A trailer, a dream and a passion for tea.
That’s all Max Blessen needed last summer as he rolled into Oak Park and River Forest, introducing locals to Joy Tea and promising customers the best tea they’ve ever tasted.
Rain or shine, Blessen was situated outside in his tow-hitch trailer serving up his unique spin on ancient Chinese teas.
And now, after spending a year parked across various locations, Blessen has officially opened Joy Tea’s first brick-and-mortar spot, serving up crowd-favorites from inside the new location at 7773 Lake St. in River Forest. He hopes it will eventually be one of many stores.
Situated between neighboring small businesses along a Lake Street brick building business strip, Joy Tea’s first storefront is a chic, grab-and-go beverage stop.
With natural light beaming through a large picture window, the store’s interior boasts bright digital displays, a warm wood aesthetic, and bar-style, on-tap beverage service.
From jasmine and grapefruit silk teas to green mango and aged pu’erhs with buttercream, in just over a year, Blessen turned Joy Tea from a curious mobile business into an in-demand, oft sold-out enterprise, keeping customers coming back for more of his one-of-a-kind hot and cold teas.
Joy Tea and its drinks have been in development for over a year, the result of years of both experimentation by Blessen and customer preferences.
What Blessen says sets Joy Tea apart from coffee shops selling tea and other mass-produced teas on the market is his special, seven-times scented jasmine green tea grown 1,800 meters above sea level in Fujian, China (the birthplace of jasmine green tea over 1,000 years ago). Blessen has tasted hundreds of teas and worked with dozens of farms all over China, experimenting with time, temperature and concentrations.
“Joy is unlike any other tea product, brand or experience you have ever had,” he said “We make simple things wonderfully — there’s no flashiness to the brand or products, but there is care. I think a lot of brands spend a lot of time on presentation, and it’s beautiful and I love it, but I think the taste is really the only thing that matters. And, we want our products to be memorable for a lifetime.”
At Joy Tea, Blessen’s passion is serving delicious, health-conscious beverages while safeguarding the rich heritage of ancient Chinese tea.
“Our tea is picked, processed and packaged for us,” he said. “Compare this to almost every other tea you purchase in a cafe, store or anywhere else where tea has been packaged and stored for who knows how long. This freshness we can offer with our partnership with our farms creates a superior flavor that just can’t be matched by a tea that was picked, processed and packed six-plus months ago.”
For the River Forest native, basing Joy Tea’s first physical location in the village was something undoubtedly instinctive.
“Joy believes tea is for everyone, and people in River Forest deserve great tea, don’t they?” he said. “I grew up here but lived in Asia running our other tea company for several years prior to moving back here. When I decided to pursue this path with the store, the logical decision was to come back to my hometown.”
With a steady flow of customers — something Blessen was used in the trailer — each day in store is nonstop for him. Managing both operations and branding, he now has a small crew of employees, with a goal of having 12 total by summer’s end.
“I’m extraordinarily grateful to all of our customers and loyal fans,” Blessen said. “The overwhelming support of the community has helped drive this to fruition more than I ever could myself.”
In addition, the opening of this first storefront signifies the step along a journey of future expansion.
“We will be the Starbucks for tea,” Blessen says. “Starbucks has about 17,000 stores in the U.S. — I think we have a long way to go. We’ll open them as fast as we can, and I’m sure our cadence will grow quicker as we get the hang of it. Right now, we are going to focus on the small walk-in store layout while we develop our drive-thru concept, which will eventually be our focus.”
Blessen’s beloved trailer — where he spent nearly 400 consecutive days in launching the business — will move to Elmhurst this fall. There, he will introduce his teas in preparation for opening store number two in town soon after.
“We really do mean it when we tell people it will be the best tea they’ve ever had,” he said. “The communities built around Joy are so beautiful, and that is the original purpose of tea — a small, symbolic gesture and ritual to bring people closer together. We want to focus on continuing to do that, no matter where we go.”
Blessen said this landmark of opening his first store has left him feeling very happy, fulfilled and grateful.
“I can’t imagine a better community to call home for the Joy brand,” he said. “As we grow all over the city, the state, the country and even potentially the world, River Forest will always be home. We’ll remember all the people who have become friends truthfully.”