I Learned How To Make Perfect Tea from Tetley Tea Master, Sebastian Michaelis

Rewind back to the past few weeks, I get to meet a Tetley tea blender which tastebud worth £1 million: Please give it up for Sebastian Michaelis. I learned a lot from him not just tasting the Tetley tea but how to taste it like he does. Without further ado, let's start this adventure!

Sebastian Michaelis, Reef and me focusing to make our own signature tea!

As mentioned before, I'm tea person. It's not like I hate coffee, but I like the taste of tea more than coffee and my favourite would be Camomile tea. 

I don't usually tell you my personal story, but I once work at F&B places where I drank cold Camomile tea all the time (that I get from my work food allowance). From that on, Camomile have becoming one of my go-to tea. Plus, it is good for insomnia and also when you are stressing out.

Related to this event, I'm excited to come because I want to taste Tetley Camomile tea. I was informed that Camomile is one of an infusion tea, and it's different from black tea or green tea and many more.

READ: 4 Things I Did at High Tea Table Manner Workshop, Tea Verandah!

Camomile tea from Tetley, I can smell this tea from far away and it's really soothing and calming!

MEETING TETLEY TEA MASTER, SEBASTIAN MICHAELIS

Second largest tea brand globally, Tetley is a Britain's iconic tea brand that made from the young leaves and unopened buds of plant, Camellia Sinensis. The tea leaves are sources from 11 countries across 3 continents, from the lush valleys and tropical islands that make up the growing regions in the world.

The special things about Tetley is because of its heritage of 180 years of perfecting the art of blending tea. They aimed to be number one premium brand in Malaysia (I think they would because their Teh Tarik taste really good - a honest comment from a so-so fan of Teh Tarik).

Thank you for the invitation Tetley! I learned so much from the Tetley Tea Master, Sebastian Michaelis.

Moving on to The Art of Tea Blending session, a Tetley Tea Master will give us insight of what he is working on. Sebastian Michaelis have been working for 12 years at Tetley. He have taste tea all over the world and come out with best tea blend for you guys.

It was pretty long journey, as all the tea blender will be only graduating after 5 years learning and able to describe each of tea that they have tasted. 

By the way, all the graduates of Tetley Academy they will received their own personalised monogrammed spoon with their name on it (achievement unlocked). Some of the spoon can aged up to 100 years of Teaspoons, because when they retire or leave the company, they must return the spoon back to the company. 

Before he explained things to us, I saw how he brewing the tea which kind of new for me because I have heard about brewing coffee but not a tea. I can see how diligently he brewing all the tea he is going to show us later on.

Tea spoon age '100 years' that he get right after 5 years.

He also explained a process, from the tea been plucked to how they taste it eight times before it gets to your cup of tea. Other than that, I just know that there are two types of tea which are Orthodox or CTC. The feel of tea leaves, taste and process are different.

Now I know the history and basic things about tea, let's move on practical things shall we? 

I love this event because not just I get insight of the products but I also get to experienced to be a tea master for few hours. Do you still remember that I said he prepared a various type tea for tasting? Here it is:

7 types of tea that Sebastian Michaelis brewing.

He added some milk to see the colour of the tea which represent the differences. While explaining he using a very descriptive words, but among tea master they have their own unique language called Uhuru which means freedom. It's very scientific method which they using letters and numbers to describe a tea.

To make it simple, Sebastian stated four basic perimeters which are zinc (overall liveliness of the tea on the palate), colour (from a deep red up to a bright yellow), sparkle (brightness of the tea) and body (the weight of the tea in the mouth).

In order to grading it and get to the right characteristics, we are served with a very strong cup of tea and here is how the tea master tasting the tea (make sure to click a play button below).

INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE: TEA BREWING

It's time to show what I have got as fan of tea. I need to show that I'm up for this and impressed the tea master to build my own cup of tea. First we start brewing some green tea. 

Alright here is the tips to brew a perfect cup of tea. First, make sure to only boil your water up to 80 degree celsius only. If you don't have a temperature measurement, make sure to wait until it just start to bubbling. Then, you are set to go!

Brewing the tea is depends on how you want it to taste. It is advisable to brew for about 2 minutes to avoid developing a bitter taste.

Here is to my perfect cup of green tea!

How about black tea? Well, it will taste best when brewed in water that has reached boiling point. Again, depends on how bitter you want the tea to taste like, brew it as long as you want. As I want to make a customised tea, I just brewed it for 2 minutes so it will not overpowering my own tea.

Let me tell you that I'm really focus on this session, because it's a contest. I can be really competitive and of course I want to win that ONE YEAR stock of Tetley tea.

Before adding anything to the black tea.

We were provided by all of these to customised our own tea.

We have lemon, strawberry, ginger and I believe a mint leaves provided for us. So, my concept for that day is fruit. I really have an eye for fruity tea and I did that but not 100% success.

I added some strawberry and mint leaves only, but as I taste it I was not satisfied which lead me to overdoing things. Therefore, honey and lemon is added which makes it taste really strong. In conclusion, I didn't won but I'm having tons of fun at the event itself. Now, I'm looking forward for another interactive event like Tetley does!

I named this as Lily Fruity cup of tea!

If you are interested to know more about Tetley, make sure to visit their Facebook and Instagram account. Till then, make sure to watch out for this space for more content!

Wide range of Tetley tea products that suit the "Malaysian" taste buds.

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