If you're a careful reader of menus, you've seen that name before. If you've ordered tea in Miami lately, it was probably Jojo, whether you knew it or not. Tico and Mike are BFFs and the guys behind Jojo Tea. They're real a very fun breed of well-traveled Miami guys who just as easily switch in conversation from an accented Miami-bro impression to a quick run down of a Chinese meditation technique that they both practice. In other words, they're the type of nice guys that just about everyone wants to be friends with.

The Jojo guys have quickly turned a passion for tea, sparked by Master Tsai at Coconut Grove's (endangered) Zen Village into Miami's latest in the crop of artisanal food products that we've been wanting and no one's been making.

Midday on a weekday, I went to the Jojo tea headquarters, Mike's parents house in Pinecrest and they took me through a tasting and brewing that included thermometers and other high tech things like lemons and funny words like oolong. We hung out for a while. Talked about what a future store might look like, drank a couple kinds of iced tea and as a semi-professional iced tea drinker, I gave them some feedback on a batch they were brewing to send over to Whisk in South Miami. They made me take pictures of them for Instagram sniffing the tea and super-close-ups on their fingers (see below, it's in black and white to make it EXTRA artsy). Mike, or Jojo as his family calls him (is the name coming together now?), shaved a lemon peel with a sharp knife, added it to the blend and we all agreed that was just what it needed.

I don't have to spend much time touting the product itself. Scroll to the bottom of the article for a look at a list of places that carry Jojo Tea; it reads like names of all Miami's hippest spots.

Hey, Jojo guys. First off, tell us a little bit about your company.

JoJo Tea is committed to bring the best possible tea to Miami. We were born from not having quality tea at the top restaurants in city and really not having a tea culture in the city at all. Most people that we talk to in Miami think that they are not tea drinkers but the truth that the grand majority of them have never tasted a good cup of tea. Tea is a bit more delicate than coffee and certain teas are quite temperamental with out the right temperature water and the right equipment to brew, they are really just shadows of themselves. So our aim it to introduce the education just as much as the product.

How did you decide to get the ball rolling and make a full-blown effort at a tea company?

Mike:I volunteered for a couple years in a Buddhist temple in Coconut Grove (Zen Village) where I taught yoga and meditation and tea was an everyday affair. So, tea is what I knew about.

Tico: I was living in Peru when Mike started this whole idea, and when ever I would visit Miami, tea was always a requirement. I even invited him to go to the park one day, but since there was no way to brew tea there he asked we pick another venue. I think pure passion and just love for this beverage that spans millennia pushed him into it.

Tell us about your personal favorite way to drink tea. Do you add honey or sugar or lemon or milk? Is it, like, tacky in the tea world to do that or are you guys cool with it?

Mike: it all depends on the varietal of tea, my favorite way is drinking Taiwanese Oolongs in the Gong Fu ceremony with nothing added.

Tico: Brewing Chai tea in the morning in a pot of whole milk makes my day, it's hard to be patient enough not to burn yourself. Adding sugar or some kind of sweetener for me is a requirement for a good cup of chai in the a.m.

Mike: Breakfast and Chai Teas are really made to be complimented by milk and sugar.

Let's talk serious here. It's hot out. But we love tea. What's a girl to do?

The simplest solution is just to brew a cup of hot tea and pour that into a tall glass of ice, its as simple as that. Just make sure you add a little bit of extra tea so it isn't too watered down and you can still get a sense of the character of the tea.

Tell us a little bit about what it's been like to work with some of the big culinary names on the scene right now. You guys are on the menu at all the hippest Miami food spots. What's your take on the scene and how's it been being a newbie?

It's a blast! What I'm gathering is that it's so competitive, and yet, there's certainly a community building. Everybody knows everybody else, and every step that one restaurant takes has ripples and effects that spread out. It's a lot of fun. The guys at The Federal, PubBelly, Eating House, WHISK Gourmet, and 50 Eggs. . . I think these guys are really doing something exciting. They're friendly rivals that inspire each other to challenge themselves and grow.

We recently did an event with The Federal where Chef Cesar Z made a 5-course meal with each dish being infused with tea in one way or another. Green tea rice pudding with scallops and tostones. Seared duck breast with cherry-chai sauce. He braised a short rib in a 20-year aged black tea. Finished it all of with green jasmine tea cake, green jasmine tea ice cream, and green jasmine tea gel. It was a lot of fun!

