Our search is to define a 21st-century high tea. It’s no longer about cucumber sandwiches, and tea with cold or hot milk, but it is something different. We are not trying to replicate a traditional English afternoon tea but we are challenging them to find the 21st-century high tea .
Dilhan C. Fernando
Dilhan C. Fernando, of Dilmah Tea in Sri Lanka, is a prominent global ambassador of Tea and it broader use, beyond that of a simple daily consumption beverage. Through the Dilmah School of Tea, Tea, Scented Teas, and Tisanes are prominently promoted for use in Bar Mixology, and high end Hospitality.
As a final challenge in the Dilmah’s Tea Master program one has to pair tea with a food or drink. The general idea is to come up with something original aand expressive. for the life of me, I wanted to make a Gem Scone & Clotted Cream Tea using a smokey Mongolian Milk Tea with popped millet garnish. Then I heard the above quote.
Back to the drawing board…
Lying awake at night, cogitating on this thought, I settled finally on thoughts of a Flummery. What is that? You may well ask. It is an awesome dish from my childhoold. It can be made in two ways. Most commonly with jelly and cream; less common just with jelly. Jelly, or Jell-o is a gelatine based desert, and a flummery is basically made by whipping semmi set jelly into a culinary foam.
This concept, believe it or not is as old as the history of tea in Britain. Literally equally as old. Everything old is new again, the circle turns, and new expressions are brought forth. Today, culinary foams are considered the province of Modernist Cooking, and multi-star/hat/etc., Haute Cuisine.
Unfortunately, the initial idea fell short of the vision. Suffice to say There was too little colour contrast between the base and the flummery. After a long chat with my Mum, bless her, I rejigged the presentation. This is what I came up with.
It is important to note, that ideas need time to grow and develop. This dish was purposefully created but from conception to final expression on the plate, there is little in common other than the ingredients itself. Further, the choice of flummery base was equally important. Full details at Villa Tempest, My food blog.
I chose a non-dairy Flummery BECAUSE I wanted the tea to fully express itself without being masked by the inclusion of dairy. This results in a light, fluffy, ephemeral, and delicate dish, that is really delightful and refreshing to eat.
Finally, this is not the only way this concept can be used. The Flummery has a long history, and its non-dairy form is an excellent “modernist” base for all sorts of dishes. In keeping with its use in Tea and Food Pairing…
Imaging if you will:
a Flummery of Tomato Consommé served on a base, or garnished with, slices of tea smoked duck confit; or,
a vol-au-vent filled with black tea and lemon infused flummery mousse topped with strawberry liquid spheres or caviar; or,
a smoked tea infused potato and leak (and bacon) soup with hot, piped konjac or agar agar flummery islands, infused with black cardamom chai.
Let your imagination run wild. Flummeries are easy to make, and with many modern gelling agents, both vegan and non-vegan options abound. From a simply British perspective, Tea and Flummery have both traveled different paths for the same amount of time. It should be a paired and shared history. So, to quote a famous tea drinking, sci-fi Space Captain…
Betty Koster is a Cheese Connoisseur who has some opinions about how to taste and pair Tea with Food. Here are some of her thoughts on this topic…
It is acknowledged that we have the ability to discern and identify the four tastes of sweet, sour, salt and bitter. We can also taste umami, called the fifth taste. This is the pleasant savoury taste (of glutamate) that is detected because we have receptors for glutamate. In 2015, the sixth taste was announced – oleogustus – described as the taste of fatty acids.
For purposes of tea and food pairings, we note that tea is a versatile beverage, and you can pair it with a wide variety of food. The pairing of tea with particular types of food often adds pleasant dimensions to a dining experience.
WHITE TEA – pure, light, clean GREEN TEA – vegetal, grassy, hinting of seaweed, smoky, light or heavy, fruity green OOLONG TEA – light, floral and sweet, dark rich and forward BLACK TEA – fruity, earthy, malty, smoky, sweet, light, medium, rich etc.
