So apparently I’m the go-to person on the Oh Happy Day team for tea advice. This is largely because I’m Australian and so I think they fancy me as hosting afternoon tea parties everyday under the gum trees with my pet kangaroos. Until recently, I wouldn’t necessarily have called myself an expert on tea until I had to inform a team member, who shall remain nameless, that no, you DO NOT drink the tea directly out of the teapot.

The fact is, this commonwealth-er does love tea and, in fact, proudly owns a vast collection of teawares to rival the Queen. Teapots, teacups, canisters, strainers, you name it. I find it a refreshing and healthier alternative to coffee, especially since there are herbal varieties that are completely caffeine free. And so, we’ve teamed up with Numi to create a modern day twist on your traditional afternoon tea party…

You may be surprised to hear that there is an art to the tea brewing process, but I have yet to delve too deeply into the technical side of things. However, I have always wanted to host a tea tasting party (if for no other reason than to show off my impressive teaware collection)! I also just love the idea of serving a variety of flavors in their own individual teapots with cute labels and providing tiny cups so that you can taste small samples of different teas rather than the traditional custom of one pot (i.e flavor) per person. For an extra nice touch, next to each pot provide mini sample cups of the tea leaves themselves (if you’re using loose leaf tea) so that your guests can sample the aroma before they taste. Remember to provide the usual staples- sugar, milk, honey and perhaps lemon slices. And, of course, what would a tea party be with something sweet-  little lemon bundt cakes, cookies, chocolates etc.  Us Aussies would probably add some Lamingtons into the mix!

For this party, we use a variety of Numi Tea flavors as well as their pretty Urban Glass Tea Pots (now on sale!) I love that one of Numi’s main focusing is providing clean, safe drinking water for people in need. They really care about providing for the farmers who are growing their products around the world. Right now, they have a special campaign where you can throw a tea party like ours to help build access to clean drinking water for their tumeric farmers in Madagascar. If you throw a party, Numi will even send you a $50 Tea Time for H2OPE party hosting kit (which is totally tax-deductible)! It includes everything you need (tea varieties, glassware, pairing guides – valued at more than $200) to gather your friends up, get them to contribute and elevate their impact.  Click here to register your event and get more details.

So what do you think, how’s that for a modern take on a traditional tea party?

This post is sponsored by Numi: Celebrating people, planet and pure tea.