Next up we're setting up a public cupping at Panther. We only spoke to Panther about it today (August 13), so expect more news down the road!

Do you have any other artisanal tea vendors on the scene that you're into or have become friends with that we should know about?

Well, our partner, Steve Smith, is based out in Portland and he's definitely a.. "pioneer of the palate" if you will... He started TAZO teas out of his kitchen in 1994, developed all of their blends, and then sold them to Starbucks. He runs a new tea company that we also work with called "Steven Smith Teamaker." Their blends are delicious; you can find them at The Biltmore, and in all of Michael's Genuine's properties, as well as Lester's in Wynwood, and Blue Collar. They're available for sale at Whole Foods and Fresh Markets.

If you're into the rarer stuff, there's a guy named Rodrick Marcus out in Chicago that runs a company called "Rare Tea Cellar." He's got teas that are aged over 40 years, truffles, and ambergris (Sperm Whale Vomit... seriously...).

Locally, Steep City is making some interesting blends. I've also gotta give a shout out to my buddy Alejandro Ortiz from ACME Bakery who is doing a little pop-up at the Tropical Park farmers market with delicious jams, pickles, pies, and fresh donuts. When you say Artisan, he always jumps to mind for me.

(And Panther Coffee... duh)

What's the deal with tealeaf reading, like Harry Potter style?

I wish I knew a Romanian gypsy I could direct you to for a more thorough answer, but, alas, I do not. The best answer I can give is that my only magic is the brew!

Can you give a quick tea 101? If you've only ordered it iced at restaurants and hot green after Asian food, what should you know about tea? Where does it come from, how does it grow, etc... Just the basics, you know?

Green, black, white, (and oolong and pu-erh) all come from the same plant. White tea is only the bud of each branch. It has a mellow, sort of honey/butter taste. The buds are usually harvested and shade-dried, and then packed and shipped. A good green tea is only the bud and the first two leaves. Bigger leaves are usually more bitter and astringent.

As far as processing goes, green teas are very lightly processed. The leaves are harvested, and right away are either slightly toasted or simply dried to make sure they don't oxidize or rot. Black teas, on the other hands, are harvested (also, top two leaves and bud) and then rolled, which breaks the veins of the leaves. Those oils and juices seep into the flesh of the leaf and changes the color from green to a copper-y red. Once those leaves are fully oxidized, they are baked to dry them out and stop the oxidation.Oolong teas have the widest range of possible tastes because they are basically anything between green tea and black tea. Green Teas are not oxidized at all. Black teas are fully oxidized and then baked. Oolong teas are rolled and bruised and allowed to oxidize anywhere from 10 to 90 %, and then baked. Besides the differences in oxidation, they are also baked to different levels. So, there's a huge range from buttery and grassy to nutty and chocolatey to peachy with notes of caramel and malt.

Anything else that you guys want to talk about? Any future plans that you want to share? Any recommendations for what to order to go with Jojo Tea?

Well, since you ask, I'd like to discuss tremendous opportunities in life insurance. . . :) :) :)

In all honesty, we really want to encourage our friends to be open-minded in tasting and considering habits. A good friend, James Norwood Pratt, who's an author solely on the subject of tea, calls the drinking of tea "humanity's favorite habit." It's incredibly agreeable. The tea-crowd is such a friendly group! It's wildly healthy, and it bridges the cultures of the world. So, taste a lot of teas! Not just JoJo or Smith or Rare Tea Cellar. Taste the Lipton and the Bigelow too! The more teas you taste, the more nuances your palate will be able to detect.

Most importantly, where get someone get their hands on a taste of JoJo Tea?

Well, here's a list all current places serving Jojo Tea.

Coral Gables

The Market, Bread + Butter, eating house, Swine Southern Table and Bar, Chocolate Fashion, Randazzo's, Sergio's,

South Miami & Pinecrest

Whisk Gourmet, Joanna's Market, Atelier Monnier, Chocolate Fashion,

Wynwood & Midtown

gigi, Joey's, Khong River House, Machiya, The Federal, Panther Coffee

South Beach

Yardbird, PB Steak, Urban Oxy, Panther Coffee

top picture is from the MIAMI NICE x JOJO TEA PARTY at Simpson Park. More on that later.

jojo tea