San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
PARU Tea is a warm blend of cultures, tradition
Steeped in a mix of cultures and traditions, San Diego-based PARU Tea is helping customers make daily tea rituals an easy, accessible practice with two locations in Point Loma and La Jolla.
“We want to introduce (tea) as a tradition and an everyday cultural thing,” said CEO Amy Truong. “We want it to be a common practice, not an obscure ritual you don’t do every day.”
A Vietnamese-american tea drinker since childhood, Truong grew fond of the herbal drink through her mom, who had been raised in Paris and “spoiled” her daughter with the best teas. Truong’s love of tea only deepened when she went on a study-abroad program in Japan, where she met her future wife, Lani Gobaleza. The two bonded over Asian tea rituals.
Gobaleza’s introduction to tea was in Japan. She had always considered herself more of a coffee person, in part because her mother grew up on coffee farms in the Philippines.
In 2017, the couple founded PARU Tea, a grass roots pop-up that fostered a community large enough to open their first shop in Point Loma in 2019.
Sourcing teas and herbs from underrepresented farmers in Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, China and Laos, PARU offers nearly 60 varieties of specialty teas online and-in store, including blends created by Truong. Monthly tea subscriptions are also on the menu.
Thanks to a Kickstarter fundraiser page, the duo expanded to a second location in La Jolla in 2021. There, house-milled matcha is a best-seller as well as Truong’s nostalgic blends like Blue Chamomile, a naturally bluetinted tea made with butterfly pea flower, chamomile, lavender and rose.
As an LGBTQ and QPOC (queer people of color) business, Gobaleza said, “We love being able to provide a safe and creative space for LGBTQIA allies. We wouldn’t have been able to do so without the community.”
Follow @parutea on Instagram.