“Tea gives you a beautiful focus. It’s much cleaner and steadier than the peaks and troughs you get from coffee (and chocolate)”
Hannah Dupree, owner of Storm in a Teacup
In the coffee-centric city of Melbourne, Hannah Dupree opened a tea bar (and in café-saturated Collingwood, no less) and decided not to include an espresso machine in her fit-out. It was a bold move, and two-and-a-half years later she still has customers aghast at the lack of coffee on offer.
But, that’s not her thing… Tea is her thing. The warm-eyed, smiling hostess holds more tea knowledge (did you know all tea — white, black, green, oolong — is from the SAME plant?) than you’d likely find anywhere else, and she just loves finding the right leaf for any bright-eyed but bewildered patron who may never have had anything other than Lipton or Tetley’s. The luminescent matcha-laced Sencha from Japan we shared was the perfect pick-me-up, and its fresh grassy flavour held a strength I’d not before experienced in a tea.
The small space, situated away from the crowded section of Smith Street, currently holds 38 different teas and tisanes to drink in store (from a beautiful Minna Graham ceramic cup) or take home. Among those are an Oriental Beauty oolong Dupree sources through a Buddhist school in Taipei, the newly created Red Rocket (rooibos with hibiscus, rosehip, cinnamon and a hint of chilli, because “that seemed like a good thing to do”, Dupree says) and the Forest White (a Hawaiian shade-grown white tea). With a selection of baked goods, many vegan and gluten free, breakfast and lunch items as well as tea cocktails (the space came with a liquor license, so why not?), there is enough to justify spending an entire day in this safe haven of warm brews and friendly conversation.
Upbeats shared a warming cup with Storm in a Teacup owner Hannah Dupree.
UP: How did you learn so much about tea?
Hannah: Google! And I went to Sri Lanka before we opened. I needed to go where bulk tea is produced to see if it’s an ethical industry that I wanted to be involved in. And it is. I get my teas from a company called Greenfield who has five or six plantations through the highlands of Sri Lanka and they have fairtrade programs; it was really heartening to see how the mass scale works.
In June I am going to Taiwan for my next tea adventure. I’m getting tea through a Buddhist school there and I’m going to meet a few of the gardeners and learn more about them and their tea.
UP: How can you get so many varieties in taste, colour, type of tea that comes from the same plant?
Hannah: It’s in the processing. White tea is just plucked off the bush and dried in a dehydrating heat — it holds a very subtle flavour because it hasn’t been manipulated. Green tea has had heat applied to it really quickly to keep it really fresh — that’s where the immediate juicy, grassy flavour comes from. For oolong the leaves are left to wither for up to 10 days while being turned to slightly bruise the leaf, which deepens the flavour and creates more complexity. Black tea has been pulverized and left to oxidise fully and that’s what gives it that strength and depth of flavour.
UP: How was the idea of Storm in a Teacup born?
Hannah: I was an artist… When I had a baby I realised that was the point I could think about what to do next. Art-making didn’t make me very happy, so I thought I should just start a business. I wanted to do something that is good for people, is interesting and engaging and that I understand — and that is tea!
UP: There is so much ritual based around tea. What’s the best you’ve encountered?
Hannah: Melbourne’s Adam Wojcinsky has taken on samurai tea culture — the ceremony was invented in Japan as a contemporary meditation on giving, politeness and hospitality… and, you know, life! It was intended to evolve with culture, but has stayed exactly the same for 600 years. [Wojcinsky] is bringing that ceremony into alleyways with street artists, making it a contemporary experience. That’s really beautiful.
UP: Why is drinking tea part of your approach to good living?
Hannah: You feel good when you drink tea! My favourite thing about tea is that is has theanine as well as caffeine. Theanine is a sedative, and next to caffeine, which is a stimulant, it gives you a beautiful focus. It’s much cleaner and steadier than the peaks and troughs you get from coffee (and chocolate).
UP: From where did the idea of making cocktails from tea come?
The similarities between wine and tea are massive — the tannin structure and the variants; you can apply a lot of wine ‘rules’ to tea so it made sense to experiment with the cocktail thing. And the space came with a liquor license so I wanted to make use of it. Weekends are big for cocktails, and Tuesday can be quite a big day! People must need to get into the week [with a cocktail]…
UP: What do you serve people who just want a Lipton teabag?
Hannah: We talk it through and work out exactly what it is they like, and what they want. Sometimes they really do just want that so I give them a breakfast tea, but sometimes they’re just nervous and don’t want to look like an idiot so I make them realise it’s a safe space and they can say what they like and don’t like and no one’s going to judge them for it.
UP: How important is it to drink tea out of a beautiful vessel?
Hannah: I don’t enjoy drinking tea out of an ugly mug. I’m more snobby about what it gets served in than what it actually is. Isn’t that weird?!
Written by Julia Gaw for UPBEATS in Melbourne. Read more by Julia or join us on UPBEATS to connect with a creative, global community of people, stories and ideas for good living by design. www.upbeats.co
