UPDATE JUNE 2020. Due to Covid-19 our tea service has been brought to an end. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect to so many tea enthusiasts and I am certain we will share tea again! Not to worry, The Steepery Tea Co. is still open as a online retail store and popping up all over Brisbane with great tea events!
I have been mulling over a concept in my mind for the past 6 months that started with this question. How do I get more people in Brisbane to understand, connect to and appreciate pure leaf tea?
For those that don’t know me, I am trying to harmoniously (ha!ha!) balance being a full-time Mum and growing my tea business. So my approach to answering this question needed to be realistic and a little flexible.
The concept of a tea residency started to form in my mind. A place where I could be found on a routine basis; serving tea to new people, experimenting with tea service and allowing the sensory experience of pure leaf tea to be enjoyed in a physical location without being committed on a full-time basis. Whilst a nice concept, I had no real plan to take it forward.
So, when an opportunity presented itself to meet the Director of Wandering Cooks, Angela Hirst, I could not turn it down. I had no idea where this encounter would lead after initially making contact to look for a venue for The Brisbane Tea Meetup (a little on that later).
Wandering Cooks does many things. At its core, it is a food incubator, providing commercial kitchen space for new food businesses to get started, experiment and grow. They create a hub for the Brisbane food and beverage community, supporting local businesses and making a positive contribution to our food systems …I encourage you to read all about them and the Wandering Cooks charter here. This is a business I have been in awe of watching from the beginning of the first commercial kitchens being built in the warehouse in Fish Lane, South Brisbane.
I have digressed but needless to say, after meeting Angela, we both agreed that I would become their resident tea person. A very impressive title, right?!
So what does my Tea Residency at Wandering Cooks look like?
From the 27th August 2017, you will find me most Sunday mornings between 8 -11 am putting on a tea service like no other at the Cafe at Wandering Cooks. In addition to tea, you can enjoy delicious breakfasts prepared by the lovely Tanya Krikke from The Breakfast Club (also of Brisbane's Indie Treats fame). I will be sharing more about my tea service in an upcoming blog post but expect an extraordinary line up of pure leaf tea, traditional matcha, tea pairings to match the breakfast menu and tea flights to gain an appreciation of the diversity of the leaf.
We will also be launching a series of monthly tea appreciation workshops, following on from our Sunday morning tea service, that will provide the Brisbane community with the opportunity to take a deeper dive into the world of tea.
And finally, I have found a very comfortable space for The Brisbane Tea Meetup to sit comfortably, brew tea and chat about all things tea over breakfast. If you love tea and are interested in joining this and other tea events around Brisbane consider joining us too.
I am hugely excited to start sharing wonderful tea experiences with the Brisbane tea community and honoured to be the resident tea person at Wandering Cooks. We hope to see you down at Wandering Cooks for a cuppa really soon.
