Unfortunately, I think you are right. But I can imagine that a
momentary tea fad could change expectations about what people serve as
"tea", so that it would be possible to get something other than lipton
at restaraunts. Maybe some day, getting a pot of hot water and some
loose leaf tea at a restaraunt will not be so unheard of. I only say
this while keeping in mind that in the early nineties, canned or
instant coffee seemed to be more common than Starbucks in most places
in this country. Starbucks, despite its imperfections, is better than
what most people had before and I would guess that most people never
thought of coffee details such as bean roast or geographic origin
prior to the Starbucks era. I personally am not crazy about it, but
I'll sure drink it over chock-full-of-nuts, or even an overpriced bag
of lipton. I will also note that I have seen some coffee places (e.g.
Caribou Coffee) offer looseleaf tea brewing if you look closely at
their menu. Maybe a sophisticated brewing machine could aid the
transition from tea bags to tea pots in non-niche markets outside of
places such as New York or Seattle or Portland. This change could
bring enough converts to tea so as to make more "hardcore" tea brewing
restaraunts more financially viable in smaller areas.