(Here is a) A structured method to pair tea with food:
COMPONENTS – You might pair a sweet dish with a sweetened tea or seek to contrast the sweetness with a tea that has bitter elements. FLAVOUR – Imagine a fruity tea – that works to contrast and highlight the herbal flavours in a dish. TEXTURES – What would you pair with a creamy cheese? A tea that has some astringency that will ‘cut through’ and reduce the richness of the cheese, so that you want to take another morsel of the cheese – somewhat like how wine interacts with cheese. SENSATIONS – If your dish features chilli, perhaps you might opt for a tea that is rich because the tea can handle the piquant sensation and will not be overcome. TEMPERATURE – You can get playful with temperature contrasts – for example, serve a hot tea with a cold dessert, or serve an ice cold tea with a warm salad and so on. BODY – Increase or add body to your tea with milk or honey and perhaps it might just stand up to heavy foods such as stews.
Some of the best pairings occur when you have a complement or contrast of 2-3 constituents.
GENERAL RULE: 1-3 Pairing (complement or contrast) for 1 constituent = acceptable match Pairing (complement or contrast) for 2 constituents = good match Pairing (complement or contrast) for 3 constituents = excellent match Pairing for more than 3 constituents usually = synergistic match… new flavours formed even ….. it’s a marriage made in heaven!
COOKING TECHNIQUE CAN INFLUENCE PAIRING Depending on how food is prepared, you can influence its taste, texture, body and flavour so that you can find a suitable pairing with the tea you have chosen.
STEAMING Delicate and helps food retain freshness, flavour and texture. POACHING Gentle simmer, for a delicate dish regardless of flavourings. BOILING Does not add flavour but develops food textures. STIR-FRYING The delicate and light flavour of food is preserved. DEEP-FRYING Well executed, the dish will not be oily or soggy but quite light. BRAISING / STEWING The flavours of the food are intensified. GRILLING Intense smoky flavours from grilling. ROASTING Flavours are intensified, concentrated and slightly caramalised, especially when there is a crusty surface.
(Now, consider) Tea & Cheese Complex, rich tasting, stronger character tea stands up well to blue veined cheese that has an assertive taste.
Strong dark black tea with malty flavours marries well with creamy cheese since the weight of the tea and the richness of the cheese are matched.
Malty / low grown teas pair well with strong flavoured cheeses – such as smoked cheeses, aged cheeses and the like.
Pepper in cheese renders a spicy note; so the cheese finds a good foil in a fruity tea, sweetened or not.
White and green teas contain less aggressive and less astringent tasting polyphenols, hence they are thought to be more difficult to pair with cheeses. Try green tea. Its vegetal notes mirror some of the grassy nuances in certain cream cheeses.
Green teas & oolong teas take well to herbed cheese and flavoured cream cheeses.
Tea with lemon or herbal teas can be a good match to tangy goat or aged cheeses.
“Bettr Closter, Cheese Connoisseur“
Some Additional Thoughts
Tea is an incredibly diverse beverage. It has been, “historically” used as a medicine, a food, and more recently as a satiating and stimulating beverage. Today we are starting to explore some of these lost uses via Food and Tea Pairings, Mixology, and TCM concepts such as the Five Elements Theory.
One of the biggest issues I struggle with when pairing tea with food, or using it as an ingredient, or spice, etc., is finding pairings that allow the tea to be the hero. There is no point in pairing Earl Grey Tea, for example, with a rich Beouf Bourguignon if the character of the tea is lost. Nor is there any point in brewing such a tea so strong that only its astringency is expressed, as a means to cut through the fattiness of the dish and say, “Oh! that’s the tea!”
This becomes even more of a whorey old chestnut, for me when it comes to the use of Tea in the brewing of Beer. Suffice to say, there is no point in using a post-production scented tea as a brewing ingredient unless the tea is prominently expressed – the tea! Not the added flavouring or scent. As such there are similar considerations when using tea as a spice or ingredient in making new dishes. If it is only the scent that is being expressed? Then use the scent, don’t waste the tea.
