Afternoon tea is a daily ritual for millions of people, but most tea breaks don’t come with the chance to create your own customized blend. Last Saturday afternoon, a lucky group of PCA members and guests had the unique chance to go behind the scenes of tea blending with legendary teamaker, Steven Smith, at his charming shop in Northwest Portland.

We were greeted with a warm cup of Mao Feng Shui green tea and led to the blending room for an introductory lesson in tea. A colorful and aromatic array of teas and botanicals covered the tables as we huddled around to listen. We learned about the four categories of tea – their origin, how they’re picked and processed, and their flavor profiles – as Steve poured us samples to better understand the elemental differences of each.

From there, we discussed the playground of dried teas and botanicals to choose from. Green tea has notes of sticky rice, vegetation, chestnuts, and a certain sweetness, while Assam (black tea) is chewy, dense, and fully caramelized with hints of dark berries, leather and spice. There was a floral Darjeeling, a toasty and nutty Darjeeling, Clove, Cassia, Ginger, Sarsparilla, Oregon Spearmint, white Chamomile buds from an oasis in Cairo, fruity and tart Hibiscus, Safflower for golden color, fragrant Jasmine, and the list went on. The room hesitated as we pondered our perfect tea, but it didn’t take long for us to circle the tables, scooping and blending. With our blends mixed up in little trays, we had the option to add essential oils before bagging and sealing our tea.

While we crafted our blends, Steve encouraged us to enjoy our tea drinking experiences any way we please, and explained “tea has too many rules that get in the way of it being appreciated.” For example, a box of tea may instruct you to steep for three minutes, but try sipping the tea occasionally within those three minutes to experience subtle changes as the tea evolves in the cup.

We snacked on cheeses and bread as we chatted with friends and sipped on more tea before the afternoon ended. It was a special treat to leave the teaworks with a little bag of our own creation and a whole box of Steve’s. Saturday’s program opened our senses to the exciting and complex world of tea harvesting, processing, selecting, blending, and most importantly, drinking.

—Caroline Ford