Thousands of years ago, spice merchants traveled hundreds of miles via donkeys and camels to acquire the flavorful commodities native to distant lands. Today, all it takes is a quick trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, to visit Tamayta, the most popular spice shop in the area.
Opened in 2017 by Mat Myers, Tamayta’s origin story began as “Myers Sharpening Service,” a knife honing business that Myers ran out of his garage. After a couple years of sharpening blades out of a non-climate-controlled environment, Myers figured it was time to start thinking about finding a more permanent place for his business.
Drawing on his trade experience, Myers was helping to judge a knife skills competition when he mentioned to the other judges (who were mostly chefs and other industry professionals) that he was thinking of opening a knife sharpening shop. His announcement received a lukewarm reaction until he mentioned that he might also sell bulk spices.
That’s when the judges took notice and showed excitement.
“Their heads popped up, and they said, ‘If that happens, you let us know.’ That told me there was a niche; there was a need for it,” Myers said.
When Myers first moved to the area to attend college, he wanted to impress a date by cooking her a homemade meal. One of the ingredients in the recipe called for garam masala, an Indian spice blend. “I went all over town and couldn’t find garam masala, and once I finally found it, it was $15 a jar. This was in the ‘90s, and I was in college,” he recalled.
He had to decide between the spice and a bottle of wine; Myers chose the spice.
Years later, he was cleaning out some kitchen drawers and found the long-forgotten bottle of garam masala, long since expired. It was during that moment when Myers seriously considered opening his own spice shop. He figured that he could purchase spices in bulk so that customers in turn would only buy what they needed instead of a full jar of a spice they inevitably wouldn’t use.
He also determined to create his own spice blends with the first being taco seasoning. “I’d make a bunch of these, take them with me to work, give them to the guys at the store, and tell them, ‘This is enough to make one pound of ground beef,’ and to come back and tell me what you think,” Myers recounted. “They’d come back later and say, ‘So, I used all that stuff—can I get more?’ I’d tell them to meet me out by the bleachers after school,” he said with a laugh.
Today, Tamayta customers are known to visit the shop to ask for only small amounts of spices they need for a specific recipe. They also stop by to buy culinary knives or to check out the various gifts for sale, which are created by local artists. When kids visit with their parents, Myers encourages them to rearrange a wall of magnets so parents can shop. He’s created a space that isn’t just about spices–it’s also about community. Tamayta is a collection point for local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes and often hosts pop-ups for local artists during the holiday season.
The tradition of pop-ups started during the pandemic, when local artists and bakers weren’t able to sell their creations at farmers markets or other typical venues. With unknown foresight, Myers had installed a crowd control system in Tamayta by which he could control the number of people allowed into the space. Originally, he installed the system so he could easily buzz delivery people in while he was sharpening knives in the back, but during the pandemic, it allowed him to stay open because he could control the number of people allowed in the shop at any given time. Offering the space to local artisans as a place to sell their creations just made sense from a community perspective.
Sarah Ferdico, who owns Twin Springs Pecans in Bennet, Nebraska, said that she gets all her spices from Tamayta and has frequently leaned on Myers’ expertise as a spice purveyor. “When we were first trying to find our Cajun spice, we were having the hardest time getting the ingredients to stick to our pecans and give them that kick,” she said. “Mat knew exactly what we needed—a spice called the African Bird Pepper that only he sells. He said, ‘If you pair that with a cayenne, you’ll get that kick you need.’ And it just works! We have customers who rave about it, and we have Mat to thank for that.”
Customer Jentry Barrett visits the shop weekly to pick up her CSA box. “There’s such a sense of place; Mat knows me. He knows my husband, and he knows my kids. We’re here often,” she said. She delights in telling people she “has a spice guy” and said Myers makes a special blend that her husband puts in his coffee. “It feels so neighborhoody,” she added. “They know who’s here, we see the same people week to week, it makes you feel like you belong in the neighborhood. They’re over at the farmer’s market all the time. They just benefit the neighborhood.”
Myers gets his spices from seven different importers, with the main one, based in Chicago, serving as a supplier for most of the major restaurants in the Midwest. The importer has a USDA inspector on site, which is important to Myers to ensure quality ingredients and to guarantee that the ingredients are actually what they’re supposed to be. “That was super important to me because you’ll hear stories about sawdust or lead in products, and having that, it gives me reassurance that I can tell customers there’s nothing funky in their stuff.”
Medical professionals often refer patients to Myers’ shop after they receive a diagnosis such as high blood pressure, because Myers creates flavorful blends devoid of salt for people who need to avoid it.
This is part of his thoughtful approach to spices in general. Asafoetida, for example, imitates the flavor and aroma of onion and garlic, oft-used staples. “It’s used in Ayurvedic cooking to replace [them],” the spice purveyor explained. “A lot of companies that produce it, mix it with wheat flour; people who are trying to stay away from garlic and onion, who are on the ‘FODMAP Diet’ [designed for people with irritiable bowel syndrome], they’re also concerned with celiac or gluten. If you’re mixing with wheat flour, then it defeats the purpose. You want to provide a product that is most universally acceptable for people who do have IBS problems,” Myers explained.
That’s just what he knows about one spice—one of out the 310 spices and blends that he currently stocks on Tamayta’s shelves at any given time.
As his spice shop continues to grow, Myers makes certain that it grows thoughtfully. “As a business owner, you can be as big or as small as you want to be,” he said.
To learn more, visit tamayta.com.
This article originally appeared in the May 2024 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
