One of the savviest restaurant servers I’ve ever had was the fabulous woman who, after hearing us nix our young daughter’s request for soda, charmed our daughter by asking if she instead wanted “H2O on the rocks.”
Wow, would she ever! Our daughter was absolutely thrilled, especially when the iced water arrived in a fancy glass, garnished with speared cherry!
It’s all about presentation, right? Both in how something is offered to the customer and then in how it’s served.
There is a move in fine restaurants and teashops to treat tea as we would fine wine. This involves educating both the staff and the customers. And such a shift is long overdue.
Consider wine. We may start drinking inexpensive wine, but as our finances and taste develop, we move to better wines. We attend tastings, read about wine, and buy wines new to us, thus broadening our experience and appreciation. In a restaurant, wine is treated with a level of respect; the bottle is generally opened with some pomp and the wine is poured with flair into appropriate glasses.
Now think about tea. Although you may be offered a selection presented in a wooden chest or pretty basket, you nearly always get teabag tea, even at “nice” restaurants and tea houses. And want a second cup? Be prepared to use that same teabag. As for the teacup, many if not most restaurants use the same cups for coffee and tea.
But the world of tea encompasses a staggering range of teas, from inexpensive to extremely expensive. Like wine, the flavor and quality of tea reflect plant cultivar, terroir, production. Like wine, tea depends on both science and art, with knowledge passed down over generations. Like wine, tea benefits from being made and served in appropriate tea ware.
Suggestions for elevating tea’s status in restaurants was one of the foci of this year’s World Tea Conference + Expo (held June 28-30 in Las Vegas), which means that all of us may eventually see some changes in how we’re offered tea in our favorite restaurant. With COVID-19 still wreaking havoc on our bars and restaurants, with many of them struggling to survive, this may not seem the ideal time to think about tea. It’s certainly a minor aspect of the industry.
However, during the past months, restaurant owners have already been in constant reassessment of their business, whether figuring out how to simplify menus, hang on to staff, or determining what they want their business to look like post-pandemic. For the latter, rethinking the role of tea could well be a part of their decision-making.
Offering high-quality loose tea to customers can certainly be done, with some consideration given to tea choices. A bustling kitchen simply cannot worry about correct brewing of delicate leaves. Yet there are many teas that are quite forgiving of water temperature and brewing time.
Here are some suggestions by those in the tea industry, many of them relatively simple to implement:
---Train staff about tea so that they can offer guidance to customers, including pairing tea to food
---Incorporate tea into the wine/mixed drinks menu or have an actual tea menu
---Offer carbonated tea and tea cocktails, presented in appropriate glassware
---Serve tea that’s been properly brewed using loose leaves (in nice tea ware)
---Have a local tea sommelier blend a signature tea for the restaurant
---Offer flights of tea
---Suggest dessert teas, especially if customers don’t want to buy an actual dessert
Spread the Word!
Indeed, the tea industry as well as consumers need to encourage and support efforts by local restaurants to elevate tea. Appreciating a really great cup of tea in a restaurant is a start, but we can also let the restaurant staff know how much we enjoyed having quality tea and we can post reviews and use social media to spread the word.
Making restaurant owners aware of tea’s possibilities and suggesting how they may elevate tea’s stature in their establishments is only part of the issue; consumers need to reward their efforts.
Jill Rheinheimer draws on her deep background in scientific research and written communication to make tea-related research and history accessible to a general audience. She began her career in cell biology research labs, eventually moving into archaeology and anthropology as editor and publisher of scholarly monographs, while freelancing as editor, writer and book designer. Rheinheimer brings a love for research and photography, attention to detail and deep appreciation for the world of tea to her blog, It’s More Than Tea, and her work at TeaHaus in Ann Arbor, Mich.
To discover more insights about the business of tea, industry issues and trends, as well as the latest tea products, tea ware and related good, plan to attend next year’s World Tea Conference + Expo. The event will once again be held in Las Vegas and co-located with Bar & Restaurant Expo, March 21-23, 2022. Visit WorldTeaExpo.com and watch for updates. To become an exhibitor or sponsor, visit WorldTeaExpo.com/wtce-exhibit.