Many of you might ask where I’ve been the past few months. The simple answer is – trying to raise money for Amai and find creative options for increasing sales. The more realistic answer is – trying unsuccessfully to grow the business, and feeling frustrated and paralyzed by the lack of options available. Owning a [...]

Perks are unlimited when working at a Google office – game rooms, scooters, massage chairs, and most importantly, the Google cafeteria. Google employees get unlimited free food and drinks, and it’s not your average cafeteria fare. Everything from miso cod to organic-raw-vegan persimmon salad is served. They also regularly bring in guest chefs to keep [...]

With the election tomorrow, a lot of attention is focused on the economy and which candidate has the best plan to fix it. As a small business owner, this means a lot to me. I usually stick to cookies, not cash, on this blog, but I think it’s important to share my experience as “Kelli [...]

Happy Halloween from Amai! Here’s what it was like at our shop today…

Amai’s one year anniversary is today! My favorite part about the past year has definitely been the people we have met. Thank you to all of the customers, Amai team members, friends, family and Lovescool readers who made it all possible.

There is one sweet event that has knocked me out of the Amai world and made me take notice. The New York City Food and Wine Festival in October has a special event called SWEET, with over 20 pastry chefs (and miscellaneous cheese and wine shops) participating. It costs $175 and promises to serve “frosted [...]

Amy Thomas, writer of the fantastic dessert blog Sweet Freak, recently sent me a few questions for her feature called The Mixing Bowl. In the mixing bowl series, Amy interviews pastry chefs around town about some of their favorite things. It’s insightful to read the responses from the different chefs, and trace it back to [...]

With the “real” store all set up, Andrew finally had some time to work on the virtual shop for Amai. We just released the new website with updated store information and more products in the shopping cart. You can now buy tea, coffee and sweets all from one place. There are many more items to [...]

I started as a reader. When I wanted to find a place to have dessert I would look online and read the reviews. I compared star ratings, weighed the best and worst comments, and made my decision. Once I ate at a few places and began to learn more I felt compelled to share my [...]

Amai won the TimeOut New York 2008 Reader’s Choice award for Best New Tea House in New York City. How great! We had no experience going into this, and I’m really glad that we were able to create something that people enjoy. I am honored. The awards were announced at a ceremony on Monday at [...]