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Fall 2005 Departments
Exchange
Prerequisite
Extended Family
Foundation News
Alumni Connections
Class Notes
Zip 01003
Books Received
Alumni Photos
Features
Raising His Game
Never Mind the Weather?
If You Can Make it There
Peg Riley Wants a New Drug
A Capitol Guy
What They've Learned
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Alumni Connections
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Making Time for Tea
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JESSE JACOBS ’95 WAS THE PICTURE of dot-com success: He founded a small Web development business in Boston and worked with two start-up companies in San Francisco. He watched them boom—then bust—but before the dot-com crash, Jacobs had come to the realization that he was letting his life tick by while sitting behind a desk. After much soul-searching, he decided to give up his nine-to-five job, as well as stock options and a cramped cubicle. He was ready to make a positive impact on the environment and people surrounding him. It was then that he turned to tea.
“Samovar Tea Lounge came about by opening my eyes to the needs of the economy, the world, the people, and the city,” says Jacobs. He believes that in today’s landscape of technology and big business, people crave health, relaxation, and social intimacy. “I felt that creating a company founded on the values of tea was destined for success because it would give people just what they wanted,” says Jacobs. He opened the doors of the Samovar Tea Lounge on Sanchez Street in San Francisco in 2003, offering seasonal, organic, and family-farmed teas, as well as foods and tea ware from around the world.
Today, business couldn’t be better and Jacobs couldn’t be busier. In addition to managing the tea lounge, he has a thriving mail-order business, is scouting additional locations in the Bay Area, and has recently released the first “tea lounge groove” CD, featuring original music from local artists. In a short amount of time, Jacobs has accomplished his goal of creating a contemporary and comfortable place for people to hang out and escape from the hustle and bustle of every day life. Now Jacobs is ready to tackle another goal—growing his business on a national level—through both retail stores and online sales. He is also fielding franchise requests.
The transition from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial one has been both exhilarating and frightening for Jacobs. “I tell anyone that asks, if you like your nine-to-five job, sick days, vacation days, and you live for your weekends, the corporate world is best. If you want your life to be your creation, motivated entirely by your energy, and if you thrive in the unknown, then do your own thing,” says Jacobs.
He credits his UMass Amherst education with teaching him to strive and succeed as an individual in the world. While on campus, Jacobs worked at Earthfoods. He has fond memories of cranking out hundreds of vegetarian, organic meals from the kitchen in the Student Union. “Earthfoods was an amazing place to work and Katja Hahn D’Erico was an amazing advisor to us all,” says Jacobs. “Her guidance, and my experience at Earthfoods, has permeated my business here at Samovar.”
Jacobs graduated with an individual concentration in the European Union and contemporary Asian studies, and he also studied abroad, in Denmark and Japan. His global experiences helped shape his worldview, as evidenced in his advice to students thinking about life after college: “Anything is possible. Listen to yourself and listen to the world, and the answers will come,” says Jacobs. “And always take time for tea.” |
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Message from the President
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Making Time for Tea
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