Forgotten victims of the tea-party movement: Tea drinkers

Take Jack Cheng, co-founder of Steepster, a New York-based online tea-drinkers community.

“It’s becoming harder for people to find relevant information,” said Mr. Cheng, who was visiting San Francisco this week. “You always find some politically driven tea party as opposed to what you’re looking for.”…

“I do everything in my power to promote the benefits and power of drinking specialty tea. With all the media attention that the tea party [movement] gets, it’s shifted that focus,” said Beth Johnston, owner of Teas Etc. in West Palm Beach, Fla. She’s staying neutral on the politics, but she has definite opinions about tea. “Tea is soothing and it’s restorative and it’s healing and that’s really the polar opposite of the energy of the movement, regardless of whether you agree or disagree.”