Tealosophy

Quietly the 2021 Tasmanian Fine Food Awards judging and awards passed by in early July. We choose to support these awards because 4 years ago the Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania recognised the special significance of tea and created a seperate category for tea within their beverage schedule. We think that this action deserves commendation and support by the Australian tea industry to continue growing the demand for leaf tea.   We were delighted with the news that the 2 Japanese teas we submitted received Silver medals. The reality with these awards is that full credit is to be given to our...

The theme for International Women's Day 2022 is 'Break the Bias’. The quote below comes from the IWD website. Imagine a gender equal world.A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.A world where difference is valued and celebrated.Together we can forge women's equality.Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias. As a micro business in the tea ecosystem I may not command buying power or have the impact of the bigger tea businesses but I choose to make a difference and empower women with every decision I make with The Steepery Tea Co. Whether it is...

Whilst this time last year I was feeling largely optimistic about the future of tea, this year I am a little more reserved and believe we are facing some real challenges. Here are my observations to close the year out with the biggest take away being that the specialty tea industry is so small that it will take real innovation in the business model to allow it to profit in isolation.  Tea business closures My heart is heavy this year as we say goodbye to some well-known and loved tea businesses. These span physical and online stores across Australia (and...

Now moving on to the super tea geek 🤓 moments in our Water for Tea workshop. The tea tasting. Whilst our 2 hour workshop was not enough time to get too far into the experiments Dr. Monika Fekete (Coffee Sciences Lab) and I set up a blind tea tasting of 2 different teas using 6 different waters. We selected a Japanese green tea (Kuritawase sencha) and a Chinese red or black tea (Golden Steed Eyebrow honey). We had chosen these 2 teas as our experience with tea and water experiments to date has shown that these 2 have the most dramatic and...

After starting what was going to be an amazing collection of Water for Tea blog posts this year it came to a bit of an abrupt stop when my many projects collided. I am pleased to report that my interest and passion for this subject didn't end and I have been doing plenty of learning and experiments behind the scenes that culminated in bringing an educational event together to benefit my local tea community. It became clear to me through your comments and engagement about water for tea that I wanted to first focus on looking at solutions for the...