Experience Tea

There is much to learn and savor

Drop a tea bag in boiling water, steep for however long seems appropriate, and drink. Easy, right? So, so wrong. Just a few minutes with Experience Tea owner Roberta Fuhr and you realize that with even a small time investment, you'll be fascinated and enjoying tea like never before.

Roberta at the shop

Roberta spent 27 years in the banking industry, working for KeyBank as a senior manager in marketing, mentoring others and teaching them to underwrite loans and deal effectively with people. "I learned to really listen to people and find out what their needs were. That's helped me immeasurably in my business," Roberta says. "I love to help people and connect them to the world through tea. Sometimes people don't think a tea class will be interesting, but when they realize it includes history, culture, and a little science, they're hooked."

When she left the bank in 2008, she had time to figure out what her next adventure would be. "I was a tea drinker, but most tea stores have tea behind the counter, or maybe just a list of teas. If you don't know what you want or like, you don't know what to ask for. I started reading tea books and visiting Chinese tea rooms where they're great about letting you taste. There is amazing tea all around us and we know almost nothing about it." Roberta kept looking for tea classes and ran into the Specialty Tea Institute, part of the Tea Association of the USA, the lobbying body for tea importers. She found that she could take classes and become a Certified Tea Specialist. "I had incredible teachers. After two introductory classes, I knew I was going to get my certification. It was a commitment because some classes are only offered once a year and you have to stay the weekend."

Knowing she needed several income streams, she created a business where she sells tea and tea ware (in-store and online), offers tasting classes, and does outside presentations. "I needed to create tea drinkers, but I didn't want to have a tea room, hire employees, or serve food. When I opened the shop in 2011 and published the class list, I wondered who would sign up. I've done pretty well with the classes, but wish I had $1 for every person who has taken the list and not signed up! I do outreach to give people a feel for what a tea class is like. I love reaching parents with older kids so they learn together. My Tea Discovery class is great for kids 10 and over. For kids 7-9, the Children's Tea & Etiquette class gives them information on different cultures with some manners thrown in. The classes are really rewarding. They include tasting and a tasting sheet for people to use for notes." Other classes include Matcha & Green Teas Comparative Tasting, Tea and Chocolate Pairing, Tea and Food Pairing Intensive, Experience Black Teas, Exploring Rooibos, Honey Bush and Herbals, and an Herbal and White Tea Blending Workshop. She also does private classes, and free classes at libraries around the area. "There are many similarities between tea and wine, but tea is for all ages. The idea of terroir means a lot in the tea world. My goal for the classes is to have people leave with a new respect for tea and eliminate the dismissiveness around tea. It is just as complex as wine and coffee." She's done classes for companies and groups like the Girl Scouts, and would love to do more with companies that send employees to Asia.

All tea came from China until the 1800s. The British stole a Chinese tea plant in India to export black tea to Britain and most of Europe. The Japanese started research on the benefits of green tea to help increase their exports in the 1930s. All tea comes from the same plant: the leaves of the camellia sinensis. It includes white, green, oolong, black, and pu'erh. Different types come from how the leaves are processed. These teas are called true teas. Herbal infusions or tisane use more than one plant species; they are often referred to as tea, but aren't. "People enjoy tea much more when they understand the proper way to make it. First, the flavor is so much better if you use loose tea leaves. Generally, the worst tea (there is even a level called 'dust') goes into tea bags. Second, tea leaves expand to three times their dry size, so the worst way to steep tea is by using a tea ball. The leaves clump. Water temperature and steeping time are critical and differs for each type of tea. An amino acid, theanine, is particular to the tea plant. It creates a sweetness/savory-ness that is a brain calmer. It's one of the reasons Buddhist monks favored tea. They could be alert to focus on meditation without the jitters. If you don't make tea correctly, you don't get all the benefits. And with good quality teas, you can steep a second time. You are pacing how much of the compounds you get in each cup."

Roberta started in a smaller studio, then moved into her current space where she can teach up to 25 people at a time. She sells 120 teas, which include both true teas and herbals, from at least 12 sources. If you're fascinated with wine and food, and the history, science, and cultural differences behind them, you'll want to look Roberta up and take a tea class or two. You'll also want to keep a lookout for the Northwest Tea Festival, taking place in October of 2017 at the Seattle Center.

Connie Adams/January 2017

Experience Tea
195 Front St N
Issaquah, WA
206-406-9838

experience-tea.com