Tea at Google

Last week, I had the pleasure of eating lunch and drinking tea at the NYC Google office. For those who haven't heard already, Google takes exceptional care of its employees and includes fantastic meals as a company perk. A Google friend was kind enough to invite me for a meal (incredible raw beet-cabbage puree with cranberries, tasty polenta-crust pizza, fresh berries, raw vegan Swedish meatballs) and tea. Most of the food was local and they give employees the option of joining a crop share with a local farm. It was very interesting to see their tea offerings, as they are thought of as a more "energy drink and espresso" kind of place. They offered: ITO EN's Fruit Tea, ITO EN's Teas' Tea, Honest Tea, yerba mate, brewed tropical black tea (not actually very good), Mighty Leaf pyramid bags, and kombucha. Good selection! They used to carry ITO EN's Sencha Shot, but my Google guide said she hadn't seen it around in a while. Too bad--they're very good and they parallel the whole "energy drink" thing well. Perhaps they'll pick up Oi Ocha now that it's widely available in the U.S. They also offer a casual afternoon tea service with finger sandwiches, sweets, and Mighty Leaf. I think it would be really cool if they did cross-cultural afternoon teas that introduce employees to foods and teas from around the world! Apparently, they discussed it, but it hasn't come to fruition yet. I'll let you know if I hear any more on the topic.