With this in mind and Betty’s advice above, one should consider carefully the advice about the 1-3 General Rule. Considering that many people also consider tea to be a Medicine and should be used, in combination, with the Five Elements precepts, then there is a vast history and plane of expression that can be explored, with out repeating the trial and error mistakes of the past.
When it comes to Water, my views on the, “Evil Empire” are well and truly known. This leaves the questions: Are there any local options, and what are they? Further when it comes to tea, the quality of the water can significantly impact the flavour of the brewed tea, and its appearance, especially with black teas.
The three main local options, here in Shanghai, are Nongfu Spring, Ganten, and C’estbon. As of this year, Yili Danone has also entered the market. Then of course, if youcan afford the installation or very expensive (price/Litre processed) of countertop alternatives, there is RO and other Filtered Water.
Of the top three, Nongfu is Surface Water, Ganten is underground water, and C’estbon is Treated water. Of the 4 brands mentioned, it appears that Ganten is the only organisation that doesn’t market 19L water barrels. The phen you drink your tea, take a moment to consider the quality (and ethics) behind the water you use.
On the cliffs of Jiu Long Yu, remain the last 6 “Mother Trees” from which Da Hong Pao was once made. Since 2006, the Wuyi City Government banned the private harvesting of leaves from these six trees. in the same year they also insured the trees for the princely sum of 100 Million CNY. To manage demand for tea made from these trees genetics, cuttings were taken and carefully cultivated, leading to the development of the “Qi Dan” cultivar. Since then many more cultivars have been propagated and the tea’s quality is very much related to the terroir of where these tea trees are grown.
Today, much of the Da Hong Pao Teas, available in the market, are “commodity” teas made from a blend of Rou Gui and/or Shui Xian cultivars as a base, then blended with Qidan and other Wuyi cultivars: such as Tie Luo Han, Huang Guanyin, Qizhong, etc.; depending on each Tea Master’s individual recipe(s). Accordingly, it is said that a Da Hong Pao “blend” should be greater than the sum of its parts, exhibiting layers of complex and pleasing flavours, rather than the singular characteristics of any particular tea tree cultivar.
The Da Hong Pao mother trees should not be confused with the Four Famous Tea Bushes, “Si Da Ming Cong” which include: Da Hong Pao – Big Red Robe, Shi Jin Gui – Golden Water Turtle, Tie Luo Han – Iron Arhat, and Bai Ji Guan – White Cockscomb; for which many Wuyi Yanchas – Rock Teas, are made from and named.
On steep, rocky cliffs gracing the sides of Wuyi mountain in the province of Fujian, China live 5 (or 6?) ancient tea trees: the last of their kind. These, “Mother Trees” are apparently, the source of the leaves of the famous Dà Hóng Páo Wū Lóng Chá (大红袍乌龙茶) – ‘Big Red Robe’ Oolong Tea.
Today, it is no longer allowed to harvest their leaves for tea, however cuttings have been taken and clones cultivated to preserve the genetics of these trees for current and future commercial use. Today, whilst there are teas made from first generation cuttings, which fetch high prices, Da Hong Pao is becoming more a “style” of tea-taste, rather than a tea based on a specific tea tree cultivar. As such finding well crafted, true to style AND taste Da Hong Pao Tea is becoming increasingly difficult.
Over the following days, I will be moving away from Yunnan Dancong Teas towards my store of Fujian Da Hong Paos. With approx. five different examples on the shelf, the next few days will be an interesting exploration. #TodaysTea, #今天的茶, #JīnTiāndeChá, #Tea, #茶, #Chá.
When I was a lad, in the late 60’s to mid 80’s of late last century, The Media consisted of Broadsheets and Magazines (print media) Radio, and TV. Public discourse and input into political discussion took place through broadcasts, Letters to the Editor, Town Hall meetings, and the Ballot Box. With the exception of Letters to the Editor, the general public did not engage in Content Creation, but in Content Consumption. With the advent and development of mass access the Internet in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the public square moved online into bulletin boards, and online forums morphing into virtual community spaces and gave birth to the likes of Facebook, and the concept of the Virtual Public Square.
