AUSTCS thanks Melbourne – and you

Thanks to all who came to AUSTCS 2018 in Melbourne – the connections, ideas and energy we’ve generated will fuel us until AUSTCS 2019.

It began, as every gathering should, with tea. After The Savoy Hotel’s art deco foyer embraced this year’s cohort for a group photo, AUSTCS delegates sat down and enjoyed the unboxing of the 2018 cup by ceramicist Annemieke Mulders. It provided an important focal point for our opening ceremony, ‘Welcome by Tea’, with tea at each table selected and served by volunteer brewers.

Chosen through a competition we ran in conjunction with the Australian Ceramics Association, Annemieke’s submission fit both the technical criteria for size and durability (microwave/dishwasher safe!) but most importantly aesthetically, for its representation of Australia. Her winning entry, which depicted glaze in a hue and pattern reminiscent of sea foam, was replicated in some of her delegate cups.

She explained the genesis of the designs in her presentation, how her surroundings in Western Australia – the land, the sky, the sea – served as inspiration for the glaze colours and how experimentation with the glaze combinations made every cup unique. The ‘wow’ factor at the unboxing was a hard act to follow, but Annemieke’s enlightening presentation certainly made everyone appreciate their AUSTCS cup even more and many unsurprisingly spent the break busily buying additions for their collection.

Our first international guest speaker, tea practitioner Jeni Dodd, hails from Kansas via New York via the world. Her presentation on The Art of Tea focused on the aesthetic experience we have when appreciating art being akin to the bodily effect of drinking a cup of tea. Starting with the question ‘what does art do to us?’, Jeni drew a number of parallels between the craft of artistry and the craft of creating tea, the emotional response we have to art and the emotional response we have to tea. Both art and tea, she said, transform and translate worlds using a universal, sensory language.

The second half of her presentation demonstrated this. Jeni had bought two paintings by Indigenous artists on a recent trip to the Northern Territory and paired them with two specialty Nepalese teas. The room took a moment to sip and soak in the combined sensory experience. Whether tea will replace wine at art openings is another discussion!

Chloe Liang from the China International Tea Culture Institute (CITCI) followed. She started with the context of a pre-1980s view of tea as a government commodity, even while many different areas of China displayed a wide array of tea practices, from eating tea (Jinuo) and cooking with tea (Wa) to performing sacrificial rites (Yunnan) with tea to honour nature. Since then, tea has modernised and there’s greater recognition of the diversity of tea culture that comes under the umbrella CITCI provides.

The good news? There are now more than 100K teahouses in China, a twentyfold increase compared to 30 years ago. A lot of this is due to exposing younger people to tea culture, says Chloe, from university tea culture clubs to experimenting with beverages such as tea cocktails to make tea more fashionable. And there’s a significant demand for skilled tea service in professional settings too, with large organisations like the Bank of China using tea to “close the gap with their customers” and tea used in diplomatic situations between President Xi Jinping and his international counterparts.

Tea, it seems, is enjoying a renaissance in China, and we hope it is a harbinger of what’s to come in Australia. If you would like to see it happen, join AUSTCS to support tea culture in Australia. See you in Hobart for AUSTCS 2019!

(Below: 'Sky' themed cup by Annemieke Mulders)

FAQs

Where will AUSTCS 2019 be held?

Members voted for Hobart to be the AUSTCS 2019 host city. The AUSTCS TEAm is yet to assess suitable venues, so stay tuned for details. If you would like to nominate a venue, please email David Lyons to make a suggestion.

When will AUSTCS 2019 be held?

Specific dates will depend on the availability of suitable venues. In our previous survey, most members chose September as their preferred month and Saturday-Sunday as their preferred two days of the week.

Where will AUSTCS 2020 be held?

Members voted for Hobart to be the AUSTCS 2020 host city, but our rules state that a location cannot host the seminar again within four years. The runner-up city was Brisbane, so AUSTCS 2020 will be held in Brisbane.

Above: AUSTCS 2018 delegates by Chloe Holliday

Tea is for temperance

Australia has a drinking problem, but is tea the answer? Adeline Teoh* examines the role of ‘dry’ months like febfast, Dry July and Ocsober in a boozy culture and whether tea can fill the gaps.

There's a small bar in my neighbourhood called The Temperance Society, which I've always taken as a joke name, like a politician's meeting venue called The Party Room. The truth is, while the temperance movement was about abstinence from alcohol, the roots of the Latin word ‘temperantia’ actually refers to restraint or moderation.

This is important because it tells us that it’s okay to enjoy a drink or two, but nights turbocharged with alcohol tend to end badly. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 22% of Australians aged 14+ reported being a victim of an alcohol-related incident in 2016 and one in six Australians consume alcohol at levels that place them at a lifetime risk of an alcohol-related disease or injury. Not to mention how the entire City of Sydney’s night-time economy has been shackled by lockout laws because of a violent alcohol-fuelled incident.

The quest to wean Australia off the booze has not gone unsupported. Movements such as Hello Sunday Morning and Jill Stark’s investigative memoir High Sobriety are just two artefacts of a push towards a healthier relationship with alcohol in a calendar now framed by febfast, Dry July and Ocsober (1-31 October). The latter is aimed at preventing youth from abusing alcohol as well as supporting Life Education. (Australians under a certain age may recall its mascot Healthy Harold the giraffe visiting your school every year.)

The issue is not just about access to alcohol, though, but the lack of an alternative kind of nightlife. The last time temperance was big, it was the 1830s and the next 50 years saw ‘coffee palaces’ spring up in response. One famous coffee palace later became The Hotel Windsor in Melbourne. Elsewhere in the world, the movements gave birth to tea parties for hundreds of townsfolk in temperance halls, with programs that included talks, food, games and music.

“Temperance advocates realised that the public house performed a crucial service in providing food, accommodation and recreation as well as alcohol, and if they were to attract clients away from the pub they had to provide alternative venues for such needs.” – Under the Influence by Ross Fitzgerald et al (ABC Books, 2009)

Could a teahouse that opens late perform this function in modern Australia? It would take a long time to transform an idea of a ‘night out’ from one of booze, pills and club beats to social connection through a cuppa and, so far, few venue owners have pockets deep enough for such a long-term punt. In the meantime, those who don’t care for alcohol or noisy bars are developing their own tea community behind closed doors.

If you would like to learn more about temperance in Australia, I recommend The History of Temperance in Australia on ABC Radio.

*Adeline Teoh is a social drinker who enjoys beer and cider but would take a late-night session at a teahouse over a pub any day.

(Below image credit: Portland Guardian 11 August 1870)

Upcoming events

27 September: Evening tea session at Kuura, Melbourne

30 September: Jasmine white, oolong and jin jun mei, Melbourne

4 October: Evening tea session at Kuura, Melbourne

5 October: Curiositea Series: Parallel tasting, Sydney

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