value opportunities, and make sure we are not leaving growth on the table simply because we do not have enough hours in the day.
11. What strategies can you share that have been effective?
One strategy that has been very effective for us on the wholesale side is eliminating minimum order quantities. This allows us to serve small, upstart retailers and give them a chance to try Tea with Tae with very little financial risk. It has also been better than simply offering free samples because the retailer is still making a small purchase and showing real interest. The bigger benefit is long-term relationship building. While many of these first orders start small, a percentage of those accounts grow quickly and turn into larger repeat customers. Those retailers often stay loyal to Tea with Tae because we were willing to support them when they were small, flexible, and just getting started.
12. How important is networking, and what strategies do you use to build and maintain professional relationships?
Networking is important, but I have learned that networking for the sake of networking is usually not the best use of time. As a founder and operator, time is extremely limited, so I try to be intentional about where I invest it.
For me, the most valuable professional relationships are built through consistency, trust, and mutual support. I have a small circle of founder friends and peers, and we check in with each other regularly. We have a group chat where we share wins, challenges, resources, and encouragement. When one of us needs something, we are not afraid to ask.
We are all busy professionals, so we do not have time for constant coffees or surface-level networking. But when someone needs advice, a connection, or encouragement, we show up for each other immediately. That kind of relationship-building has been far more valuable than trying to meet as many people as possible.
13. What is one piece of advice or knowledge that has changed your life and why?
“Until death, all defeat is psychological.”
It is a thought attributed to Marcus Aurelius his teachings, and it has been incredibly powerful for me. Setbacks and defeats are part of life, both professionally and personally, but this reminds me that I can choose how I respond.
As a founder, you hear “no” constantly. But a “no” today might become a “yes” tomorrow. This mindset helps me stay focused on what is in my control, keep going through difficult seasons, and not let temporary setbacks define the outcome.
Connect with Tae.
Learn more about Tea with Tae.
More about Behind the Brand:
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