When I worked in the restaurant industry in the ‘80s and ‘90s, tea was definitely an afterthought. The tea service consisted of an institutional-looking small pitcher that was filled with tepid water and placed on a plate with a teabag. The teabag was who knows how old and most likely stored improperly so that little to no flavor could be extracted. On the flipside, coffee was entering its third wave and the elements around its service were revered.
Restaurants & Bars Are Missing Out
If restaurants and bars are still stuck in this kind of tea service, they are missing out on a potential revenue stream and customer experience. Unlike the ‘90s – where tea equipment and high-end teas were hard to source – the inventory of teaware, specialty tea and brewing equipment available to fit the needs of any restaurant or bar’s ambiance today are endless.
Of course, the trend of low alcohol or no alcohol is on the rise. Many do not consume alcohol for personal or religious reasons. Tea fits the niche perfectly to allow someone to a have a high-end beverage experience just like those that are imbibing in an alcoholic drink. It really boils down to what you are offering on the menu and how you are serving it. The options are limitless to improve your tea service and charge for the experience.
Do You Want to Elevate Your Tea Service?
If you’re a restaurant or bar, why not have the tea menu as part of your wine menu or mixed drink menu? This would be an inclusive way for a teetotaler to feel like their choices were part of the whole upscale beverage experience. If you want to stand out from the crowd, why not also offer mixed drinks that are tea infused? Offering a tea cocktail or mocktail intrigues customers and sets apart your business from others.
RELATED: How Tea Can Benefit Bars & Restaurants - A Free Report
Tea is a perfect mixer for cocktails. In my book, Modern Tea: A Fresh Look at an Ancient Beverage, I have a section that is devoted to tips on how to use tea in a cocktail. Some quick take-aways are to use a tea concentrate that has been pre-made as a mixer or part of a mixer, cold steep the tea directly into the liquor, and/or steep tea into a simple syrup that you intend on using for a mixed drink. Using tea concentrate or infusing in simple syrup could also be a part of a mocktail recipe that would make an establishment stand out from the rest.
How about offering a flight of teas? Depending on your offerings, this could be green teas from different origins, black teas from different origins or the same origin, or a selection of different herbals, etc.
Have you heard of butterfly pea flower tea? If not, you should check it out. It is a fun way to take mixed tea drinks to the next level. This unique herbal tea brews up to a lovely blue color but changes color when the PH level is altered. The recipe possibilities are endless with the addition of lemon, lime, etc. Change the color from a beautiful blue to a vibrant red or deep purple by just adding something acidic.
RELATED: Why Your Venue Needs to Have Tea on the Menu
When you’re creating your tea menu, keep your customer in mind and figure out how you want to incorporate it into your business. Do you want to have a selection of loose-leaf teas? If so, how will you serve it and what equipment do you need? If you just want to add some tea cocktails and mocktails, the quality of tea may not need to be as high as if you were serving it straight.
Other techniques to feature tea into your culinary establishment is to include it as an ingredient in food. In my book, Modern Tea, I give great tips on how tea can also be used as a full culinary experience by adding it to recipes either ground up steeped in a liquid as part of a sauce, creating unique salts and spices with tea to enhance a dish, smoking with tea, and offering tea and food pairings like wine does. So, if tea has been an afterthought, you may want to rethink its endless possibilities.
Lisa Boalt Richardson is the director of World Tea Academy from Questex. World Tea Academy is the leading online tea education and certification program from the organizers of the World Tea Expo Conference + Expo.
For more information on Nightclub & Bar Show and to book your tickets, visit www.ncbshow.com. To learn more about World Tea Academy – which welcomes members of the bar and restaurant community, who want to discover how tea can be elevated on the menu – visit WorldTeaAcademy.com and watch the video above.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest industry news and trends.