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: info@sadiasteaparty.com

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.