Tea girl fall
On tea and other tea-related things that bring joy.
Calling all tea lovers: it’s tea girl fall. You don’t just drink your tea, you enjoy it in all the ways.
A few tea things I love: 1. Spice Girl Chai Original Chai Concentrate 2. Le Labo Thé Noir 29 3. Inoki Bathhouse Ethereal Garden 4. Ceremonial matcha from Paragon Tea Room in Vancouver 5. Fresh Black Tea Overnight Firming Mask, an all-time favourite. 6. Kola Goodies Embroidered Chai Cap (I love tea merch!)
Q&A with Sajani Amarasiri, founder of Kola Goodies
I first met Kola Goodies founder Sajani Amarasiri through work (thank you, Nick, for introducing us!) and immediately fell in love with her brand. Kola Goodies is a collection of feel-good tea and superfood lattes inspired by Sajani’s South Asian heritage. There’s everything from Turmeric Latte to Oat Mylk Tea Latte.
My personal favourite is the Sri Lankan Milk Tea Latte, which is also the first product I tried from the brand. It comes with 10 sachets—containing a blend of Ceylon tea and milk—that you just mix into boiling water and strain. The portable sachets immediately became a travel essential, especially when I knew I was going somewhere I wasn’t going to reliably find a strong cup of tea (I like my tea karak). These sachets have come with me on both vacations and work trips.
Since launching in 2021, Sajani has steadily built a great brand that taps into her Sri Lankan roots and her love of tea. I chatted with her about how she brought her vision to life, her favourite tea rituals, and more.
How did you transform your love of tea into Kola Goodies?
Growing up in Sri Lanka, coffee is not really consumed at all in homes, so all I knew was my mom’s (amma’s) milk tea! And when I moved thousands of miles away to America and starting craving everything I took for granted growing up—like the nutritious super greens and comforting milk tea—I decided to make it myself, and never got it right. That's how Kola Goodies started! Made easy for lazy girls like me and to always taste the same every time, blending South Asian rituals and generational wisdom together!
What’s a tea ritual you love and have created for yourself?
My tea rituals change with seasons, but right now I'm loving an afternoon cup of Masala Chai as I tackle end-of-day emails. It’s comforting as I get through mundane things. I'm also a lover of mini rituals, for example, while our chai mix brews—I like it around the five-minute mark. I use that time to ground myself in all the senses of the smell, the colour and then have some time for gratitude thoughts. Sometimes, I get carried away and lose track, and giving myself grace when I do is now also a part of the ritual!
You recently collaborated with Hetal Vasavada on the Cardamom & Fennel Chai. How did that collab come about?
I loved the entire process and working with Hetal! Hetal has been a long time supporter of the brand—we even did IG Lives together during the pandemic! Remember those days? And at that time, we were just a MVP and testing different products, so once we launched Milk Tea and got market traction, and knew we would do more Chai products, it was a no-brainer to ask Hetal if she'd like to partner on a product. She is a genius with flavours and it was a natural synergy with her, her style, audience and how she always finds modern ways to infuse culture to make fun bakes!
The word “Kola” is Sri Lankan. What’s something you’d want people to know more about when it comes to Sri Lankan tea?
Yes, Kola means greens, leaves and the colour green in Sinhalese! When it comes to Sri Lankan tea, there's still a long way to go in decolonizing the tea industry and ensuring fair wage to workers, so support companies that pay attention to sourcing to help push for a fair tea trade in the country.
Complete this sentence: "Drinking tea gives me the feeling of ____”
Comfort.
Name three people (famous or not!) that you’d like to invite over for tea and why.
I'm in a very pop culture mood, so the answers are people from the pop culture category.
Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner will get one invite: Tea may not be their thing—it’s probably more Kourtney’s—but these business women know how to make companies, market them, and make anything relevant. Big props to their business acumen and would love to have them for a cup of tea!
Shah Rukh Khan: My 12-year-old self would still swoon, so that's that.
My husband: Always!
Personalizing a pair of Crocs
In less than a month’s time, I’ve gone from owning no Crocs to owning two pairs, one of which is purple and sparkly, and the other is decorated with lots of Jibbitz. Speaking of Jibbitz, no one told me what a delight it is to customize your Crocs. These are my second pair and thanks to a work event, I went wild decorating mine. So I totally get the hype now. Sorry it took me this long (although I was really tempted by the Simone Rocha x Crocs collab). They’re so cute, I might even wear these out.
On Andrew Garfield, Elmo and grief
I’ve been thinking a lot about how grief clings so close to the surface of our skin, but we rarely talk about. Not publicly at least. While on a press tour for his film, We Live in Time, Andrew Garfield has talked about losing his mom not too long ago. I love what he says to Elmo about what it means to miss her:
“It’s actually kind of okay to miss somebody. That sadness is kind of a gift, it’s kind of a lovely thing to feel… because it means that you really love somebody when you miss them. When I miss my mom, I remember all of the cuddles I used to get from her, all the hugs I get from her. And it makes me feel close to her… I’m happy to have all the memories of my mom and the joy she brought me and my brother and my dad, everyone she ever met... When I miss her, I remember it’s because she made me so happy. So I can celebrate her and I can miss her at the same time.”
Four homemade hot tea recipes to keep you warm and cozy.
Can’t wait for Emily Henry’s next novel, which was inspired by a Taylor Swift song.
Need to try this sour cream pancakes with cardamom apples recipe in NYT Cooking.
Love the colours in this cozy London home.
How to find a hobby (and how to deal with being bad at it).
A Gilmore Girls fan’s guide to Washington, Connecticut.