On Tuesdays we have tea

Why Tuesday should be Teasday

 

Mardi Gras is more than pancakes or a parade – it could be an iconic day for tea, suggests Adeline Teoh.

 

Lent is a tradition where for the 40 days leading up to Easter, starting with Ash Wednesday, Christians would give up rich foods, in particular meat. The symbolic gesture represents Christ’s 40-day meandering through the desert and the word ‘carnival’ derives from the Latin carnelevamen, or ‘putting away the flesh’, hence the abstention from meat.

 

The day before Ash Wednesday is known as Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras, French for ‘Fat Tuesday’, and is a day for gorging and celebration before the serious business of fasting begins. Brazil’s carnival is probably the most famous, followed by New Orleans and more recently Sydney’s parade, which was co-opted by the gay and lesbian community more than 40 years ago.

 

Shrove Tuesday is the domain for fatty foods, in particular anything that uses up eggs, milk and sugar, which is how pancakes came to be associated with the day. Tea not only makes a great pancake accompaniment – try a dark oolong with pancakes and maple syrup* or a brisk Irish breakfast tea with a lemon and sugar pancake – you can also use tea such as matcha or Earl Grey in the pancakes. If you’ve gone the fatty route, tea also makes a great digestif with black tea and pu’er a good way to cut through meatiness.

 

But pancake-matching is not the primary reason why I think Tuesday should become Teasday. I had a conversation with a tea drinker at the National Multicultural Festival last month who said his colleagues, who regularly drank booze, were trialling two alcohol-free days per week, the ‘T’ days, Tuesdays and Thursdays. As much because of the pun as anything else, instead they had started to drink tea on those days. I’d already considered that a tendency towards temperance might be one way to encourage tea culture.

 

And then, as Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade dominated the city at the weekend, I remembered something comedian Hannah Gadsby said in her award-winning show Nanette. She spoke about how the telecast of the parade was her first introduction to other same-sex-attracted people:

 

“My people… flaunting their lifestyle in a parade! … Don’t get me wrong, I love the spectacle, I really do, but I’ve never felt compelled to get amongst it. Do you know, I’m a quiet soul. My favourite sound in the whole world is the sound of a teacup finding its place on a saucer. Oh, it’s very, very difficult to flaunt that lifestyle in a parade.”

 

That’s when I realised that tea is a quiet beverage, a peaceable beverage, and that the idea of a boisterous celebration of it seems to go against its very nature. As tea people we need to find a way to celebrate it in our own way. It may not be vocal, it may not involve a colourful convoy of floats down the streets of central Sydney, but let’s make Tuesday tea’s day, our Mardi Cha.

 

* Suggestion by Cheryl Teo via The Tea Curator

(Below: Comedian Hannah Gadsby would rather drink tea than dance in a Mardi Gras parade. Photo credit: Netflix)

Calling all ceramicists!

 

AUSTCS has partnered with the Australian Ceramics Association to create a bespoke teacup for Welcome by Tea 2019.

 

Welcome by Tea has become a much anticipated opening ceremony for the Australian Tea Cultural Seminar. In addition to providing a chance for delegates to connect through sharing tea, it eases them into the event with a calming, mind-opening cuppa.

 

Last year, we opened the ceremony with the unboxing of a bespoke AUSTCS cup by specialist glazier Annemieke Mulders, who then spoke about her creative process in designing it. Annemieke won the commission to produce the cup through a competition we ran in partnership with the Australian Ceramics Association.

 

We are re-opening the Ceramic Cup Competition for AUSTCS 2019 in Hobart. Do you know a potter? Details are available on our website; submissions due 18 April.

Above: AUSTCS at the National Multicultural Festival.

Photo by David Lyons via Instagram.

We’re Canberra’s multicultural cuppa

 

Over the weekend of 16-17 February 2019, AUSTCS debuted a stall at the National Multicultural Festival in Canberra. 

 

200,000 people, 2,000 tea drinkers and 2 days. That was the 2019 National Multicultural Festival for AUSTCS in a nutshell. Canberra’s biggest event – bigger than Floriade, bigger than Summernats, bigger than a media scrum on election night – is a carnival of cultural performances and culinary delights.

 

To promote the multicultural nature of tea, and with a nod to pairing with the cuisines of the world, AUSTCS debuted its first festival stall. The primary aim was to introduce quality leaf tea to the general public by serving tea provided by AUSTCS members. Canberra brands Adore Tea, Tea Garden Co and Waypoint Tea and Melbourne member Cloud Nine Teas sponsored the brews and AUSTCS directors David Lyons and Adeline Teoh served around 2,000 cups, two types per hour, over the two days.

 

Secondary to the promotional nature of the stall was a chance to further our research on tea-drinking habits, which began at the Sydney Tea Festival last year. We had more than 60 respondents, largely tea-drinkers and a handful of non-tea-drinkers, tell us everything from when and where they drank tea, to how they described Australian tea culture.

 

Despite Canberra having fewer tea shops than Sydney, Canberra survey participants still rated vendor communication as their primary place to discover new tea information, which means the visibility of tea venues remains important for tea culture to thrive. Many Canberrans also described Australian tea culture as ‘almost non-existent’, ‘fringe’, ‘developing’ and ‘not serious enough’, which suggests great potential for growth.

 

We’d love to thank Adore Tea, Cloud Nine Teas, Tea Garden Co and Waypoint Teas for sponsoring those 2,000 cups of tea, and also our lovely volunteers Bec Kidson, Teresa Carbone and Rachel Teoh for helping us serve them.

 

And thank you, Canberra tea-drinkers, for dropping by for a cuppa and a chat. We hope to see you again.

 

Adeline Teoh will present an update of the survey results at the 2019 Australian Tea Cultural Seminar in Hobart.

FAQs

 

Where and when is AUSTCS 2019?
The 2019 Australian Tea Cultural Seminar will be held at The Old Woolstore in Hobart over 7-8 September 2019.

 

Are there earlybird discounts to AUSTCS 2019?
Yes – until 31 March 2019 or for the first 25 tickets sold (whichever comes first).

  • If you are an AUSTCS member, an earlybird ticket = $150.30
  • If you are not a member, an earlybird ticket = $167.00

 

Please note the regular price is $250.

 

You must first log in as a member and then head to the Buy Tickets page for the member discount to activate. If you are a member but have not received your login details, you can request them.

 

Who is an AUSTCS member?
AUSTCS members are those delegates who attended the seminar in 2018, as well as anyone who has signed up and paid for membership on our website.

 

If you attended AUSTCS 2017 but not AUSTCS 2018, your membership has expired. You can renew it on our membership page.

Upcoming events

 

8 March: Curiositea: Same varietal, different taste, Sydney

16 March: Japanese tea – an introduction, Brisbane

17 March: Riding the green dragon, Sydney

30 March: Organic morning brews, Brisbane

31 March: Introduction to Yi Xing teapot, Melbourne

 

Do you have an event to promote? Let events liaison Kym Cooper know!

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