Download - Sadia's Tea Party Client Inspiration Pack
Sadia’s Tea Party Client Inspiration Pack
W elcome to Sadia’s Tea Party!
Sadia’s tea parties are unique and dynamic
experiences, hosted by artist and tea
hostess Sadia Ur-Rehman in and around
London.
Set as a travelling tea party or pop-up tea
salon, Sadia’s tea parties take you on an
international journey, wandering through
different lands as you immerse yourself in
different tea customs and traditions.
Sadia hosts an international series of tea parties where guests will be able
to sample teas, rituals and traditions as far and wide from India, Persia,
North Africa and the Far East. With an added twist, during Sadia’s tea
party you will play traditional parlour games with a modern adaptation
designed to get your guests talking and learning.
Whether it’s tea for 1 or 10,000, we will plan every microscopic detail of
your event, to make it tailor made, specially designed to your needs, ena-
bling you to indulge your every whim and create a truly distinctive and
exceptional event.
We look forward to hearing from you.
www.sadiasteaparty.com
Sadia’s Tea Party enables you to go on a journey, recreating a country’s tea
time, partake in traditional customs and be transported to another place.
The tea parties have so far travelled to a number of locations including
Valentines Mansion, the National Maritime Museum and Royal Botanic
Gardens Kew.
Guests will experience tea and its influence on six specific regions,
including China, England, Kenya, Persia, North Africa and South
Asia wandering through the countries where each country’s tea traditions,
cultural tips, and ceremonies from past to present can be experienced.
An added twist to Sadia’s Tea Party is the design of special and distinctive
themed modern parlour games to get your guests talking, interacting and
learning.
The Tea Party
Legend says that tea was first discovered in China about 5000 years ago
and that Chinese Emperor Shen Nung was the first person to drink the
brew. The story goes that whilst boiling water to drink, a few tea leaves
from a nearby plant blew into his pot. Whether this is true or not, it is
certain that all tea originated from China, and this influence has now gone
worldwide.
During our Chinese Tea Party witness a Gong Fu tea ceremony, sample a
selection of fine Chinese teas and snacks and learn about Chinese tea
customs and traditions.
Chinese
Over 150 million cups of tea are drunk daily in Britain; we are now a nation
of tea drinkers with tea being our most drunk beverage. Tea came to Britain
via a foreign entity. It was the marriage of Charles II to Catherine of
Braganza that would prove to be a turning point in the history of tea in
Britain in the 17th century. She was a Portuguese princess, and a tea addict,
and it was her love of the drink that established tea as a fashionable
beverage.
In the early 1800s, Anna the Duchess of Bedford introduced the custom of
the afternoon tea or tea party. In the 21st century afternoon tea has become
hugely vogue and popular. You will experience tea English style first hand
with our English Tea Party, traditional afternoon tea, fancy snacks and
specially designed themed parlour games.
English
Kenyan Did you know that tea is one of Kenya’s main exports?
In fact, Kenya exports more tea than Sri Lanka, India, and China!
In Kenya, ‘anytime is tea time.’ When it comes to drinks, Kenya tea in
the form of Chai (tea with milk and sugar) is the beverage of choice. It is
served for breakfast, at mealtimes and also during Kenya’s regular
teatime. Kenyan culture embraces many different cultural influences:
teatime is a custom borrowed from the British colonial past and
the Chai style of cooking tea originated in India with a some African
influences thrown in. With our Kenyan Tea Party experience this mix of
cultures first-hand, sample authentic snacks like ‘mandazi’, the Kenyan
doughnut with a strong cup of tea the Kenyan way.
The ritual of the Moroccan tea ceremony can be seen all over North Africa and
adopted throughout the region. Making tea is a ritual and has become an almost
sacred ceremony as well as the country’s’ national drink. ‘Maghrebi’ mint tea has
become associated with Morocco.
Interestingly enough, tea is not native to Morocco. It came over after the Crime-
an War; British merchants were in search of new markets in which to sell their
tea. The Moroccans took greatly to this new drink, adapting and making it their
own. The medicinal qualities of mint were enjoyed by folk in this region and
grown in abundance; fittingly they added sprigs of fresh mint to the tea to create
what we now know as ‘Maghrebi’ mint tea. Tea this way is drunk throughout
North Africa.
Drink ‘Maghrebi’ style mint tea accompanied by sweet authentic treats like bakla-
va in our North African Tea Party. We’ll design custom-made, themed parlour
games to accompany.
North African
Persian In Iranian (Persian) culture, tea is so widely consumed that it is generally
the first thing offered to a household guest. Tea could be considered a
national pastime and has become deeply embedded in the culture. Tea
houses, or ‘chaikhanehs’, have been in existence since the Persian Empire.
The taking of tea is a ritual unto itself: most meetings or formal occasions
will begin with the offering of tea, and most meals will end with it.
Traditionally, tea is served from a samovar, a heating vessel originally
imported into Persia from Russia by traders, this now a must in must
Persian households.
During our Persian tea party witness traditional tea drinking customs,
watch the samovar in action, sample authentic snacks and partake in
themed parlour games to accompany.
South Asian In the 1830s, the British East India Company became very concerned about the
Chinese monopoly on tea; this supported the growing consumption of tea in
Britain. British colonists had recently noticed that tea was growing in Assam, and
began to cultivate tea plantations. In 1870, over 90% of the tea drank in Britain
was of Chinese origin, by 1900 this had dropped to 10%, replaced by tea grown
in India (50%) and Ceylon (33%). However, tea drinking in India was very low.
Tea was officially promoted the ‘English’ way, with small amounts of milk and
sugar added. The Indian Tea Association were not happy initially with independ-
ent vendors’ tendency to add spices and increase the amount of milk and sugar,
reducing their usage of tea leaves. However, masala chai in its present form has
now firmly established itself as a popular beverage, not just outlasting the British
Raj but spreading beyond South Asia to the rest of the world.
During our tea party, experience tea drunk the South Asian way, savour both
authentic savoury and sweet treats and take part in our custom designed, themed
parlour games.
The Extras
The pop-up nature of our tea parties means that we are happy to go wher-
ever we might be wanted!
We can organise special tea tasters, exploring teas from around the
world including white, green, oolong, black and herbal..
We can arrange tea talks charting the history and origin of tea, and the
journey it has made to become the quintessentially ‘English’ drink.
We also host a distinct ‘Mad Hatters Tea Party’ with bespoke props and
hats for guests to wear.
We can capture your event in style; you can book a photographer and/
or a videographer. Our in-house media team are experienced in captur-
ing the best moments of your event.
Book a Tea Party If you would like further information or for us to provide you with a quote
for your bespoke tea party, then you can get in contact with us the following
ways:
Sadia’s Tea Party
Studio 4
Valentines Mansion
Emerson Road
Ilford
Essex
IG1 4XA
Tel: 07814 119922
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sadiasteaparty.com
If you have a date in mind for your event, please get in touch with us. We can
hold one date for you with no-obligation to book. Please note that if your
venue is within a 5 mile radius of Ilford, delivery is included.