Adults

Tea Blend Workshop

Jun 18, 2024

$101-250

Byline

Joseph Breault, Library Assistant, Carolina Forest Library, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Attendees learn about and experiment with different tea leaves and ingredients to create personalized blends. The workshop also includes a tasting of their creations.

Advanced Planning

The original event was a spur of the moment idea to offer something new for our community, which left me only a few weeks to prepare. I came up with a short list of materials to purchase including tea, spices, herbal ingredients, and more. I also wrote a short handout on tea and tea blending, and put together a list of optional tea blend recipes they could follow.

Marketing

I created flyers for in-house advertising, included the program on our printed events calendar, and added it to the events page on the library system's website.

Budgeting

The original budget for the first workshop last April was around $150. This included boxes of loose leaf white, oolong, black, and green teas, granulated lemon and orange peels, spices like whole cloves and cinnamon sticks, a few containers of freeze-dried fruits, and herbal components including mint, lavender, and chamomile flowers. I also purchased tea bags for attendees to put their blends in.

Most of these ingredients have lasted since that first session, and I've only had to replace a few items and have expanded to add new ingredients. However much you want to purchase for a first session is extremely flexible, and you can start with blends using one tea base if desired. You will also need to buy a mortar and pestle for attendees to break down the whole spices if you don't already own one.

Day-of-event Activity

I normally set up the room by myself, but as the tea blend materials have grown, having two people set up the room is helpful. We use tablecloths for easy clean-up then set out the printed materials, mixing bowls, tea bags, and glasses for testing the tea. After a brief discussion on the handouts, I let the attendees gather their ingredients to make their blends.

All tea ingredients are poured into bowls and lined up with their bags/containers behind them so attendees can see what each item is. I typically separate the caffeinated teas, spices, fruits, and mortar and pestle on a counter with the herbal ingredients on a separate table. It essentially works as a make-your-own sundae bar but with tea.

I let our electric kettle start to heat the water before I unlock the door for the events. It's usually done by the time the attendees start gathering their ingredients, and the water stays hot until the program is done. When they're ready, I pour the water for them to sample their tea blends.

Program Execution

I usually have this program open to ten people, which always fills up, but you could expand it to allow more. This program is always a hit. The attendees love getting to experiment with their own custom blends, and a few have later mentioned continuing to make tea blends as a hobby.

Advice

Some people have tried writing their blend names with pen directly onto the tea bags. To keep attendees from poisoning themselves, consider cutting out small pieces of paper for them to use as tags. These can be stapled onto the drawstrings of the bags.