Saffron for Tea Shops and Cafés

For tea houses and cafés

One 10 g bottle, about six hundred cups.

Saffron is the rare ingredient that costs less per cup than the cup itself. At four threads a serving, a 10 g bottle of all-red Afghan Super Negin makes roughly six hundred cups of saffron tea at about sixteen cents each, and it announces itself from across the room. Below: the drinks that use it well, the method for service, and a calculator that turns cups a day into bottles and cost.

4 threadsper 8 oz cup
$0.16per cup at the 10 g price
296.5crocin, report 004389
Same-dayshipping, Monday to Saturday, on orders placed by 4 PM ET
Saffron tea in a clear cup beside a Raihan Saffron bottle on a walnut table

Drinks that use it well

Saffron carries best in something warm and slightly sweet. These are the ones that sell.

Saffron teaFour threads bloomed in water just off the boil, five minutes covered, honey to taste. The house drink of Herat. About 0.016 g a cup.
Saffron cardamom teaThe same bloom with two crushed cardamom pods. Sells as an afternoon pot in tea houses from Boston to Los Angeles.
Kesar milk and saffron latteSix threads bloomed in a spoon of warm milk, then into the steamed milk. About 0.024 g a cup, and the color does the marketing.
Saffron sharbat and cold brewBloom a concentrate, chill it, serve over ice with rosewater or lemon. Summer volume from the same bottle.

Size the order

Cups a day, days open, and the calculator does the rest: grams a month, the cheapest bottles to cover it, and the cost per cup.

Bulk calculator

Size the order, then buy it

Enter cups a day and the days you are open. Switch to the latte line for milk drinks, which use about six threads a cup.

See every bulk size

The grams-per-batch figure is editable. The defaults are the amounts we use in our own kitchen in Lynn: a 0.1 g pinch for a rice dish that serves four, a quarter gram for a pan of paella, about four threads for a cup of tea. Saffron is bloomed, not sprinkled, so a little goes further than most menus assume.

The ladder

Same lot, same grade, every size. Larger bottles cost less per gram.

Size Price Per gram Dishes at a pinch Suits
5 g bottle $65 $13.00 about 50 Trials, tea programs, small kitchens Add to cart
10 g bottle $99 $9.90 about 100 Restaurant lines, busy tea houses Add to cart
20 g bottle $189 $9.45 about 200 Paella and biryani programs Add to cart
50 g pack $449 $8.98 about 500 Multi-outlet kitchens, bakeries Add to cart
100 g pack $799 $7.99 about 1,000 Catering, commissaries Add to cart
1 kg pack $5,999 $6.00 about 10,000 Manufacturers, distributors Add to cart

A standard pinch is about 0.1 g and seasons a dish for four. Every size is the same lot, the same all-red Super Negin grade and the same sealed acrylic bottle; only the per-gram price changes. Free US shipping over $39, which every size here clears. Thirty-day money-back guarantee on all of them.

The method for service

Bloom once, serve all day.

Weigh the day's saffronFor sixty cups, about 1 g. A pocket scale reading to 0.01 g keeps the cost per cup where the calculator says.
Bloom it coveredSteep in warm water, not boiling, for ten minutes with a lid on. Uncovered, the aroma leaves with the steam.
Hold it cold, pour to orderKeep the concentrate refrigerated and add a measure to each cup. Threads stay in the drink; they are the proof the customer is looking for.

What you are buying

Raihan Saffron 3 g bottle and gift box on black slate

The lot in every bottle

Our current lot carries Herat government laboratory report 004389: crocin 296.5, picrocrocin 114.2, safranal 32.7, artificial colorants absent. ISO 3632 Category I on every tested parameter. We test each harvest before we buy it, so a lot that fails is a lot we never own.

Read the full report

How an order works

Step oneSize it, or write one lineUse the calculator and check out, or email raihansaffronco@gmail.com with what you serve or sell and the quantity you have in mind. We reply the same business day.
Step twoBloom-test a sampleVerified wholesale buyers receive a complimentary 1 g bottle so your chef or buyer can test it in warm water before a larger order. We pay the shipping.
Step threeWe pack, we shipStock orders placed by 4 PM Eastern ship the same day, Monday to Saturday, from Lynn, Massachusetts. Custom-label runs take two to four weeks. Resale certificates and tax-exempt orders are handled at checkout or by email.

Questions tea houses ask

How many saffron threads per cup of tea?

Three to four threads per 8 oz cup is the standard. More threads give deeper color and stronger flavor, but past six or seven a slight bitterness creeps in.

Should saffron go directly in the cup or be bloomed first?

Bloom it first, in warm water for ten minutes, for the best color and the most consistent flavor cup to cup. Dropped dry into hot water it releases far less.

Does saffron pair with green, black or herbal tea?

All three. It is most itself in plain hot water with honey; it is loveliest with green tea and cardamom; and it turns a black tea into something a customer photographs.

How much does a café go through in a month?

A café with one signature saffron drink uses roughly 5 to 15 g a month; a multi-drink program runs 30 to 50 g. The calculator above converts your own numbers.

Is there a minimum?

No. Start with a 5 g or 10 g bottle at the listed price. A complimentary 1 g sample is available to verified tea houses and cafés after a short email.

Talk to the person who packs itBeverage programs, samples and recurring deliveries.
raihansaffronco@gmail.com  ·  (857) 313-9458
24 Bassett Street, Lynn, Massachusetts · Monday to Saturday