Start a Tea Society

 

Be motivated to initiate your own tea club with these recommendations on the necessary instruments, theme concepts, and the correct way to savour tea.

Many individuals participate in a book club. Whether you acquire your books from suggestions by Oprah, Reese, your colleague, or your dog groomer, it’s enjoyable to engage in a collective experience over a book read by the same group of individuals. Did they derive similar insights from it, like you and others? Did they appreciate the book as you did or utterly despise it (and you just can’t comprehend why! )? If you relish being part of a book club – or any similar organization – why not establish a tea club?

Tea clubs are an excellent method to present your preferred teas to others and, in exchange, to be exposed to teas you’ve never sampled. We have compiled some advice for initiating a tea club to facilitate your journey in creating delightful gatherings. Ideally, you and some friends will be savouring and enjoying your way to discovering some remarkable teas to include in your collection. Remember to invite that "I solely drink coffee" friend to experience what they are missing!

How will your tea club be organized? One aspect you want to avoid is preparing the tea in advance and allowing it to cool while everyone engages in obligatory small talk. Therefore, establish a time for arrival, and commence the tasting after everyone has arrived and settled.
In addition to tea, everyone appreciates snacks! We recommend having classic tea-time treats such as finger sandwiches, tea cookies, or scones with cream. If you can customize the food to complement the flavour profile of the tea being served that evening, even better. Perhaps a touch of sushi and Japanese Sencha? Mini sausages and English Breakfast? Why not!
To assist in organizing the tasting, we propose providing small individual notebooks where everyone can record their observations on the tea or teas sampled at each gathering. A helpful reference for this is what we refer to as Mike’s Ratings on harney.com. My father, Mike Harney, assesses each tea in the following categories on a 0-5 scale, with 0 being the lowest and 5 the highest:

• Briskness. Briskness pertains to a tea’s capacity to create a pucker in your mouth, also known as astringency. A certain level of astringency contributes to making tea brisk and desirable (similar to white wine). Excessive briskness can pose a challenge but may be mitigated by shortening the brewing time.

• Body. This relates to whether or not a tea has a thick sensation in the mouth, such as an Assam, or feels light, like a white tea. Occasionally, this body results from dissolved solids from the leaves, as in the case of Assam, and sometimes it derives from the amino acids, like Ichiban Sencha.

• Fragrance. Fragrance, naturally, pertains to whether the tea possesses an agreeable scent, often regarded as the most valued aspect of tea. This is logical, considering humans have a more developed sense of smell than taste. Occasionally, the delightful aroma is extracted from the tea leaves by an adept tea maker, while at other times, it is an essence harmonized by proficient tea blenders.

Although it may require some time and multiple tastings to comprehend briskness, body, and fragrance, you can certainly take note of whether you relished the tea and your reasons for your enjoyment or lack thereof. Invite everyone to record their impressions and subsequently take time to exchange them with one another. We have simplified the note-taking process for your tea club with our Tea Club Journal – simply download, print, and voilà! (We have also created a downloadable Tea Club Run of Show to ensure the experience is as seamless as a cup of Earl Grey Supreme! )

To maximize your tea tasting experience, there exists a method employed by professionals like us at Harney to extract the complete spectrum of flavours and fragrance. More details on that will follow in the final segment of our forthcoming “Three Ts of Tea Tasting Tips! ”
It will be beneficial to possess the appropriate tools for tea preparation. They are quite fundamental, yet essential.

• Kettle. Are you aware that boiling water on the stove produces superior tea compared to heating water in the microwave? There is scientific reasoning behind this, but in summary, water boiled on the stove heats more evenly than in a microwave, resulting in a better cup of tea.

• Thermometer. Different teas require varying temperatures to uncover their optimal flavours. You can find the recommended temperature for heating your water for a specific tea on the side of our tins or on our website.

• Teapot. We suggest using a teapot and loose leaves whenever feasible when brewing tea. Firstly, loose leaves permit the water to absorb more of the tea essence due to a larger surface area, allowing for greater movement. Secondly, it is simply more enjoyable to pour tea from a teapot into everyone’s cups!

• Infuser. If you are utilizing loose-leaf tea, an infuser or strainer is necessary. Most of the teapots we offer are equipped with infusers, but if you possess your own teapot and require an infuser, you can find one here. We do not recommend using those small tea balls that many of us grew up with, as they are too constricted to allow the leaves to expand properly and for the water to be adequately infused with flavour.

