Follow my tea journey from how I started my business to where I am now
“Tea is dehydrating, so if you want a hot drink then go for herbal tea instead.” I know: I nearly spilled my Travel Mug and spat out my tea when a speaker from the fitness industry made this bold statement. I bit my lip and wondered whether I should interrupt when the next claim was made:
“If you really need to drink a cup of tea, make sure you drink a glass of water to rehydrate yourself.”
Wah??? Right! That does it!!
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According to Wikipedia, LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site used primarily for professional networking. Many business opportunities have become available to me and my business via LinkedIn and I wanted to share with readers why LinkedIn is good for tea businesses.
LinkedIn is a way to build your professional network by connecting users with trusted contacts, known as “connections.” For tea business owners new to LinkedIn, the first step is to create a profile and ensure all details are filled out completely so that other connections can find you. Start building your professional network by adding connections. If you have a bricks-and-mortar tearoom, one tip is to add business connections local to your area.
If you have an online store (as I have), add businesses locally, nationally, and internationally. I encourage my tea clients to look for ways to collaborate with other businesses as I have done on occasion. By connecting with other businesses in the local / national area, you may find those collaborative opportunities that will also help to raise brand awareness about your business to other businesses. Connecting with local journalists, bloggers, magazine editors, and radio DJs is also useful for PR, as the media are always looking for new stories. Tea is a very interesting story for journalists to write about.
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I remember going to South Carolina to complete one of the levels to my STI certification class a couple of years ago and, after the study class, I thought I’d venture into the town. There I came across an arts and craft market. I love to browse arts and crafts markets, admiring the beau-tea of the designer’s works, be it clothes, photography, textiles, or art. One particular stall caught my eyes as the designer had recycled broken teapots into pieces of jewellery, jokingly telling me that a necklace I was admiring is a broken teapot from the Ming Dynasty. She had a very cheeky smile. Unfortunately, my budget was blown on tea on that trip, so I didn’t make a purchase, but it did get me thinking, how else could a teapot be reused?
Tea Pot Wind Chime
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My favourite phrase that I heard from a business owner is that “there is no competition, only collaboration” and with the big corporates working alongside each other I think that there is an element of truth in that. How about the independent tearoom which is not part of a chain? The answer is to work collabora-tea-vely of course!
I was extremely privileged to have been able to work in Melbourne recently with two wonderful tea companies. Although I sell my own line of tea, I don’t see them as competition. There is enough for everyone I feel, and as well as selling tea, I love talking about it and had a wonderful time sharing my knowledge of tea with those that are wanting to learn something new.
My first stop was with Tea & Sympathy where we I shared my knowledge of tea and terroir. Australia is a fabulous wine producing nation and whilst the seasoned wine drinker may have heard of the French term they may not realise that terroir can be applied to tea as well. So as we tried and compared two different green teas and two black teas, explained how the tea varietal, the processing techniques, elevation of the tea plant, growing conditions can all help to contribute to the final product in the cup, it was especially interesting to hear the crowd’s comments about the tea as some of them were tasting them for the first time. It was fabulous to hear the crowd share their memories, hear their sensory evaluations and their engagement with me as they asked many great questions and made it into such a tea-licious evening.
May King Tsang discussing Tea and Terroir
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April 5, 2012
maykingtea
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Whilst I have had unforgettable experiences with afternoon tea, I have also had experiences I’d rather forget! If you’re a café, restaurant or hotel that wants to provide a fabulous experience for your customers, these are just a tea tips of some Afternoon Tea no no’s:
Afternoon Tea – the clue is in the name! Afternoon Tea should be very much to do with the tea as well as the dining experience. Unfortunately I have been disappointed by a large number of hotels, cafés and restaurants that offer Afternoon Tea but offer a very limited choice of tea bag. I suppose selecting a tea from two offerings is still a choice (she says begrudgingly).
Tea Bag at Afternoon Tea – Definite No No
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Here are a few ways I have observed over the years to make that tearoom experience truly memorable for the customer:
Tea Menu. Tea menus come in many forms: from a one-line sentence listing the teas to a menu above the counter to several pages of teas described in a way that is not wholly dissimilar to a wine menu. I look forward to the day when tea menus in all cafés and restaurants are written in a clear, concise, and inviting way that excites customers as they look through them. However teas are presented on a menu, though, it is the ordering experience that can really make a difference.
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During my speaking engagements I often mention my mission statement (to bring back the teapot and to encourage people to take time with tea) and what better way to uphold my mission statement than to relax with a book of tea poetry (or as the author beau-tea-fully puts in ‘Poetea’).
I “met” Elizabeth Darcy Jones through the wonderful world of Twitter and after several tweetersations, emails and a couple of handwritten letters (I do enjoy putting pen to paper now and again), I waited eagerly for Mr Postie to deliver Distinguished Leaves — Poems for Tea Lovers.
It is such a special book as not only is the foreword by a very distinguished actor (recently seen in the hugely popular Downton Abbey), but there are notable mentions of tea artisans whom I have had the pleasure of meeting or tweeting with.
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May King Tsang is the founder of MayKing Tea and the Queensland Business Facebook Group. As a Tea Note Speaker (the only Specialty Tea Institute's certified speaker in Australia), she runs regular Tea Appreciation classes and is available for hire to talk about all things tea. She has helped tea business startups around the world, is a writer (watch out for her book in 2013); oh, and she sells tea too.
May King is one of the business mentors as part of the Skills Queensland Get Up To Speed programme and has spoken to small business and tea business startups about buildng online communities and effective Social Media Marketing strategy.
And yes: May King is her real first name, you know, as in MayKing Tea :o)
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