GREEN BAY (NBC26) — Jennifer Nowicki is a Green Bay native, entrepreneur and certified tea specialist. She says her passion for tea began in her childhood.
"I've been drinking tea all my life," Nowicki said. "I first started with my grandmother and we used to have tea together."
After moving away from Green Bay, she discovered she could turn her love of tea into a career.
"When I lived around the Seattle area in the mid-nineties, I really discovered really high quality loose-leaf teas," Nowicki said.
That's when she says she decided she wanted to open her own tea room. From there, she attended the Specialty Tea Institute in New York to become a certified tea specialist. Nowicki previously co-owned Verduras Tea House & Cafe in Milwaukee before returning to Green Bay and opening Cultivate Taste.
She says Cultivate Taste offers over 100 different kinds of tea. She is currently the only employee and blends most of the teas herself.
"I source the teas directly from different the farms and the different countries," Nowicki said. "I don't use candy sugar or flavorings in my teas."
Cultivate Taste is currently open 9 a.m to 5 p.m Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m- 1 p.m Thursday, 9 a.m - 6 p.m Friday, 2 p.m - 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
