Dubai: Tea lovers can now educate themselves on the fine art of tea making, thanks to a series of tea socials and masterclasses underway in Dubai.
Conducted by Dubai Jiggy, a group of Dubai-born art, culture and entrepreneurship bloggers with a passion for tea and TeaEli, a Sri Lankan tea company, at the Bikers Café, the masterclasses seek to educate the community on how to make the perfect cup of tea while benefitting from its many healing properties.
Narmeen Naser, co-founder of Dubai Jiggy and the social enterprise AJALA Project, said, “Our tea appreciation sessions are being conducted by Dushantha Desilva, tea connoisseur and founder of Tea Eli. The masterclasses start off on a theoretical note, as participants learn about the origin of tea and the effect of altitude and geography on its production.”
She said from Chocolate Chilli and Almond Truffle to Relax and Pink teas, there’s a huge variety of designer blends that the sessions introduce. The classes also educate participants on the more common varieties of black, green and white tea, besides herbal infusions and how to handle them.
“We want to teach people the art of tea-making. It’s common to find cafes and restaurants here serving tea that tastes burnt or bitter. This could be because some teas burn with boiling water or too many tea leaves are used or the tea is left in for too long. We want to change this through our educational sessions.”
Common mistake
Naser said a common mistake people do is to infuse their teas for too long. “The infusion should not be beyond two-three minutes. Otherwise, the tea becomes bitter and loses its taste and remedial value,” she said.
According to Naser, “There are so many remedial benefits of drinking tea and tea infusions. Traditional medicine originating from China, India (ayurveda) and the Middle East (Unani Tibb) have always recommended natural ingredients to cure common ailments. Through our wellness classes, we teach how tea ingredients like sage, chamomile, green tea, peppermint, turmeric, ginger etc can help relieve inflammation, heartburn, high cholesterol, migraines and so on.” The last two masterclasses, which began on January 13, will be held on January 20 and 22. Each session costs Dh230.
