CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - Stop by Saucers Tea Company, at the Saturday Sunrise Mall Farmers Market and enjoy a delightful spot of tea and a fresh scone.

Just look for the colorful banner in the booth with the brown-eared bunny holding a teacup, and you’ll know you’re in the right place.

The home-based tea seller, founded by Orangevale’s Jennifer Kinnamon, last year, is off to a “brisk” start, pun intended.

Her business “steeped in the teapot” a while, but grew into a serious commitment, as Kinnamon filed the necessary city and county business licenses to prepare to open last summer.

“It took a bit longer to get started in business than I thought,” she said. Kinnamon then chose an attractive bunny-themed logo which was designed by Citrus Heights graphic artist, Frank Balderrama for her marketing materials and packaging.

“I remembered the afternoon tea parties I enjoyed with my mother when I was growing up,” she said. Her love of tea and its many varieties of tea led her to create a business that she hopes will bring people together to explore and taste the many delightful flavors of tea which can be found throughout the world in a “relaxing and fun atmosphere.”

The parent of a busy six-year-old son, Kinnamon said she’s enjoying balancing her home life and the demands of a successful home-based business.

While acknowledging that she’s only open for business one day a week, Kinnamon estimates that she’s sold about 150 pounds worth of loose-leaf tea at the Sunrise Farmers Market since she started in business last summer.

“I think that’s a very good start,” she said.

Customers can sample from hot carafes of different tea varieties as they browse her individual loose-leaf tea selections. A dozen different varieties of bagged tea sell for $10 each, or two for $17.

“The varieties of tea I sell are all fair-trade and organic,” she said. “I work closely with a long-time wholesale tea broker to select varieties which I feel that my customers will enjoy.”

In addition to hot and iced tea, customers can buy one of Kinnamon’s delicious homemade scones made in her Orangevale home kitchen for $3.50 each. She makes them fresh each Friday before getting ready for the Saturday Sunrise Farmers Market.

Varieties include raspberry, chocolate chip and pumpkin. Two gluten-free varieties, a blackberry vegan scone made with monk fruit sweetener and a cranberry orange scone with almonds are also available.

Customer tea preferences tend to depend upon the weather and the season, she said.

Her citrus-themed teas, ideally suited for making iced tea, proved to be top sellers during high summer temperatures. Choices such as “Mango Surprise”, “Auntie’s Apricot” and especially “Passion Berry Explosion” featuring black tea, marigold, safflower, passionfruit and raspberry flavors, are popular thirst quenchers.

“Colder temperatures bring out a preference for a traditional Earl Grey,” she said. “Our “Enchanted Rose” tea, a combo of black and green teas, with lavender, rose petals and vanilla, has also sold well, and was perfect for the winter months.”

Saucers Tea Company’s online tea store features six different categories of tea to explore including black, green, white, oolong, decaffeinated and caffeine-free selections. The company offers free shipping on online orders of $40 or more.

A four-ounce package of its caffeinated, “Elevate” Nilgiri broken leaf (BOP) tea grown from the Blue Mountains of Southern India, is bold in flavor, intensely aromatic, with a smooth balanced finish at $10. Customers may want to try “Chocolate Charm”, a blend of black tea, ginger root, green cardamom, chocolate chips and chocolate flavor.

“Chocolate Charm is great hot or iced,” Kinnamon said. “Try adding a splash of your favorite chocolate syrup to enhance the richness.”

Green tea lovers can try “Classy Sencha”, a classic Chinese flat leaf tea which can withstand multiple steepings and is best enjoyed with a short infusion. Another unusual tea variety, “Gunpowder”, a Chinese green tea, has a light, smoky aftertaste.

Saucers Tea Company also offers ceremonial Matcha green tea powder. Two ounces sell for $20. The popular Japanese green tea powder is great for green tea ice cream making and other cooking adventures.

Visit Saucers Tea Company at Sunrise Mall Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. or check out their store on the web at saucerstea.com