T2’s Lab of Experimentation and Exploration

What do you wear to a tea-festival? What does one bring? Should I eat first? The unflappable Souri suggested I wear some clothes and bring my camera. As I walked in from the heat of Wellington Street that afternoon I was gobsmacked. It glowed. A secret garden had sprung up in the midst of a warehouse. There were shiny, smooth, intricate pretty things everywhere and textures that just screamed out to be touched. I wanted to take photos of ALL THE THINGS.

There were sleek canisters, friendly staff, a tea-forest, fancy equipment, cool drinks (like the infusion of strawberries & cream with Turkish apple cinnamon, blended with black tea of monk pear and crème brûlée… zomg…) and scrumptious tapas-ey nibbles from the THE Taco Truck. So much to capture, oggle and imbibe! Who knew gin, sake, and vodka all have ideal tea blends? T2 knew, that’s who.

Apart from eating everything with my eyes and quite a bit of it with my face, one of the highlights was the opportunity to go digging in big vats to mix your own personal T2 tea blend. The patient, friendly staff rotating through that room to guide us lowly tea-novices through the processes gave great recommendations on completing our blends. And served cocktails. And didn’t even raise an eyebrow when you stand with your half full tin and innocently ask which of the ingredients might happen to be ‘worth the most in shops’. And didn’t laugh too much when congratulated on being the CEO. (Well? How ought one respond to such an introduction, especially after so many tea-based cocktails?)

Last but not least I had my fortune read. For reals. By a famous tea-leaf reading lady who has written a book. I know she was legit because she had a wand. I think she was a bit off the mark thinking I might visit some castles sometime soon but she was bang-on that I needed a new esky for camping over summer. Maybe I should stock it with some iced tea!