Around the turn of the millennium, “Traditional,” mainstream media began to feel the impact of their loss of control over Public Discourse and Dialogue, they were no longer the sole generators of Content: everyone online had become their own content creators, curating their newsfeed and online “social” engagement, thus morphing into what we collectively refer to now as “Social Media.” however, development does not stand still, the influence of Social Media has become so pervasive in today’s society that perhaps it should now be referred to more accurately as “Societal Media.”
This is the new media landscape and Mainstream Media is struggling to keep control of social discourse. In the past, the “Editor” exercised great power over published letters and opinion, reportage and the form it took, and advertisements: where and when they appeared, if at all, especially in print media. However, while one media company may have chosen not to publish certain views and opinions of certain individuals, there were alternatives: the only way to silence a voice was to physically intervene in some manner.
Today in the online world, there is little to no real competition at the provider level, this Social Discourse is now held “altruistically” in monopolistic hands. As such, dissenting voices, even of international leaders, can be silenced instantaneously. Through cartel like cooperation between corporate giants, such voices may not be able to regain a foothold in the Societal Media Space, let alone recover from the loss of followers and connections caused by Social Media Assassination. Having been a victim of this in the past, it is a subject indelible in my thoughts.
Along with the shift in control over Public Discourse there is also a shift in the control of the form of Content Creation. “Fake News,” and “Individual Opinion” holding equal sway to “Expert Commentary” indicates there are fundamental flaws in the process of content creation.
Access to many alternative “News Outlets” means that traditional domestic oriented “Propaganda” no longer holds the sway it once had. “Fact Checking” has become a game for online pundits but is no longer engaged in by mainstream Journalists until, “after the fact.” In this new Societal Media landscape, the ethics of journalism have seemingly been abandoned for a competition for attention with a myriad of cacophonic voices.
The gate keeping of Social Discourse has shifted and continues to shift from Government, enabled by a compliant mainstream media, to corporate Social Media monopolies; and, real life social order, in once democratic countries like Australia, are taking on dystopian “Police State” tendencies, fueling further social upheaval. It seems no-one is “content” with the wild vibrance of the “Content” being now being created.
Why is that, do you think? (Read that again and consider, is that one question or two?)
In my early school years, “Critical Thinking” was a formal subject yet it was removed from the curriculum as I started my school journey. Learning to express an opinion or construct a reasoned, factual and logical argument was the guidance role of individual “English” teachers – to what degree was entirely at their whim; and debating points of view, became an after school social activity, more often than not.
Now, as those members of my parents generation responsible for the direction in which school and social education in my country turned, shuffle off their mortal coil, we will see further the consequences and bear the burden of those choices: Societal Media is no longer confined to the online space, it influences our every moment and movement in daily life so much so, that anyone with a knee jerk reaction can instantaneously respond to the latest news, memes, talking head opinion, and public propaganda, or initiate a virtual “drive by” termination.
Persuasive writing was about constructing an argument, and then presenting it in such a way as to encourage, recruit, or “persuade” the reader to accept that point of view. This is a fundamental precept in Debate; Advertising products and services; and, in the political influence of Social Governance.
The rules of Debate are formal and strict. In Advertising, Informational and Emotional language either verbal, visual, or written is equally and effectively used. In “Social Governance” the mantra, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story,” is king, as long as control of the populous is maintained.
These are issues that at heart relate to “Truth,” and the control of its perception is at the core of the conflicts of opinion that we see today. There are several issues prominent that need a brief outline: a) Is truth immutable, or perceptual? b) Can, or should, truth as we individually perceive it be controlled or dictated to us? c) Is truth like a coin and our perception of it dependent on our position relative to the coin? and, d) Does government have the right to determine what is a permissible interpretation of my perception of truth and how I feel about it? Some of these are loaded questions for sure, but that’s part of the point.
