Sadia's Tea Party

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 Sadia’s Tea Party 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 de- tail of your event, to make it tailor made, specially designed to your needs, enabling you to indulge your every whim and create a truly distinctive and exceptional event.

We look forward to hearing from you.

www.sadiasteaparty.com The Tea Party

Sadia’s Tea Party enables you to go on a journey, recreating a country’s tea time, partake in traditional customs and be transport- ed 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. Chinese

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, Over 150 million cups of tea are drunk daily in Britain; we are now a sample a selection of fine Chinese teas and snacks and learn about nation of tea drinkers with tea being our most drunk beverage. Tea came Chinese tea customs and traditions. 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 prin- cess, 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 ritual of the Moroccan tea ceremony can be seen all over North Africa the Chai style of cooking tea originated in India with a some African and adopted throughout the region. Making tea is a ritual and has become influences thrown in. With our Kenyan Tea Party experience this mix an almost sacred ceremony as well as the country’s’ national drink. of cultures first-hand, sample authentic snacks like ‘mandazi’, the ‘Maghrebi’ mint tea has become associated with Morocco.

Kenyan doughnut with a strong cup of tea the Kenyan way. Interestingly enough, tea is not native to Morocco. It came over after the Crimean 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 baklava 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. In the 1830s, the British East India Company became very concerned about During our Persian tea party witness traditional tea drinking customs, the Chinese monopoly on tea; this supported the growing consumption of tea watch the samovar in action, sample authentic snacks and partake in in Britain. British colonists had recently noticed that tea was growing in themed parlour games to accompany. 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 drink- ing 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 independent 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. South Asian 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: [email protected] Website: www.sadiasteaparty.com The pop-up nature of our tea parties means that we are happy to go wherever we might be wanted! If you have a date in mind for your event, please get in touch with us.  We can organise special tea tasters, exploring teas from around the We can hold one date for you with no-obligation to book. 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 capturing the best moments of your event. The Extras