The Sunshine Coast’s emerging tea industry may still be quite green but local pioneers are hoping it could soon be the new black.
Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world after water and is growing as an industry in Australia as consumers seek premium products with a good backstory.
The perception of tea has also changed from something to sip with a biscuit to a wellness beverage and foodie pleasure.
Three Sunshine Coast tea producers recently showcased their products at a Meet the Makers industry expo along with five local coffee businesses.
They were the Tea Shop, based in Noosa, which sells loose leaf teas, The Fresh Chai Co, which makes different blends of spiced teas and ARTEA The Tea Merchant, a Caloundra-based cafe and tea shop.
Kellie Marshall, founder of the Tea Shop in Noosa, relocated her business to the Sunshine Coast from Byron Bay about 18 months ago and says it has been thriving.
The family settled in Noosa because they felt Byron had become too busy and it was their dream to live on the Coast after getting married here.
Like stories about Sunshine Coast people doing great things? Help us deliver more by subscribing to our free daily news feed: Go to SUBSCRIBE at top of this article to register
The Tea Shop imports leaves from a partner plantation in Sri Lanka and then roasts, blends and packs the tea by hand in small batches in Noosa.
Although Australian tea revenues have grown by more than 56 per cent* over the last eight years, most raw product is still imported from countries like Sri Lanka and processed in Australia.
The Sunshine Coast has one well-known tea plantation, Arakai Estate at Bellthorpe, which has won national and international awards for its green tea.
“I think tea is becoming more popular especially because people are realising the health benefits of tea,” said Ms Marshall.
“I’m not a coffee drinker at all but I love a strong black tea.
“Our Robust is a black tea – a blend of English Breakfast, Australian black and Assam.”
The idea for a tea business came when Ms Marshall’s mother was living in Kathmandu and started making Chai (a milky black tea with spices like cinnamon).
“I learnt how to blend the tea with her. The Tea Shop was born in 2016 in beautiful Byron Bay,” Ms Marshall said.
She sells five loose leaf products – Lemon Myrtle Green, Mountain Chai, Orange Rooibos, Peppermint and Robust – as well as tea wares like a stick infuser to help transition new drinkers from commercial tea bags to traditional loose leaf.
“Originally, we started as an online shop but we’ve evolved and moved into wholesale supplying gourmet shops and providores across Australia,” Ms Marshall said.
“And we opened at shop on Sunshine Beach Road at Noosa Junction and it’s going really well and we’re building the brand locally.
“We’re also at the Eumundi markets.”
Adam Donoghue, founder of The Fresh Chai Co, said chai lovers would search far and wide for the perfect cup in the way that coffee lovers obsessed about finding the best grounds.
Mr Donoghue was a chai drinker before turning his taste for the beverage into a business, becoming the first in Queensland to produce a ‘wet’ masala chai (masala means ‘spice’ in India and chai means ‘tea’).
He grinds a medley of fresh spices using a precision machine, combines the aromatics with black tea leaves and coats it all in honey for natural preservation.
“The feedback is that people want an alternative to coffee because it (coffee) gives them big spikes of energy followed by a big slump when the caffeine wears off,” he said.
Chai has emerged as one of the popular replacements but many cafes still do not offer authentic chai with real spices and tea leaves, instead using a processed powder with spice ‘flavours’ and barely any tea.
“Coffee has really take off in the last ten years and you can get decent coffee just about anywhere but chai is a mixed bag,” he said.
Enter Mr Donoghue whose seven masala chai blends are stocked in 500 locations across Australia, with his customers saying his chais are better than the more established popular brands in Melbourne.
“The business has been experiencing 30 to 40 per cent growth each year with almost zero marketing, only word of mouth,” he said.
“I’ve got a marketing degree but I’m product focussed. I want to make the best stuff and get it out there and let the product speak for itself.”
*Report in Australia’s Team Industry by the Sri Lanka Consulate General
