Melbourne Tea Festival - Review & Haul

Coming from Melbourne I'm a big fan of a good cup of coffee, but in recent years I've become partial to a good cup of tea as well, which is what drew me to the Melbourne Tea Festival! I spotted a mention of it on Facebook and marked it as something I'd love to attend, so at the end of May my husband and I hopped on a train into the city to see what the first ever Melbourne Tea Festival was all about! Keeping in mind that my husband doesn't really drink tea I knew I didn't want to spend the whole day at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, and despite their being specialist workshops available I wasn't interested in spending the extra money on those this time around (entry was $15 at the door, and workshops ranged from $20-$44 each on top of that)

 

We ended up visiting every stall as they festival wasn't a big one, and I spent quite a bit loading up on lots of new tea brands to try. It was a little bit difficult to access each stall as there were people standing around each one drinking tea from the provided tasting cups, but it was still great to see so many Australian brands spruiking their wares. My favourite stall was the Madame Flavour one (they make my favourite choc mint rooibos tea!) because they had lots of different teas to sample, and had the owners daughter serving (seen here!) and she was an absolute star.

catching up with Mum after the festival
Melbourne CBD
Sliders on Tyres
Our sliders!
Tea Ceremony on show

Sliders on Tyres were a highlight of our day, I had The Fisherman which was fried tender calamari, crisp lettuce and lemon mayo, while Mr has The Boss with pork sausage, BBQ capsicum, double cheese, lettuce and aioli. The hand cut chips were way too thick though, next time I'd definitely get a few sliders each and omit the fries altogether. I thought it was clever to have a range of food trucks at the venue with a picnic area set up, as it gave another dimension to the event and provided much needed fuel after sampling so many tea flavours. The hauling was easily my favourite part of the day though...

I definitely didn't hold back when it came to buying new teas to try!
-Madame Flavour Afternoon in Paris tea + a stack of samplers
-Truly Tea Coconut Tea (Byron Bay)
-The Art of Tea Choc Mintea (Tasmania)
-The Dragon Tea Company Doublemint & Moroccan Berber (Bendigo)
It felt great to be supporting Australian companies and I can't wait to try all of these new blends. I love my tea sweet or minty, as evident in the flavours I chose.

Some new tea accessories I bought after attending the Tea Festival!

You can check out their facebook and website if you are interested in the next tea festival (they also hold one in Sydney!) I had a good time but wouldn't be able to spend a whole afternoon there - it was a nice part of a day in the city though, and I think I would go again if I had the chance.
Are you a tea or coffee drinker, or both? What is your favourite thing to sip?
Emma x


*Not a sponsored post, just my thoughts on an experience I paid for myself. Honesty, always.