A coin is a three dimensional object, thus there are more than two ways to observe it. By treating a truth as immutable, like a coin, and our perception of it as being relative, it easy to demonstrate that “my truth” may just be your “propaganda” and vice versa, and that in the court of Public Opinion, one person’s political “Point of View” is another person’s “Fake News.”
Societal Media is the confluence of the virtual world of Social Media, and real life engagement is daily Civic interactions. For generations public education has abandoned issues of critical thinking and formal public discourse. Today such skills are desperately needed to combat propaganda, and so called “fake news;” to push back against and fact check so called “conspiracy theories;” and, to evaluate and challenge the performance of community leadership and those that administer authority based on claims of specific expertise.
There is a power struggle going on between traditional wielders of power and new corporate monopolistic interests, where our abilities to interact in Civil Life both virtual and real can be fundamentally and devastatingly penalised through instantaneous censure, without recourse to review or appeal. Are we content with Content Creation in the modern Societal Media Space? I think not.
There are problems across the board, generations in the making, that influence the creation of content today, and the way in which we respond to that cannot be redressed overnight. There are also fundamental Civic issues about control, gatekeeping, data security, and guarantee of engagement/access, that need to be addressed, and soon. Lastly, there issues of social order and the abusive use of executive control, based on unchallengeable claims to expertise and authority or the truth, that have significant impact on the day to day lives and freedoms of a populace.
The enablement of safe civic interaction that does not violate individual sovereignty is paramount to a civil society. Thus, visionary leadership that values educating the populace in critical civic skills is what is needed rather than propaganda taking the place of adherence to fact checked, and critically evaluated assertions, especially with any claims to authority based on “truth.”
Critical and logical thinking, reasoned discourse based on the rules of debate, and respectful refutation of contrarian points of view rather than censure, are essential skills that all persons engaged in Societal Media Content Creation need. We should be content with the Content, but we are not. Instead, we are tearing the world apart because we don’t want to be told how to think, yet at the same time, most of our society no longer knows how to think. The push back is still there but have the skills been irrevocably lost? I hope not.
Nothing. We’re still here. Quietly working on a major project which produces almost daily updates. That Project? “Today’s Tea” is the working title.
Tsc Tempest Photography took off in a major way when I started freelancing in Hanoi, Vietnam. After 4 years in Hanoi, I and my family relocated to Hamburg, Germany. Hamburg is a tough, competitive place for photographers – at that time there were over 3000 “Togs” bidding for work, its even more difficult if you’re an unknown foreigner who doesn’t speak the language.
I did get a couple of gigs but nothing to write home about and certainly nothing sustainable.So, I drifted back to my defaults state: Street and Travel Photography, and started on, an as yet unfinished, project: A 40 year retrospective on my work reproduced as transfer prints onto hard media.
My family’s move to Shanghai, kinda put the kaibosh on that project due to the difficulty in obtaining some of the materials needed to make the prints: namely Sulky Paper Solvy, and Foto Potch. Depressed with my circumstances I decided to try and revisit my (well Mike Ware’s) Cyanotype Process and got myself an A4 laser printer, but same deal as in Germany – purchasing chemicals is bloody difficult, and getting moreso every day.
Stumped! I needed a project, something “doable” and so I started drinking tea until I let the whole idea drop. Then I started to research the tea I was drinking, and writing about its, and taking photos of the tea that I drank. Very quickly it became an almost daily task, not quite but almost, and much of the time I spent with this tea project was, “setting up the shot.”
Today’s Tea was not just an exploration into the world of Chinese Tea, it was not a happy snap with the phone camera and damn, its done. The imagery involved using and modifying light, using mixed light sources including natural daylight, setting up the stage, the background, props, product, hero points – just like in any still life, food, or product photography shoot. Sometimes with very short time shoot options such as splash and water drop capture, 10-50 second brew times, stills and video.
