Tea Appreciation Classes Commence
ea education like other educational topics, takes many forms. Here at 18ThirtyFour we like to make that form as enjoyable, and as interesting as possible. The different forms of tea education has seen 18ThirtyFour create tours to India, give presentations to government departments, tutorials and seminars to students in educational institutions, community events, and now offering a Tea Appreciation Course to the general public.
October saw the launch of the 18ThirtyFour Tea Appreciation course. This evening class presented over a five week period, offers attendees an insight into the four main categories of tea production and in the final week a bit of fun with flavoured blended teas. Each week we study a tea category, whether that be white, green, oolong or black tea. We take a look at the back ground of each tea, its history, mythology, method of production, storage and preparations styles that suit the particular tea. There’s also some discussion on health aspects of the teas, and of course it wouldn’t be tea appreciation without a tasting session. In the fifth week, the flavoured tea week. We investigate whether flavoured fashionable teas are as new and of the moment as they seem, the history behind flavoured teas and what imaginative ideas and concepts you can create with them. To finish the course off we take an imaginary trip down the back streets of Kolkata (Calcutta), to the world of the chai wallah. Discovering the traditional and some not so traditional spices, that can be used in masala chai preparation. Then we cook off an authentic Indian street chai, sweet, milky, spicy and full of flavour from the Assam CTC tea leaves.
The course has kicked off in Canberra, and takes place at the Canberra Mercure Hotel. The venue is perfect with its heritage building and function rooms, which lend themselves nicely to a tea experience. The Ainslie room in which the course is presented offers comfort and privacy to attendees, and with staff members attending from Australian tea companies, including T2, The Tea Centre, and Adore Teas, it had to be right!
The course is accompanied by a comprehensive handbook, which doubles as a perfect reference book for any tea lover. The handbook complements the course and offers its reader fascinating facts about the brew they enjoy so much. At the completion of the course a certificate of attendance is presented, and indicates the holder has completed this in-depth tea course. This is a great course for newcomers to tea who want to understand it, tea buffs who want to know more about the brew, hospitality workers like barista’s who want to keep up with the new trends and need to understand tea to make their own new creations and takes on an old theme. But if your non of these but you just a cup of tea, and the company of like minded people enjoying tea. Then this is the course for you.
Each week the classes are supported by different tea companies and offers a chance to taste different company’s teas each week. Tea tasting is great but many of the companies have also created take home FREE sample packs for everyone in the class. This is a great opportunity to taste the teas at home and test your newfound knowledge out.
The 18ThirtyFour Tea Appreciation course will eventually be being presented in other cities and hopefully online eventually. For more information on the course, Click Here
