Dubai-Based HaiyaTea Is On A Mission To Become The Ultimate Tea Lover's Delight A certified tea sommelier, Tarik launched HaiyaTea with the aim to bring high quality, thoughtfully sourced loose-leaf teas to Dubai.
By Aby Sam Thomas Edited by Aby Sam Thomas
You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
At first glance, the name Haiya Tarik chose for the artisanal tea brand that she launched in Dubai in 2021 -HaiyaTea- would seem to be just a portmanteau of her first name and her product offering. But translate the word into Arabic (حياتي), and it means "my life," which serves as a reflection of the love and dedication that Tarik has for the art of tea-making.
A certified tea sommelier, Tarik launched HaiyaTea with the aim to bring high quality, thoughtfully sourced loose-leaf teas to Dubai. "It's something I was personally searching for as a tea lover, but I was not able to find," Tarik says. "Commercial teabags have an overarching issue in that they typically contain mostly tea 'dust', the tea particles that settle to the very bottom of the sifting process in tea manufacturing facilities. This dust, with its high surface area, is the quickest to lose its health benefits and flavor, resulting in a suboptimal tea experience in the cup. But with what we offer at HaiyaTea, we encourage people to stop and smell the tea; to watch the leaves unfurl, the color deepens, and treat each sip as a mindful exercise. We approach tea, and the love of tea, from a holistic perspective."
Source: HaiyaTea
Tarik currently operates HaiyaTea as an e-commerce venture, with its online platform offering a range of teas -think everything from matcha to hojicha- that are known to be not mass or commercially produced. "We've had a great response from the tea and hospitality communities, with our tea being stocked in many award-winning and Michelin-starred restaurants in Dubai, such as Ossiano, Moonrise, and Kinoya," Tarik says. "Our tea omakases and asachas have also been very popular with the community, and they enable us to share our love for, and knowledge of, all things tea. We look forward to seeing HaiyaTea in more top restaurants and hotels in the region, and in the homes of more tea lovers."
Related: UAE-Based Ethical Luxury Brand Abadia Is Reimagining Fashion For The Contemporary Woman
And Tarik looks set to be realizing that dream she has for HaiyaTea soon enough- after all, the brand has now got the backing to give itself a boost. "We have partnered with a like-minded, tea-loving investor so we can scale and expand HaiyaTea without compromising on our core values of supplying only premium, high-quality tea that is not just beneficial to consumer, but better for the environment as well," Tarik concludes.
Haiya Tarik, founder. HaiyaTea. Source: HaiyaTea
Eureka! Haiya Tarik on how you can come up with a great idea
Find a problem "If there's something that's important to you that you can't find in the market, chances are that someone else is looking for a solution to that too."
Link your passion "Solving a problem or filling a gap related to a subject you're passionate about will make the long hours much more enjoyable and personally satisfying."
Become an expert "Know absolutely everything there is to know about your idea, and have answers to every possible question anyone can have. We immersed ourselves in as much tea learning as we could absorb, enabling us to believe 100% in our product and how we source it."
Teach others "Start teaching people about your idea. Teaching is the best way to keep learning, and only when you keep learning will you keep growing."
Listen to your customers "You could have what you think is the best idea in the world, but it really isn't if it's not what your customers want. Ask questions, and be open to new ideas."