Add to this content research, image and video editing, posting to social media, and uploading to this site; redesigning the look of the site due to changes in Web Design and User interface needs, plus responsive formats… its all been busy – this little black duck appears calm on the surface, but has been paddling like a demon under the water.
As such, I haven’t given much attention to technical discussion and posts about the photography in this project, and to be honest, I don’t really feel there is much of a need for it. The Today’s Tea Project stands on its own as a work in itself. The photography is a big part of the project and has evolved since the beginning, and so has the videography. So, enjoy. There will be more talk, specific to photography, and imagery from my travels. I have a huge backlog of images that need stories put to them which will be incrementally added to this site.
“Minerality’ is such an interesting word. Most Word Processors will automatically correct it to, “mineralogy” or flag it as spelt wrong, until you add the word to your Dictionary. But, what is it? What does it mean? And, in particular, what does it mean in the context of tasting tea?
Before we take a deeper dive, this musing over a word, was brought to you by my frequent use of it in describing a particular mouthfeel when drinking tea, but more on that later.
“Minerality,” has long been used by Wine Sommeliers to describe a mouthfeel or taste sensation that has subsequently been associated with, “terroir,” or characteristic of a wine growing region.
“Minerality” is a general term we use to describe wines that exude aromas such as flint, crushed rock, wet stone, or sea breeze or that have textures of chalk, hard stone, gravel or a kind of electrical snap on the finish.
He further goes on to state that scientists have ruled out that mineral characteristics of soil transfer to the grapes that are grown in it.
But we are here to talk about about tea. According to David Duckler over at Verdant Tea, who claims that, “Minerality is not just the taste of rock…” builds the argument that:
Minerality is our way of understanding a unique texture and physical sensation on the palate that is tingling and precise while being soft at the same time, like the lightest carbonation you could imagine. This texture creates a sense of contrast that makes aftertastes even sweeter and allows them to build up over time, separate from the aroma. In tea, minerality is a textural complexity that does require rocky terroir to come forward, but it isn’t exactly the sensation of drinking rocks or even necessarily dissolved mineral solids. It is a bit more complicated.
So, all this seems clear enough, don’t you think? How does that manifest itself in the mouth? For me, “minerality” is a characteristic associated with a metallic taste, coupled with a tingling sensation on the tip of the tongue and deep into the cheeks.
Unlike natural mineral waters resplendent in iron or sulphur, the iron manifests like blood, and the sulphur, well… smells, this metallic taste is not robust and dominant. It is subtle, and late, building up over time and subsequent mouthfuls. In a sense it does contrast with sweetness, but sweetness is a much more dominant and present mouthfeel.
Now, we do have a problem to consider. If this is a metallic taste, who do we differentiate it as coming from the tea and not from the water we brew with or the buildup in the kettle we boil with? Simple, if the water is always the same, it creates a baseline against which different teas can be contrasted. Now, if your water is tasting metallic, it might be a good idea to get it tested or change it out for a softer water source.
Previously we mentioned that scientists claim as fact, that soil characteristics are not transferred to grapes. Presumably this is also the case with tea. However, David Duckler reports that according to, “Li Xiaoping” of Dragon Well that:
…minerality in the terroir of Shi Feng (Lion’s Peak) refers to both the direct intake of minerals and their flavor as well as the effect of rocky soil in encouraging deeper healthier roots and slow growth…
‘And that this has a direct and noticeable impact on the flavour characteristics of the tea: a somewhat contrary point of view to those of the Wine Scientists. With a moment’s thought it is easy to understand this, and communicate it simply.
Organisms respond to what they are fed. Their flesh takes on certain sensory characteristics that can be distinguished based on where they are grown. We see this in Cattle, Sheep, Fish, Fruit, Vegetables, Herbs, and Spices. We see this also in the way they are grown, such as GMO, high intensity farming, low density farming, organic, etc. It follows then that it is reasonable to expect that tea, (and grapes,) will demonstrate equally similar, notable characteristics.
