Jan. 23, 2012 issue
Goshen College student-run business steeped in Mennonite culture
By Sheldon C. Good Mennonite Weekly ReviewWith just four simple ingredients, two Goshen College students are hoping to “create a culture” by brewing Menno Tea.
Goshen College students Hans Weaver, in red shirt, and Niles Graber Miller, in black shirt, distribute Menno Tea to youth at the Mennonite Church USA convention in July in Pittsburgh. — Photo by Paul Schrag/MWR
“We don’t want to just have teas that taste good but have stories with meaning behind the teas,” said Hans Weaver, a junior from New Holland, Pa. “We want to bring people together and create community.”
His brewing partner, Niles Graber Miller, is a sophomore from Goshen, Ind.
They’ve sold about 20,000 bottles of The Original Menno Tea, a simple drink with an ambitious purpose: to create a culture based on living simply and sustainably, valuing diverse traditions and cherishing relationships.
They debuted the drink last March in Goshen. The name and recipe play off the meadow tea Weaver’s Mennonite family brews in their Lancaster County, Pa., home.
The tea became a hit at Goshen College last spring, Weaver said. It is now available at 10 locations in northern Indiana and 10 in Lancaster County.
Five cents from every bottle sold goes to the Everence Sharing Fund, which meets basic needs of thousands of families each year.
Goshen-based Everence is the stewardship agency of Mennonite Church USA and serves multiple Anabaptist groups.
Weaver hopes to sell 100,000 bottles of Menno Tea this year.
“We’re trying our hardest to get in as many stores as possible for spring and summer,” he said. “Indiana and Lancaster are our core markets, and Ohio and Virginia will likely be next.”
Comments
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Too bad they can't do all the bottling locally and avoid the interstate transport.
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David - according to a Lancaster article, they had a hard time finding a bottler who would do a small run - the smallest they could get was 10,000 bottles, half a normal order. If you're interested in finding Menno Tea, just head to MennoTea.com!
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I thought Mennonite was a faith-community, not a "CULTURE". Ask the brothers in the third world what a Mennonite "culture" is and you'll get a blank stare. God help us.
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