Five years of the Sydney Tea Festival

On Sunday 19 August, the Sydney Tea Festival celebrated its fifth annual event. Here's Adeline Teoh with the tea on the trends to watch.​​​​​​​

It looked like 2018 might be the Year of the Butterfly-Pea, that ubiquitous blue tisane that turns purple with a squeeze of lemon juice, which has been all the rage over Instagram these past few months. In fact, only one stall (My Blue Tea) used it as their main sell, with each vendor doing their best to differentiate their offering. 

The biggest trend appeared to be Australian bush ingredients, from repeat vendors Lore once again selling guradji leaves and T Totaler already blending with native botanicals, to newcomers Gulbarn, Sacred Grove and Sunborn offering indigenous tisanes.

Second to that was mixology, primarily blending tea with other ingredients, but also the increase of alcohol brands combining booze and tea. At the low end, kombucha, working up to tea wine, Longleaf tea vodka and Archie Rose gin for tea cocktails.

Camellia lovers had a thirst for the light side, with white tea proving unexpectedly popular, though the floor was dominated by specialty blends. 

Most heartening to see was that the masterclasses sold out, indicating that tea lovers are indeed looking for a way to level up on their tea skills and knowledge.

As for us? The Australian Tea Cultural Seminar (AUSTCS) stand was situated in front of the lecture theatre, where founding director David Lyons presented on Tea Essentials, and the tea blending station, with a very popular honey vendor as next-door neighbour (hello Happy B!). We fielded a lot of interest from self-selecting enthusiasts and entrepreneurs and even attracted the eye of Ausfeng Events, which is planning a showcase of Chinese tea vendors later this year. Watch this space for how we might get involved in bridging the cultural gap with the home of tea.

We now pass the tea baton from Sydney to Melbourne where we are looking forward to welcoming you to AUSTCS 2018 at The Savoy Hotel on 8-9 September.

(Below: The tea masterclasses, such as this one on Japanese Green Tea

by AUSTCS member Harumi Oshitani, were sold out.)

Festival special, you say? Last chance for a discount to AUSTCS 2018!

FAQs

Where will future seminars be held?
The host locations for 2019 and 2020 will be decided at AUSTCS 2018 in Melbourne. First, we collate nominations, then AUSTCS members vote on a shortlist.

Once a location has been confirmed, it cannot be included in the ballot for four years. Therefore, the 2019 and 2020 seminars will not include Canberra (2017 host location) or Melbourne (2018 host location).

How can I nominate a host location?
Anyone (including non-members) can nominate a host location via the nomination form on our website. The top six nominations will be shortlisted on the ballot for voting.

How do I vote for a host location?
You must be an AUSTCS member to vote. Voting will take place at the Annual General Meeting at AUSTCS 2018 in Melbourne on 8 September at 4pm. If you cannot be present, you may allocate a proxy to vote on your behalf.

(Above: AUSTCS at the Sydney Tea Festival)

Spotlight on Australian tea-drinking habits

In addition to promoting AUSTCS at the Sydney Tea Festival, we ran a short survey trying to discern Australians' tea-drinking habits.

While directors David and James Lyons spent the Sydney Tea Festival talking all things AUSTCS, co-director Adeline Teoh took some time out to also ask festival-goers about their tea-drinking habits. 

Our survey asked:

1. When do you drink tea?
2. Where do you drink tea?
3. What kind of tea do you drink?
4. How do you discover new tea information?
5. And (fill in the blank): "In Australia, tea means _____."

We had 33 valid responses, a small but reasonable sample size, with the preliminary results showing:

1. People drink tea all day every day, especially in the afternoon.
2. Tea drinkers usually partake at home because they don't trust venues to make good tea.
3. The most popular category of tea was black (red) tea, usually with milk, followed by blends and herbals.
4. People often learnt about tea through vendors and events like the Sydney Tea Festival.
5. And the most dominant description of Australian tea culture was focused on 'relaxing' and 'socialising'.

Adeline will be sharing more insights when she reports on behalf of the Culture Volunteer Working Group at the seminar.

Upcoming events

8-9 September: The 2nd Australian Tea Cultural Seminar, Melbourne

8 September: The Tea Explorer film screening, Melbourne

10-11 September: World Tea Brewers Championship, Melbourne

10-12 September: Australian Tea Expo, Melbourne

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