Are these characteristics quantifiable? Perhaps not in some gas chromatograph in some lab, but certainly by sensory analysis. However, sensory analysis depends on a vocabulary that not all are in agreement with, an imprecise, “metaphor,” as Dwight Farrow puts it, to describe sensations and ephemeral memories and feelings as a result of sensations felt in the mouth.
“Minerality,” is one of those words that we circle around, skirt around, try on for size and either get it, or don’t. For me, it is a characteristic associated with a metallic taste, coupled with a tingling sensation on the tip of the tongue, and deep into the cheeks. It can be harsh, but more often than not, is a soft, subtle experience which can linger for a lengthy period of time after drinking tea.
Here, I am talking about the repositioning, branding, and promotion of certain segments of the Tea Industry and its marketable beverage, through the use of “trendy” terms like, Speciality Tea, Craft Tea, Artisanal Tea, Real Tea, in juxtaposition to others such as Commodity Tea, Orthodox Tea, etc., ad. inf.
Over the past twelve months, I have been an observer of a growing and disturbing trend in the Tea industry, and it is confusing AF.
Now, I like to think that I am an individual that carefully thinks about issues, a critical thinker, and… I know that sometimes I’m an unwelcome stater of the bleeding obvious.
Yet, when I am confused by the Tea Industry’s present struggles to come to terms with seemingly new terminology, I have to consider that many others, perhaps, may also be.
It certainly does not help when new organisations set themselves up as Industry guides, consumer & industry educators, and skills certification bodies, to openly claim that they cannot define certain terms, in a way that everyone will agree on, to then resort to virtue signally through statements of aspiration, as a way to deflect their failure to take a stance of any particular substance.
Many have tried to “define” terms like, Craft Tea, Artisanal Tea, and Specialty Tea and I commend the effort, but I also have to ask why? What purpose does this defining serve? What problem is it trying to solve? Does the problem even exist, really?
All Teas are Tisanes, but not all Tisanes are Tea. Tea as a beverage, a tisane made from the infusion of the dried leaves of Camellia sinensis in water, has been used for at least a couple of thousand years in the East, and for several hundred years in the West.
As the second most consumed beverage in the world, some in the industry seem to think it now has some kind of problem? A marketing problem? A perception problem? A competitor problem? A… I’m not making enough money out of this, problem? Who really knows.
The problem as I see it is, the industry, or the segment(s) of the industry that the problem impacts, has not stood up in unison and clearly defined the problem at hand. Instead, individuals: farmers, producers, blenders, sellers; have said, “Hey! I a problem here and “WE” (the industry) have to fix it, because if we don’t the consumer, or regulators will.”
From the outside looking in, it appears that individuals have looked at the success that other beverage industries have had in differentiating industry segments and marketing that to consumers, with envious eyes saying, “I want a piece of that pie, but in my market.”
Accordingly, they have then “borrowed terminology for other beverage markets and tried to plaster them over the Tea Industry like a band-aid on a child’s imaginary, “oww-oww.”
Craft Beer defined itself by contrasting small scale, seasonal, batch brewed, beer that changes character from year to year, as fundamentally different, in intent, spirit, character, and production to mass produced, industrial, “commodity” beer that maintains a high degree of uniformity and consistency from season to season and year to year.
Presently, the Craft Beer Industry is struggling with issues related to when is a Craft Brewer too big to be a Craft Brewer? The goal posts on this have been revised a couple of times already.
Specialty Coffee, a term that is not uniformly defined or agreed upon in coffee circles, is basically defined as a set of aspirational qualitative principles that can and should be measured that ought to be applied through the entire supply chain, from bean to cup.
Presently, The Specialty Coffee Industry is struggling with corruption, deceptive practices, and rorting of the quality standard they aspire to, resulting in challenges to consumer confidence.
Real Ale was a term coined to address the near demise of consumer choice and access to Cask ales in UK pubs. Due to various bonded relationships between large scale, multinational corporate owned breweries and pubs, cask ale was being squeezed out of the “local.”
Presently, under the guidance of CAMRA, Real Ale is making a comeback, however, the popularity of larger still far exceed that of ale.
