Review | The Tea Collective | Totally devoted to the cuppa

She moved her boutique tea room in April 2018 to Darby Street, upstairs from the Autumn Rooms, and made a slight name change to The Tea Collective.

You’ll find a cosy, intimate space - it oozes old world elegance combined with contemporary chic. Think dark wooden furniture, vases of flowers, lampshades, lounges and fine bone china. It’s hidden from the street by leafy trees and is full of light. It’s a sanctuary devoted to the cup of tea. So don’t ask for a coffee. 

“We don’t serve coffee, we don’t serve milkshakes. Iced tea, chai, hot tea and food that gets paired with it.”

That’s it, says Becci.

Anyone can come for tea, dumplings, scones, finger sandwiches or, if you book in advance, a high tea with all the trimmings: a savoury first course with tarts, ribbon sandwiches, quiches and mini muffins; a second with French petit fours, and finally a serving of home-made scones with jam and cream. Finish with an earl grey, begin with a glass of bubbles. It’s all very civilised.

You can sip the same tea, or sample one of over 40 different varieties, from black teas, to green and white, chai, blends, plus iced teas and tisanes.

Becci sources and blends the teas herself and is attracting national and international praise for her skill and passion.

“We’ve won Best Tea House in NSW and for the last three years we’ve won Best Tea Menu in Australia at the International Tea Awards,” she says. 

“It’s judged on the variety and the quality of the tea that you’re using. We also won silver for our Wild Earl Grey and gold for the Thai Iced Tea from 2016 to 2018.”

This success has garnered the attention of one of Australia’s biggest tableware brands - Maxwell & Williams. They have approached Becci to collaborate on three teas to coincide with the launch of their new Mother’s Day Teas and C’s range, to be sold nationally at Myer stores. The design of the range “is really beautiful and elegant. It comes in white, pink and black. The theme is quite medieval,” Becci said. 

“For the black range, the tea is called The King’s Guard. It’s a beautiful earl grey, it has got smokey overtones. It’s a bit more masculine. The white range is The Queen’s Party and that’s really fruity with calendula, safflower and rose petals. And pink is Princess and the tea - strawberries and cream.”

The initial launch will involve the tea as a gift with the purchase of a tea set, but you’ll also be able to buy the blend in store at the Tea Collective.

They are also launching Roam, a made-to-measure kombi that will be serving tea at markets around Newcastle. 

“We were looking at markets and seeing bubble tea vans pop up and we love kombis,” Becci said. “My business partner [Zach White] is in on kombis and keg systems so we asked him to build us a kombi to do tea. We put our heads together and then Ben [Richardson, Becci’s partner and co-owner of the Autumn Rooms] came on board with all his knowledge of pubs and kegging.”

They launched Roam the matt black tea kombi, at the Olive Tree Markets on February 2, serving iced chais and iced teas. Come the cooler weather, they’ll be switching to hot chai and scones.  

You will also start to find Tea Collective tea popping up at local cafes as well as interstate and, down the track, perhaps overseas.  

“We are quite particular about who we let stock our tea, they have to have space and some love for the product," she says.

"They’ve got to have the respect, they’ve got to time it, have the right water, serve the tea properly and make sure that the customer is enjoying it. Not just throwing a tea bag in a cup and saying ‘there you go’.”

While her favourite drop is English Breakfast with a dash of milk, Becci has  no rules about how to take it: milk in chamomile, 10 sugars, drinking it from a jar, she has seen it all.

After all, it’s your cup of tea.