Passion Steeped in Tea Culture
Photos + Story by Cliff Standard Co.
All tea comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis. The vast difference in types—white, green, oolong, black and pu-erh—is mainly due to how the leaves are processed after harvest. This is one of many things that you’ll learn if you set aside a few minutes to speak with Pam and Janeil, the couple who own and operate Zakti. Their journey from casual enthusiasts to certified specialists is a testament to their deep-rooted love for tea; it transcends mere business.
For Janeil, the love for tea began in her hometown of Seattle, a city deeply influenced by Asian culture and renowned for its vibrant tea scene. "The whole area is steeped in tea culture," Janeil says with a smile. Her love for tea at first was simply that: an enjoyment of the complexities and varying flavors of great tea. Then one day she and Pam stumbled upon a tea room in Kuala Lumpur during an ostensibly unrelated trip.
Pam recalls the transformative experience with vivid clarity. "We walked into this ancient-looking tea shop, and it was like stepping into another world," she said. It was there, sipping on varieties of dark teas offered by a hospitable Chinese couple, that Pam's interest piqued. Sensing her interest, the generous couple invited Pam and Janeil to their son’s shop in the city where the tasting and education continued. “Hours later, I left there wanting to learn more,” she said. “I realized that tea is much more than what you get in a Lipton tea bag."
“We walked into this ancient-looking tea shop, and it was like stepping into another world,”
This experience set them on a path of discovery. Back in the United States, Pam embarked on a rigorous three-year journey through the Specialty Tea Institute in New York. If that sounds intense, it’s because it is. "It's basically equivalent to a wine sommelier," Janeil added. Leaving her role as a vice president at Neiman Marcus, Pam, with Janeil's artistic and educational expertise, saw an opportunity to blend their talents and passions into a venture that would soon become Zakti. “We’re drinking a lot tea,” Pam said. “We thought, ‘Why not start selling it online?’
So they began. Step one: file the LLC paperwork. Check. Then, knowing that if they were going to do this well, it had to be quality, they engaged the world-renowned graphic designer Mark Randall. Mark and his team have served many impressive clients. He also serves as the Associate Dean and an Assistant Professor in the School of Design Strategies at Parsons School of Design in New York.
This collaboration was pivotal in developing a brand that truly represents the essence of their vision. Janeil describes the process: “It took six months to come up with the name Zakti, derived from Sanskrit, meaning ‘positive feminine energy’—a perfect homage to our woman-owned business."
“It took six months to come up with the name Zakti, derived from Sanskrit, meaning ‘positive feminine energy’—a perfect homage to our woman-owned business.”
The initial launch of Zakti was modest. After all, both Janeil and Pam had built major careers and tea was more of a passion project. Janeil is a professor at the University of Washington. She also founded a well-known organization in Dallas called Make Art with Purpose. Pam worked her way up at Nieman Marcus, moving from LA to Chicago and back to LA before landing in Dallas. After stepping down as Vice President of the Operations Division, she started her own leadership development company.
They began selling tea from their kitchen table in their Turtle Creek studio apartment. What was initially a focus on online retail soon branched into wholesale, thanks to an incident at their local coffee shop. Pam recalls walking into this particular shop one day and asking for a tea. After hearing about the wide variety of coffee beans and equipment they had, she was stunned when the barista offered her a teabag out of a cardboard box. She saw an opportunity. "You spend so much time with your coffee, you need to learn more about quality tea," she told the barista. This piqued the interest of the barista and led to a series of tea tastings that would expand their brand across Dallas and beyond.
She found a like-minded business owner in Shannon Neffendorf, who owns Oak Cliff Coffee Roaster. He almost immediately recognized the quality of Pam's work and began serving Zakti at Davis St. Espresso. “He cares about his craft and recognized that I did too...and they began serving our tea the right way,” she said. Shannon and Pam made sure the Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters team knew exactly how to brew tea. As Oak Cliff Coffee Roaster representatives went out to customers, they brought the product and story of Zakti with them.
Zakti also began to co-brand their product with businesses. “For example, we developed an Adolphus Blend for the Adolphus Hotel that’s used in the French Room for high tea,” they said.
The business continued to grow, particularly with wholesale clients in Chicago and Colorado, and the need for a space was becoming more apparent. Janeil happened to attend an event at Tyler Station called Break Bread, Break Borders – where Dallas immigrants from Syria, Iraq, Myanmar, cook their foods and tell their immigration story. “We were looking for a space, and it was the early days of Tyler Station, and we saw that they had a lot of spaces available,” Janeil said. So they connected with Monte Anderson through Hazel, founder of Movement HQ, and signed a lease. “It was great,” Pam said. “We had that space. It was wonderful. We had a good processing area and a tasting space in the front.”
When the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, Zakti experienced many of the same problems other small businesses faced during that time. Knowing that they would need to pivot their retail business, Pam met up with Hazel and came up with a creative Health and Wellness co-op idea that has since blossomed in Movement HQ.
Today, Zakti not only offers a diverse range of teas but also hosts educational programs that mirror Pam’s dedication to sharing her tea expertise. "I enjoy sharing my knowledge of tea. That's the biggest part of my passion," says Pam, who continually updates her programs to accommodate staff turnover and new tea offerings.
To this day, they pack every tea order by hand, as well as print and label each order. And they remained committed to the craft: “We try to stay as true to the tea leaf as possible,” Pam said. “We do minimal blends…99% of our teas are the leaf and nothing but the leaf.” As Zakti continues to grow, its founders remain dedicated to their craft and community, proving that a great cup of tea, like their business, requires patience, expertise, and a personal touch.
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