Taking tea service in the hospitality industry to the next level
“Would you prefer tea or coffee?”
How often have we all heard this from the restaurant waiter after dining at a restaurant? Many times I’m sure, since serving tea or coffee after dinner is a common practice in several restaurants.
It all depends on whether one is a coffee or tea person. Speaking for myself, I’m usually a tea drinker, but, I now say ‘No thank you’, to either tea or coffee at any restaurant, and particularly after a meal.
The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was being served some bitter, over-steeped nondescript low grade tea from a tea bag, after a wonderful meal at a great restaurant some time ago. And, it wasn’t the first time either, that I’ve gone home a wee bit disappointed for the same reason. I guess the build up to breaking my love affair of having tea at a restaurant was coming to the boil, owing to getting tired of a series of previous disappointments.
I’m left bemused, when restaurants that prides themselves of serving great meals, provide tea drinkers hot water in a fancy ceramic pot and then literally put a tea bag of the lowest grade of tea, in an elegant chinaware cup before placing it on the table.
Even in an ‘afternoon / high tea’ context, the tea itself, in the majority of the hospitality venues is a complete afterthought and the adoption of loose-leaf teas in these settings is minimal - again due to lack of training on tea in general, brewing different types and equipment. If you serve loose-leaf tea, as opposed to bagged dust, make sure all of your servers can answer rudimentary questions about your selection of teas. Let them know for example that, when they're making the tea, the different fermentation levels will result in different tastes. That the varieties are reflective of different harvesting and processing methods, such as pan frying, steaming, rolling, and different fermentation techniques. That higher the elevation, the lighter the tea."
I once recall asking my server after he posed the “Tea or coffee” query as to the type of tea served? He stood puzzled for a while, before he sputtered “Let me check that out”, and left hurriedly. Coming back a short while later, he announced “It’s a black tea”. Now that tells me something, because I know there are generally six main types of tea — green, black, white, yellow, oolong and dark tea — all of which are made from the Camellia sinensis plant.
As a person from the country where Ceylon tea, (as still widely associated to the colonial era), is among the world’s most celebrated, it pains me to say that Sri Lanka’s Hospitality Industry has failed in the way it promotes and serves the world's most popular manufactured beverage. According to the United Nations, humans drink more tea than any other liquid except water.
To many people, having the right wine to go with their dinner transforms a good meal into a great one. You expect your server to be able to inform whether that white wine is a Chardonnay or a Riesling and whether it’s from Burgundy or Eden Valley. It’s no different with tea. The server in a good restaurant should be able to say whether the black tea they offer is an Orange Pekoe from Sri Lanka, Kenya or from India. That though, is the very least bit of information.
To those who know their tea, Orange Pekoe is a grade of black tea, where “orange” has nothing to do with fruit. It could refer to the colour of the oxidized leaves or it could refer to the colour of the brewed tea. All that really matters is that in tea grading, any whole-leaf black tea qualifies as an Orange Pekoe.
Traditionally, the highest-quality grade of black tea is FTGFOP (Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) - sometimes referred to by some as, “Far Too Good For Ordinary People” – such as for those flying on economy in airlines carriers, which offer gourmet afternoon tea as a specialty service in first and business class.
Incidentally, the SFTGFOP (Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) grade stands at the top of the Orange Pekoe pecking order. There are also a series of grades below Orange Pekoe. Deep down there amongst the dust, lies the tea for the usual tea bag.
We lag far behind in providing educational courses about tea unlike other countries including non-tea producing ones such as England. Our Colleges and even the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management should hold theory classes on tea – not merely for employment, but for those who are interested in learning about tea.
After all, knowing a bit about the tea in your cup profoundly increases your enjoyment of drinking it.
Who wouldn’t want to know more?
Shafeek Wahab - Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Customer Service Trainer and Ex-Hotelier
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