Artisanal, Hand-crafted, Slow Food classifiers have been coined and used to differentiate small scale, local, home-made produce and products from mass-produced, supermarket, bulk store commodities. It implies a certain amount of mastery and artistry, “Gong Fu” in the production of limited quantity produce and products.
Presently, these terms cannot be scaled beyond a single, small scale homestead, or farm to larger global distribution. It is purely a localised, community based phenomena, as it should be.
The Problem then, as I see it, is that proponents of the use of such terms in respect to tea, DO NOT UNDERSTAND these terms and why they came about.
They look at the juxtaposition of Sub-Continental CTC and Orthodox tea production, and try to shoehorn East Asian tea production under Orthodox manufacture, to bolster some differentiation between industrial, machine harvested, and automated production-line processed (Commodity) tea, and hand harvested, manual processed tea. Machine-made vs Man-made.
With all the confusion and disagreement within the tea industry, there is little wonder that there is confusion within the Consumer market. Consumers are familiar with such terms, and there is a fair argument to be made to consider them. However, where they come from, the fundamental basis on which they were defined, and the problems they subsequently solve have little relevance to the modern Tea Industry.
The tools of manufacture change all the time, especially if those tools allow us to do the job better and/or more consistently, improving our own skill and mastery. When the tools take that skill and mastery away, it also deprives the final product of any soul or spiritual connection to the producer.
The mantra, “Tea bags bad, whole leaf good!” exemplifies the divide within the tea industry, a divide that it pinioned on the differentiation between machine-made and man-made. It also creates discord and disharmony.Both have their place.
If man-made, whole leaf, single holding, locally regionalised, terroir-based, teas are to be promoted globally as something far superior to, year in year out, constantly produced, machine-processed, human-blended, teas, then begging and borrowing terms like Specialty, Craft, Artisanal, Real, from other beverage industries and suffixing them with “Tea” is painfully pointless from a global tea industry perspective.
If the global tea industry has a problem, then it lies within itself and further introspection is in order, rather than seeking out band-aid solutions.
The global tea industry is not a homogeneous industry. There is history, and circumstance, that fundamentally differentiates different tea regions from each other, and the marketing and promotional, differentiating, “identifying,” solutions for one tea region/segment may not, and probably cannot, solve a similar issue in another.
Specialty Tea is not a global issue that must be defined, it is a regional one that consumers and retailers need to determine for themselves, based on supply chain access, and the terms and conditions of access, back to an estate, a farm, or even a single bush.
Many a great Advisor, mentor, executive coach, etc. advise that to learn a new skill, to develop a new pattern, change or develop a new habit, you need to practice that desired skill or change for at least thirty days.
For the last month or so, I have been steadily drinking my way through my collection of teas and so far the count is now 29 different teas, with quite a few still to go. So the question is drinking tea habit forming is as yet unanswered.
I guess my approach to this question is not so much about, is tea addictive, in much the same way that drinking coffee, alcohol, smoking, eating sugar, can be, but more along the lines of doing something, and doing it consistently day after day as a routine.
Those that know me well would say that I’m quite creative, and spontaneous, but whilst I can effectively stick to a routine, it is not where I tend to shine. However, by drinking tea daily, in the manner that I’ve been doing so, taking diligent notes, analysing carefully the tea and how it presents itself in the cup, and then sharing those results through online platforms and social media, I have been not only learning about tea, but also developing skills in online presentation and communication.
Over the time of tasting tea, I have added in addition pieces of information, such as the brewing conditions and some commentary about the experience of drinking the tea. The next step I guess would be to add in some background information and history about each tea but that would be better presented on a website based blog.
So, is Drinking Tea Habit Forming? Yes! Yes it is, IF you do so daily with the same approach, as a meditation, or as a routine, then it can be leveraged to hone existing skills, develop new skills, or reinforce one’s knowledge about an exceptional commodity, and to develop and reinforce a desirable, new, habit.