• Clean water. The quality of the water you use significantly impacts the caliber of your tea – it is often said that water is the foundation of tea. We advise utilizing cold, filtered water for an optimal tea experience.

You will require a collection of teacups or mugs cleaned and prepared, along with spoons, creamer, milk or milk substitutes, and sweeteners. However, we advise that everyone samples the tea without enhancements initially; if individuals prefer to add something after their first tasting, allow them to proceed!

Similar to how you choose book titles in advance, it is beneficial to determine which teas you would like to sample at each tea club meeting. You can certainly permit everyone to select the teas they wish to experience each month, resulting in a completely random selection. However, if you seek theme suggestions, we offer the following recommendations.

• Floral Teas for Spring. Indeed, we understand – Miranda Priestley might be horrified – but experimenting with floral teas during spring is a delightful tribute to the season we all embrace following a frigid winter. Rose-scented black tea, French Super Blue Lavender, Dragon Pearl Jasmine, Mother’s Day, and Snow White are several floral teas worth considering.
• Fruit Teas for Summer. Fruit teas possess a naturally lighter taste, ideal for summer enjoyment. Select from our herbal fruit teas, or try something distinctive like White Vanilla Grapefruit, Peaches & Ginger, Blueberry Green, Garden Party, or Berry Cobbler.
• Fall Flavours for Autumn. Beyond the iconic fall symbol of Pumpkin Spice, other exceptional autumn teas that may leave you in awe include Hot Apple Spice, Cranberry Autumn, Lapsang Souchong, Chai, Chocolate Chai Supreme, Chai Hara (note: have all three at one club meeting for a side-by-side Chai tasting), Organic Ginger Turmeric, or Black Cask Bourbon.
• Warming Flavours for Winter. For those chilly winter tea club gatherings, warm your fellow members from within by sampling blends like Gingerbread Festival, Williamsburg Ginger Cake, Holiday, Holiday Heritage, Cinnamon Apple Spice, Japanese Whisky, Father’s Day, Scottish Morn, Scottish Afternoon (try both at the same tea club and see if you can distinguish the differences! ), or robust Irish Breakfast.

• Chinese Teas. Discover teas from the tea homeland, China! Savour exceptionally sourced teas from our selection of Chinese green teas, Chinese oolong teas, Chinese black teas, or Jasmine teas.

• Matcha Challenge! You either appreciate it, or you dislike it, or you simply don’t know because you have never experienced it. A tea club is an excellent venue to give matcha a try. Choose from our traditional matchas or begin with a flavored option such as White Peach Matcha or Very Berry Matcha. To prepare it correctly – which is an enjoyable activity to undertake with a group – you will need at least a whisk, but incorporating a set with a matcha bowl and bamboo scoop enhances the authenticity.

• Artful Teas. Spend an evening or two or three sampling teas from our Met Collection while discussing the art showcased on the exquisite tins.

• Teas Inspired by Literature. Although we could continue indefinitely with suggestions – we possess over 300 types of tea – the final category we will mention here encompasses teas inspired by literary works. We offer selections such as Little Women, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, A Haunting in Venice, and A Midsummer Night’s Tea. Additionally, a final suggestion: streamline your selection by utilizing the tea from our Monthly Tea Spotlight. Each month, we highlight one or two of our teas, alleviating the decision-making burden for you!

There exists an appropriate method to savour tea that will introduce an element of enjoyment to your tea club. Do not dismiss the possibility of laughter, as well as potential filming and sharing on social media. With that said, to maximize your tea-tasting experience, I am delighted to personally illustrate how to sip, inhale, swish, and slurp your way to the optimal approach for enjoying tea in our Proper Way to Taste Tea blog. You will also discover a wealth of additional valuable tips on tea tasting within that article.

I hope you find motivation in these suggestions and ideas to initiate your own tea club! Seeking further inspiration? Consider this – the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party occurs this year. While we certainly do not wish to promote any tea-throwing-into-the-harbour activities, it may serve as just the “oh what the heck, let’s start a tea club” encouragement you require to embark on your journey. Lastly, if you are already part of a tea club, please share any other inspirations or experiences you may have.